Crater morphometry and modification in the Sinus Sabaeus and Margaritifer Sinus regions of Mars

Abstract

Degraded craters in the southern highlands are indicative of an early martian climate much different than the present. Using a photoclinometric model, analyses of degraded crater morphometry have revealed the stages of crater modification and, for the first time, allow a quantitative assessment of the amount of material eroded in the highlands. Central peaks of fresh craters are removed early by degradational processes. The sharp rims of fresh craters also become rounded while the interior slopes become shallower. Continued degradation causes the crater rim to lower, and infilling produces a broad, flat crater floor. Contrary to earlier observations, the degree of rim modification does not appear to be dependent on the presence of ancient valley networks. During degradation, the diameter of the impact craters also increases due to backwasting. A simple algebraic model balancing the measured amount of infilling with that eroded from the interior slopes suggests that the crater diameters were enlarged by 7 to 10% initially, agreeing with prior observations. These models suggest that larger diameter (i.e., 50 km) craters were enlarged a greater amount than smaller diameter craters, which is opposite to what should be observed. To explain this discrepancy, a ∼10 m thick deposit, presumably aeolian in origin, must have been emplaced within the crater interiors following cessation of the degradational process. By the terminal stage of degradation, crater diameters appear to have been enlarged by 30%. In addition, a deposit ∼60 m average thickness must have been emplaced within these rimless craters to explain the discrepancy in crater enlargement. Because this deposit is contained only within the highly eroded, rimless craters, this material most likely originated from erosion of the surrounding terrain. The measured crater morphometry has allowed us to develop equations describing the amount of material eroded at any given stage of degradation. Applying these equations to craters within the Margaritifer Sinus and Sinus Sabaeus region indicates that an equivalent of ∼200 m of highland material was eroded and redistributed within the study area. Depending upon model chronology, degradation operated for either 400 or 600 million years, suggesting that erosion rates were on the order of ∼0.0003 to 0.0005 mm/yr. These erosion rates are equivalent to those determined for terrestrial periglacial environments. Two‐dimensional simulations of some possible degradational processes suggest that fluvial erosion and deposition combined with diffusional creep come closest to producing equivalent degrees of modification through the range of crater diameters investigated in this study (20 to 50 km). However, these processes are inefficient at producing the amount of crater enlargement observed, suggesting that crater interior slopes may have also been undermined by sapping. These results imply that geologic processes related to precipitation dominated the early martian environment. Our working hypothesis is that this precipitation was due to the presence of a primordial atmosphere which condensed and collapsed (i.e., precipitated) into the martian regolith; a process which ceased during the late Hesperian/early Amazonian (3.5 to 1.8 Ga).