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The role of pre-existing faults and fractures in shaping polygonal impact craters and its tectonic implications in the southern Margaritifer Terra region, Mars

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Abstract

The presence of polygonal-shaped craters, i.e., craters with complete or incomplete polygonal rims along with circular or elliptical outlines, on the surface of celestial bodies has been known for nearly a century. However, many investigations on their distribution and formation have not been carried out, until recently. Scientists have proposed that the polygonal shapes of the crater rims owe their origin to the pre-existing structurally weak planes like faults/fractures in the area adjacent to the impact. The present study area is the southern part of Margaritifer Terra, Mars; a mid-Noachian terrain, which has craters of different morphologies, including the polygonal impact craters (PICs). The study focuses on the reason for the development of PICs by identification and mapping of a population of 50 selected polygonal craters along with morphotectonic features namely grabens, wrinkle ridges, and lobate scarps. The analysis of orientations of the straight segments of polygonal crater rims shows marked resemblance with orientations of these morphotectonic features conforming to their control on the rim geometries.

Research highlights

  • Structural mapping of the southern Margaritifer Terra region, Mars.

  • Generating rose diagrams and line graphs for the orientation of the straight edges of polygonal craters and the morphotectonic features within the southern Margaritifer Terra region.

  • Conducting statistical F-test to find out the bearing of weak planes on the formation of PICs.

  • Finding out the presence of buried weak planes by comparing the rose diagrams and spike graphs.

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Acknowledgement

The authors acknowledge a RESPOND program research grant from Space Applications Centre–ISRO with DOS sanction order No.-ISRO/RES/3/819/19-20.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Asutosh College, 92, Shyama Prasad Mukherjee Road, Kolkata, India

    Supratik Basu, Abhik Kundu & Dipayan Dasgupta

  2. Presidency University, 86/1, College Street, Kolkata, India

    Nilanjan Dasgupta

  3. Space Applications Centre, Jodhpur Tekra, Ambawadi Vistar P.O., Ahmedabad, India

    Satadru Bhattacharya

Authors
  1. Supratik Basu
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  2. Nilanjan Dasgupta
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  3. Abhik Kundu
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  4. Satadru Bhattacharya
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  5. Dipayan Dasgupta
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Contributions

SB: Investigation, data generation and analysis, data curation, writing – original draft. ND: Writing – review and editing, inference drawn. AK: Original idea, Writing – review and editing. SB: Writing – review and editing. DD: Data generation and analysis.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Abhik Kundu.

Additional information

Communicated by Saibal Gupta

Supplementary material pertaining to this article is available on the Journal of Earth System Science website (http://www.ias.ac.in/Journals/Journal_of_Earth_System_Science).

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Basu, S., Dasgupta, N., Kundu, A. et al. The role of pre-existing faults and fractures in shaping polygonal impact craters and its tectonic implications in the southern Margaritifer Terra region, Mars. J Earth Syst Sci 131, 97 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12040-022-01857-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12040-022-01857-6

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