Effects of mass transfer between Martian satellites on surface geology

Impacts on planetary bodies can lead to both prompt secondary craters and projectiles that reimpact the target body or nearby companions after an extended period, producing so-called ‘‘sesquinary” craters. Here we examine sesquinary cratering on the moons of Mars. We model the impact that formed Voltaire, the largest crater on the surface of Deimos, and explore the orbital evolution of resulting high-velocity ejecta across 500 years using four-body physics and particle tracking. The bulk of mass transfer to Phobos occurs in the first 10 years after impact, while reaccretion of ejecta to Deimos is predicted to continue out to a 10 year timescale (cf. Soter, S. [1971]. Studies of the Terrestrial Planets. Cornell University). Relative orbital geometry between Phobos and Deimos plays a significant role; depending on the relative true longitude, mass transfer between the moons can change by a factor of five. Of the ejecta with a velocity range capable of reaching Phobos, 25–42% by mass reaccretes to Deimos and 12–21% impacts Phobos. Ejecta mass transferred to Mars is <10%. We find that the characteristic impact velocity of sesquinaries on Deimos is an order of magnitude smaller than those of background (heliocentric) hypervelocity impactors and will likely result in different crater morphologies. The time-averaged flux of Deimos material to Phobos can be as high as 11% of the background (heliocentric) direct-to-Phobos impactor flux. This relatively minor contribution suggests that spectrally red terrain on Phobos (Murchie, S., Erard, S. [1996]. Icarus 123, 63–86) is not caused by Deimos material. However the high-velocity ejecta mass reaccreted to Deimos from a Voltaire-sized impact is comparable to the expected background mass accumulated on Deimos between Voltaire-size events. Considering that the high-velocity ejecta contains only 0.5% of the total mass sent into orbit, sesquinary ejecta from a Voltaire-sized impact could feasibly resurface large parts of the Moon, erasing the previous geological record. Dating the surface of Deimos may be more challenging than previously