Small impact craters in the polar regions of the Moon: Peculiarities of morphometric characteristics

Kokhanov, A. A.; Kreslavsky, M. A.; Karachevtseva, I. P.

doi:10.1134/s0038094615050068

Cited by 16 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 5 publications

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“…Furthermore, the statistical test confirms the differences in d/D ratios between the two groups of craters. Our results support those obtained by Stopar et al [40], Fassett et al [58], and Kokhanov et al [8], who used a different source DTM and included craters smaller than 200 m in diameter.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 92%

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Depth to Diameter Analysis on Small Simple Craters at the Lunar South Pole—Possible Implications for Ice Harboring

et al. 2022

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In this paper, we present a study comparing the depth to diameter (d/D) ratio of small simple craters (200–1000 m) of an area between -88.5 to -90 latitude at the lunar south pole containing Permanent Shadowed Regions (PSRs) versus craters without PSRs. As PSRs can reach temperatures of 110 K and are capable of harboring volatiles, especially water ice, we analyzed the relationship of depth versus diameter ratios and its possible implications for harboring water ice. Variations in the d/D ratios can also be caused by other processes such as degradation, isostatic adjustment, or differences in surface properties. The conducted d/D ratio analysis suggests that a differentiation between craters containing PSRs versus craters without PSRs occurs. Thus, a possible direct relation between d/D ratio, PSRs, and water ice harboring might exist. Our results suggest that differences in the target’s surface properties may explain the obtained results. The resulting d/D ratios of craters with PSRs can help to select target areas for future In-Situ Resource Utilization (ISRU) missions.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 92%

“…In polar regions, PSRs can be excellent cold trap candidates (Kokhanov et al [8] and Rubanenko et al [9]). Due to the low inclination of the spin axis of the Moon relative to the ecliptic (1.54 • ) and the extremely high topography in its south pole, PSRs can become excellent cold traps where ice might be present (Paige et al [10]).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Depth to Diameter Analysis on Small Simple Craters at the Lunar South Pole—Possible Implications for Ice Harboring

et al. 2022

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“…This might seem at odds with remote sensing observations suggesting low amounts of ice (usually 0–5%) in the upper few meters of regolith (e.g., Colaprete et al, 2010; Teodoro et al, 2014). However, Kokhanov et al (2015), followed by Rubanenko et al (2019), used morphometry measurements of small polar craters and suggested significant ice‐rich deposits of up to 50 m thick, particularly at the south pole (Rubanenko et al, 2019). As Cannon and Britt (2020) showed, impact gardening should lead to a desiccated ice‐poor zone in the upper ~50 cm of regolith, which could explain why neutron spectroscopy measurements generally show low hydrogen concentrations inside cold traps (e.g., Teodoro et al, 2014).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Surface ice detected by the Lyman‐Alpha Mapping Project has been interpreted as thin transient frosts (Farrell et al, 2019; Hayne et al, 2015), but detections from Li et al (2018) using the Moon Mineralogy Mapper instrument could represent deposits thicker than mere frost. Most studies have interpreted measurements from the Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite (LCROSS), neutron spectroscopy, and radar as low concentrations of shallow subsurface ice (Campbell & Campbell, 2006; Colaprete et al, 2010; Teodoro et al, 2014; Thomson et al, 2012), although others have interpreted radar signatures (Spudis et al, 2013) and unusually shallow polar craters (Kokhanov et al, 2015; Rubanenko et al, 2019) to favor thicker Mercury‐like (i.e., meter‐thick) ice layers buried under or mixed within regolith. These differing interpretations present challenges for selecting instruments to further study polar volatiles and for resource prospecting and extraction efforts.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Stratigraphy of Ice and Ejecta Deposits at the Lunar Poles

Cannon

Deutsch

Head

et al. 2020

Geophysical Research Letters

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Water ice has been delivered to the lunar poles from different sources over billions of years, but this accumulation was punctuated by large impacts that excavated dry regolith from depth and emplaced it in layers over the poles. Here, we model the resulting stratigraphies of ice and ejecta deposits in the lunar polar regions. Large polar craters were age dated, and their ejecta distributions calculated with standard scaling relations. We then created a Monte Carlo model for ice deposition and ejecta emplacement. Typical model runs showed that deposits in older cold traps (>4 Ga) are divided into two zones: buried ice-rich gigaton deposits and younger more gardened mantles. The latter are consistent with small crater morphometry measurements, but the existence of substantial ice buried at great depths is more difficult to confirm. Rare outlier model runs included Mercury-like cases with significant deposition events in recent history (<200 Ma). Plain Language Summary The polar regions of Earth's Moon have topographic depressions that are never directly exposed to the Sun, so they are cold enough for deposits of ice to exist. Water can get into these regions by water-bearing asteroids colliding with the Moon, or from lunar volcanoes erupting gases that travel to the poles. At the same time, large impact craters that form at the poles eject an enormous amount of soil and rock that could bury existing ice. It is not well understood how these two processes work together to build up deposits that may have alternating layers of ice-rich and ice-poor soil. In this study, we used computer simulations to predict what these layered deposits may look like. We found it is likely that large amounts of relatively pure ice are buried at depth in the oldest deposits, covered with thinner layers hosting less ice. Impact cratering has been the dominant process affecting the lunar poles, but the effects of large polar craters on nearby ice deposits have not been previously addressed. Impact effects have been considered for micrometeoroids (e.g.,

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“…The calculated values are used for analysis of crater degradation and properties of the upper surface layer. Implementations of this tool in research (Kokhanov et al, 2015) shows, that small relatively fresh craters in the lunar polar areas have a significantly lower depth-to-diameter ratio than their counterparts in typical non-polar highlands. Also this tool could be used for the other solid celestial bodies.…”

Section: Small Crater Analysismentioning

confidence: 99%

Automation of Morphometric Measurements for Planetary Surface Analysis and Cartography

Kokhanov

Bystrov

Kreslavsky

et al. 2016

Int. Arch. Photogramm. Remote Sens. Spatial Inf. Sci.

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ABSTRACT:For automation of measurements of morphometric parameters of surface relief various tools were developed and integrated into GIS. We have created a tool, which calculates statistical characteristics of the surface: interquartile range of heights, and slopes, as well as second derivatives of height fields as measures of topographic roughness. Other tools were created for morphological studies of craters. One of them allows automatic placing of topographic profiles through the geometric center of a crater. Another tool was developed for calculation of small crater depths and shape estimation, using C++ programming language. Additionally, we have prepared tool for calculating volumes of relief features from DTM rasters. The created software modules and models will be available in a new developed web-GIS system, operating in distributed cloud environment.

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Small impact craters in the polar regions of the Moon: Peculiarities of morphometric characteristics

Cited by 16 publications

References 5 publications

Depth to Diameter Analysis on Small Simple Craters at the Lunar South Pole—Possible Implications for Ice Harboring

Depth to Diameter Analysis on Small Simple Craters at the Lunar South Pole—Possible Implications for Ice Harboring

Stratigraphy of Ice and Ejecta Deposits at the Lunar Poles

Automation of Morphometric Measurements for Planetary Surface Analysis and Cartography

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