Climate-related Alteration of Craters in the Northern Plains of Mars

Introduction: Impact craters are very helpful for studies of many aspects of surface processes on the Solar system bodies. Here we analyze population of impact craters in the Northern Lowlands of Mars, more specifically, within the typical Vastitas Borealis Formation (VBF) [1]. This is the largest geological unit on Mars. It is thought to have rather uniform age approximately at the Hesperian/Amazonian boundary and accumulation population of relatively large impact craters [2]. These craters were presumably formed in rather similar environment and hence initially had similar morphology. Their formation age is uniformly scattered through the Amazonian. Fig. 1 A – C show examples of craters studied. Crater A has rougher ejecta and obviously fresher ejecta morphology, and hence is younger than crater B. We study systematically morphology and morphometry of the whole crater population to infer information about crater alteration and surface modification processes and their rates through the Amazonian.