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U.S. researchers catalog over 635,000 Martian craters


09:21, June 12, 2012

WASHINGTON, June 11 (Xinhua) -- U.S. researchers have outlined and cataloged 635,000 impact craters a kilometer or more in diameter on the Red Planet, according to a study published in the Journal of Geophysical Research -- Planets.

A research team from the University of Colorado's Boulder campus said Monday that its database of impact craters 0.62 miles across or larger on Mars would help in dating the ages of particular regions of the planet.

"This database is a giant tool that will be helpful in scores of future Mars studies ranging from age-dating and erosion to planetary habitability and to other applications we have not even thought of yet," research leader Stuart Robbins said in statement. "In a sense it's like building a new and better hammer, which quickly becomes used by everyone."

The assembly of the new Mars crater database was tedious, said Robbins. "We have all this new information coming from Mars orbiters and landers that have helped generate far better maps illustrating the planet's topography and surface details. I basically analyzed maps and drew crater rim circles for four years. "

According to Robbins, most of the smaller diameter craters on Mars are younger than the largest ones and form the bulk of the planet's crater population. "The basic idea of age dating is that if a portion of the planet's surface has more craters, it has been around longer," he said.

However, he noted, much of the planet has been "resurfaced" by volcanic and erosional activity, essentially erasing older geological features, including craters.


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