Impact crater degradation, Oxia Planum, Mars

Abstract

The main goal of the European Space Agency (ESA) and Roscosmos ExoMars rover mission is to collect samples from the near-subsurface of Mars. The rover will look for any physical or chemical evidence of ancient life in the near subsurface. This map shows the distribution of impact craters at this proposed landing site in Oxia Planum on Mars. The map records 1199 impact craters > 500 m in diameter in a 5.0° × 2.5° region around Oxia Planum. The impact craters are symbolised based on the way different aspects of their morphology have degraded since their formation. The distribution of degradation and burial morphologies of impact craters can be used to determine where burial and erosion processes have occurred. Because the formation of impact craters is well constrained, occurs instantly and with a predictable flux, future studies could use this knowledge and our dataset to constrain when these events occurred.