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Relative Ages of the Highlands, Lowlands, and Transition Zone Along a Portion of the Mars Crustal Dichotomy from Densities of Visible and Buried Impact CratersUnderstanding the fundamental age relationships of the different parts of the Mars Crustal Dichotomy is essential to fully understanding the events that shaped the early history and formation of the surface of Mars. A dominant question is what are the true relative ages of the Northern Lowlands and the Southern Highlands? Using MOLA data from the Mars Global Surveyor and Viking visual images, a dataset of both buried and visible crater diameters was created over a nine million sq km study area of a section of the dichotomy boundary stretching from Arabia Terra to Utopia Planitia. Cumulative frequency plots on a log-log scale were used to determine the relative ages for the Highlands, the Lowlands, and the Transition Zone, separately for the visible, the buried and the combined total (visible+ buried) populations. We find the overall Highland crater population in this area is slightly older than the Lowlands, consistent with previous global studies, but the Lowlands and Transition Zone are also very old and formed at roughly the same time. It appears that the formation of the Lowlands in this region formed contemporaneously with a large-scale resurfacing event in the Highlands, perhaps caused by the process responsible for the Lowland formation.
Document ID
20050167821
Acquisition Source
Headquarters
Document Type
Conference Paper
Authors
DeSoto, G. E.
(Wright State Univ. Dayton, OH, United States)
Frey, H. V.
(NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Greenbelt, MD, United States)
Date Acquired
September 7, 2013
Publication Date
January 1, 2005
Publication Information
Publication: Lunar and Planetary Science XXXVI, Part 4
Subject Category
Geophysics
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Public Use Permitted.
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