Rampart Craters in the Isidis Planitia, Mars: Remote sensing analysis and environment implications

被引：0
作者：
Gou S. [1 ,2 ,3 ]
Yue Z. [1 ,4 ]
Di K. [1 ,4 ]
Niu S. [2 ]
机构：
[1] State Key Laboratory of Remote Sensing Science, Aerospace Information Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing
[2] State Key Laboratory of Lunar and Planetary Sciences, Macau University of Science and Technology, Macau
[3] Macau Center for Space Exploration and Science, China National Space Administration, Macau
[4] Center for Excellence in Comparative Planetology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Hefei
来源：
National Remote Sensing Bulletin | 2021年 / 25卷 / 07期
基金：
中国国家自然科学基金;
关键词：
Absolute model ages; Isidis Planitia; Mars; Rampart craters; Subsurface ice-rich layer; Thumbprint terrain; Tianwen-1;
D O I：
10.11834/jrs.20211052
中图分类号：
学科分类号：
摘要：
Isidis Planitia is a potential landing area for China's first Mars exploration mission "Tianwen-1." Fingerprint terrain and rampart crater are widely developed on the surface of Isidis Planitia. The rampart crater has one or more fluidized ejecta, which is generally considered the product of the interaction between the subsurface ice-rich layer and the hypervelocity impactor. Considering that water is an essential nutrient that nurtures and maintains all known life forms, the water evolution history of Mars has always been a research hotspot in the planetary community. Therefore, a detailed study on the rampart craters in the Isidis Planitia can provide strong constraints for analyzing the current and past subsurface ice-rich layers in this region.Through the use of high-resolution optical images obtained by the Context Camera (CTX) onboard the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO), a comprehensive study has been performed on the rampart craters in the Isidis Planitia using image interpretation, morphologic analysis, and crater count dating. The morphometric parameters of the rampart craters, including ejecta mobility and lobateness, are calculated for all the identified rampart craters in this region. Moreover, the absolute model ages (AMAs) of representative rampart craters that have intact fluidized ejecta are determined by the Crater Size-Frequency Distribution (CSFD) measurement.This study found that 120 rampart craters are currently located in the Isidis Planitia. Their minimum diameter is 1.5 km, and most of their layered ejecta are highly irregular (sinuous) and extend to approximately 1.3 crater radii from the rim. The AMAs of 15 rampart craters reveal that they all formed in the Amazonian. According to the spatial superposition relationship between the rampart crater and the fingerprint terrain, this study infers that that the cones of the fingerprint terrain were formed in the Early Amazonian between 2.38-3.24 Ga, and they are more likely to be rootless cones/pseudo craters formed by explosive steam that break through the lava surface when a voluminous magma flows through wet or frozen ground and vaporizes the underlying (melt) water. According to the empirical formula between crater diameter and excavation depth, this study reveals that the depth of the subsurface ice-rich layer that is conducive to the formation of rampart crater in the Isidis Planitia is currently stable at least approximately 1 km and may rise or fall slightly by 0.1 km because of the effect of periodic changes of Mars' tilt (obliquity) on the climate.The results of this study are of great scientific significance for reconstructing the evolution history of the subsurface ice environment in the Isidis Planitia and are expected to be verified by the detection of the subsurface exploration radar onboard the rover and orbiter of the "Tianwen-1" probe. © 2021, Science Press. All right reserved.
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页码：1374 / 1384
页数：10
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