William HartmannNASA Mars Data Analysis ProgramSmall Impact Crater Statistics: A Tool for Analysis of Geologic Processes in Martian Volatile-rich FormationsMalin et al. (2006) discovered new, decameter-scale primary craters forming on Mars within our lifetimes. Ivanov (2009) and others have discussed additional HiRISE detection of such craters. The measured primary production rates are within a factor 2 or 3 of our isochrons, supporting our crater chronometry system (Hartmann 2005, Icarus). We propose two new tasks: (1) We will review such data to update the best estimate of the production rate of craters in the range of D ~ 3 m to 50 m. This will allow precise dating of young surfaces (too young to be likely 'contaminated' with secondaries). (2) As a demonstration project we will show how to use such craters to study surface modification processes in putatively ice-rich surfaces. Debris aprons, for example, have dramatic losses of decameter-scale craters compared to (ice-poor?) level plains only a few km away, even though densities of larger craters are the same. This proves small craters are being lost on icy formations, and gives a tool to probe the depth of the active layers in which the crater losses occur. Hartmann and Werner (EPSL, submitted 2009) gave a preliminary demonstration of this technique, inferring short-timescale topography modification in the top tens of meters in sampled debris aprons. The process may involve sublimation or flow.