Definition
Secondary craters are shallow and elongate impact craters formed by fragments ejected by a hypervelocity impact that formed a larger (primary) impact crater.
Description
Their shape is elongate or irregular. Secondary craters are shallower than primary ones. Adjacent secondaries tend to be more shallow than distant secondaries (Bierhaus and Schenk 2010). They often have a V-shaped ridge (“Herringbone Pattern”) that points toward the parent crater. This V-shaped ejecta gives them a splashed appearance. Coalesced secondary craters form a zone beyond the continuous ejecta blanket (“Secondary Crater Field”). The size of secondary craters becomes larger with increasing primary crater size. Secondary craters are also found beyond the edge of layered ejecta morphology of layered ejecta craters on Mars (“Combination Ejecta”).
Subtypes
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Adjacent secondary: they typically form a...
Keywords
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References
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Hargitai, H. (2014). Secondary Crater. In: Encyclopedia of Planetary Landforms. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-9213-9_339-1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-9213-9_339-1
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