Publication Date:
2023-08-02
Description:
Polygonal impact craters (PIC) are impact craters that have at least one straight rim segment in planform [1, 2, 3]. They exist on both rocky and icy planetary bodies [4]. To our knowledge no studies on PICs have been carried out for Ganymede. Here we are examining the straight segments of PICs and their relationship with adjacent lineaments or fractures. We use the global mosaic prepared by [5]. We identified and mapped 459 PICs across Ganymede whose diameter ranges from 5 km to 153 km despite the resolution limits and different illumination angles. Most of these PICs exhibit a central peak or a pit, with a minor fraction of them showing a dome. Straight rim segments of PICs align with the linear features adjacent to them and indicate that such lineaments are not exclusively surface features but lead to a localization of deformation and influence the cratering process. On light terrain, they are majorly affected by the ridges and grooves of light grooved terrain. Whereas, on dark terrain, they are majorly affected by furrows and fractures. On a global scale, PICs density is concentrated in areas of intense faulting/fracturing like regions in Uruk Sulcus (of light terrain) and Galileo Regio (of dark terrain). REFERENCES: [1] Fielder, G. (1961) PSS. 8(1), 1-8. [2] Beddingfield et al. (2016) Icarus 274, 163-194. [3] Beddingfield and Cartwright (2020) Icarus 343, 113687. [4] Öhman et al. (2010) Geolog. Soc. Special Papers 465, 51–65. [5] Kersten et al. (2022) EPSC abstract, (pp. EPSC2022-450).
Language:
English
Type:
info:eu-repo/semantics/conferenceObject
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