The resurfacing history of Venus: Constraints from buffered crater densities

Because of atmospheric shielding and endogenic resurfacing, the population of impact craters on Venus is small (about a thousand) and consists of large craters. This population has been used in numerous studies with the goal of deciphering the geologic and geodynamic history of Venus, but the nearly spatially random nature of the crater population has complicated efforts to understand this history. Here we utilize the recent 1:15 M-scale global geological map of Venus (Ivanov, M.A., Head, J.W. [2011]. Planet. Space Sci. 59, 1559–1600) to help address this problem. The global geological map provides a stratigraphic sequence of units, and known areas where each unit is exposed on the planet. For each crater on Venus we identify the specific geological units predating and postdating the crater. We perform a statistical analysis of this set of observations with a buffered crater density approach, which rigorously and consistently takes into account the large size of craters and the fact that many craters are known to predate and/or postdate more than one unit. In this analysis we consider crater emplacement as random and resurfacing history as determined (although unknown). We obtain formal confidence intervals for the mean ages of geological units and the mean age differences between the pairs of units at the unit boundaries. We find that (1) size–frequency distributions of craters superposed on each unit are consistent with each other; (2) regional plains and stratigraphically older units have similar crater retention ages; (3) stratigraphically younger units have a mean crater retention age significantly younger than the regional plains. These findings are readily and consistently explained by global resurfacing scenarios and are difficult to reconcile with equilibrium resurfacing scenarios. Our analysis also shows that the latest recorded part of intensive resurfacing period lasted on the order of 10% of the mean surface age (tens of millions of years). The termination of intensive resurfacing may or may not be synchronous over the planet. Our results also indicate that there are extended deposits associated with large craters that are almost indiscernible in the radar images, but obscure radar contrasts between predating lava flows. We do not see evidence for any significant and prolonged change of atmospheric pressure following the termination of the intensive resurfacing epoch. 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.