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Cratering of Terrestrial Planets: Brief Review

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  30 March 2016

William K. Hartmann
William K. Hartmann*
Affiliation:
Planetary Science Institute Tucson, Arizona 85719, U.S.A.

Abstract

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Analysis of cratering on all terrestrial planets and satellites has produced tools to study (1) the past meteoroid and planetesimal environment, (2) the erosive environments of planetary surfaces, and (3) the relative and absolute ages of planetary surface units. Important findings include a decline in lunar crater production rate from a value 4 x 109 years ago that was thousands of times higher than the present, to present values which have been relatively constant for 2 to 3 x 109 years; evidence for an erosive period or periods on Mars that degraded many Martian craters but declined substantially at some time in the past; and the concept of destruction of primeval planetary surfaces by early intense cratering and production of a mega-regolith.

Type
Joint Dicussions
Information
Highlights of Astronomy , Volume 4 , Issue 1: Highlights of Astronomy. As presented at the XVIth General Assembly of the IAU, 1976 (Part I) , 1977 , pp. 229 - 232
Copyright
Copyright © Reidel 1977

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