Dark-ray and dark-floor craters on Ganymede, and the provenance of large impactors in the Jovian system

The dark-floor and dark-ray craters on the icy Jovian satellite, Ganymede, may derive their visual characteristics from impactor contamination. It is presently hypothesized that the rays darken as a result of the near-surface concentration of impactor material; this could occur, first, due to magnetic sputtering while the rays are bright, and subsequently, once a critical albedo is reached, due to thermal sublimation into discrete icy and nonicy patches. Voyager visible spectra of dark rays indicate that most large-ray systems are 'redder' than grooved or cratered terrains, and are among the 'reddest' units on Ganymede. More than half of the recent impactors on Ganymede may have been reddish D-type asteroids or comets, accounting for the albedos and colors of dark terrains on both Ganymede and Callisto.