W.K. Hartmann, M. Malin, A. McEwen, M. Carr, L. Soderblom, P. Thomas, E.
Danielson, P. James, J. Veverka
Impact craters help characterize ages and erosional regimes on a planetary
surface, because they accumulate with time, while erosion preferentially
removes small craters. Earlier studies of Martian crater populations
suggested importance of erosion and dust infill processes on Mars, and
disagreed on ages of the youngest volcanism. The earlier studies were
limited by resolution, mostly involving craters larger a few hundred
meters. Here we report analysis of craters from new images from the Mars
Global Surveyor (MGS) spacecraft, which extend size distributions of
Martian impact craters down to about 16 m.
Back to MGS Mission at PSI