Consistent asteroid showers rock previous thinking on Mars craters

Credit: Curtin University

Over the past 600 million years, there have been consistent impact craters on Mars.

A study published in Earth and Planetary Science Letters analyzed the formation of more than 500 large Martian craters using a crater detection algorithm developed at Curtin University.

Dr. Anthony Lagain, from the School of Earth and Planetary Sciences, said his research had found that asteroids did not change much for millions of years.

The only way to accurately date geological events such as canyons, rivers and volcanoes is to count impact craters on a planetary surface.

The history of our planet is erased by the erosion of plate tectonics. Dr. Lagain said that studying planetary bodies of our Solar System helps us understand the evolution of our planet.

The detection of impact craters is provided by the crater detection algorithm, which gives us a thorough understanding of the formation of impact craters, including their size and quantity.

Dr. Lagain said that previous studies had shown that there was a spike in the timing and frequencies of asteroids colliding.

The creation of impact craters is thought to be affected by the break into pieces of bodies that occur when big bodies smash into each other.

It is unlikely that debris caused any changes to the formation of impact craters.

The leader of the team that created the algorithm said it could be adapted to work on other planets.

Professor Benedix said that the formation of thousands of lunar craters can now be dated automatically and their formation frequencies analyzed at a higher resolution to investigate their evolution.

This will give us valuable information that could be useful in the future, such as the detection of bushfires and the classification of land use.

The paper asks if the impact of small and large asteroids varied through time on Mars, the Earth and the Moon.

Anthony Lagain and his co-authors wrote about the impact of small and large asteroids on Mars, the Earth and the Moon. The article is titled: "Poi:10.1016/j.epsl.2021.117362".

The Earth and Planetary Science Letters is a journal.

There were asteroid showers on Mars craters on January 21 and January 22.

The document is copyrighted. Any fair dealing for the purpose of private study or research cannot be reproduced without written permission. The information provided is for educational purposes.