Impact crater formation in icy layered terrains on Mars

By L. E. Senft, S. Stewart. 2006

155 citations recorded by the source corpus.

Abstract— We present numerical simulations of crater formation under Martian conditions with a single near‐surface icy layer to investigate changes in crater morphology between glacial and interglacial periods. The ice fraction, thickness, and depth to the icy layer are varied to understand the systematic effects on observable crater features. To accurately model impact cratering into ice, a new equation of state table and strength model parameters for H2O are fitted to laboratory data. The presence of an icy layer significantly modifies the cratering mechanics. Observable features demonstrated by the modeling include variations in crater morphometry (depth and rim height) and icy infill of the crater floor during the late stages of crater formation. In addition, an icy layer modifies the velocities, angles, and volumes of ejecta, leading to deviations of ejecta blanket thickness from the predicted power law. The dramatic changes in crater excavation are a result of both the shock impedance and the strength mismatch between layers of icy and rocky materials. Our simulations suggest that many of the unusual features of Martian craters may be explained by the presence of icy layers, including shallow craters with well‐preserved ejecta blankets, icy flow related features, some layered ejecta structures, and crater lakes. Therefore, the cratering record implies that near‐surface icy layers are widespread on Mars.

Subfields: Astronomy and Astrophysics, Atmospheric Science

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/b5823bb6a889181de080741441ded57200841d43

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Citations in the corpus

Validation of numerical codes for impact and explosion cratering: Impacts on strengthless and metal targets (2008, background): “Independent tabular equations of state have been developed over the years for individual materials, such water ice (Ivanov 2005; Senft and Stewart 2008), taking advantages of a combination of available data and numerical codes.”
Full numerical simulations of catastrophic small body collisions (2008, methodology): “For a full description of the 5-phase H2O EOS, see Senft and Stewart (2008).”