New findings and appraisal of structural control on polygonal impact crater rim-geometry, a study from Mare Fecunditatis, Moon

Abstract

Polygonal Impact Craters (PICs), having a distinct polygonal rim geometry, are common on terrestrial planets, their natural satellites such as Earth’s Moon and the asteroids. The straight segments of PIC-rims are arguably subparallel or oblique to existing fracture/fault planes in their vicinity, and such pre-existing structural weak planes are considered responsible for the shape of the PICs. The Mare Fecunditatis, a lunar maria, preserves mappable PICs as well as different geomorphic features like wrinkle ridges, grabens and pit crater chains which owe their origin to either compressional or extensional faulting. To understand the structural control, if any, on the PIC-rim geometry in Mare Fecunditatis, PICs, both simple and complex, and the deformational features are mapped, superposition relations between them are observed and trends are compared. The comparison between frequency of rim segment trends of the two types of PICs with wrinkle ridges, grabens and pit crater chains, and also statistical correlation between them, interestingly indicate that the wrinkle ridges and grabens are found to have negligible or no influence on the rim geometry of the PICs. Wrinkle ridges, known to be a group of the Mare Fecunditatis' oldest deformation features, are older than most of the preserved craters and are likely to have had control over the PIC shape. However, lack of correlation between the trends of wrinkle ridges and PIC rims indicates that most of the craters were formed after the fractures beneath the old wrinkle ridges ceased to act as mechanical discontinuity planes due to possible induration caused by fracture-filling through concomitant and later magma injection. The PICs dispersed throughout the maria could have avoided the influence of the grabens, the majority of which are located near the margin of the maria. Pit crater chains with possible deep roots and still/recently continued dike activities, were the only available weak planes which could influence the PIC rim shapes.