Definition
Secondary-crater chains are lines of regularly spaced rows of three or more secondary craters with similar sizes and apparently identical ages spread out up to tens of kilometers, formed from the ejecta of a single impact event owing to their radial alignment with respect to a nearby large crater.
Description
Craters in secondary chains can be roughly circular to irregular in shape, in many cases overlapping sequentially outward. Secondary chains are usually associated with other secondary craters (secondary-crater field) in a broad zone concentric to the source crater and just beyond the continuous ejecta blanket.
Subtypes
(1) Radial or (rarely) (2) concentric to the parent crater
Formation
These crater chains are interpreted to form by the ejecta of large, basin-forming impacts, usually radial to their source basin, containing craters that overlap sequentially outward (McEwen and Bierhaus 2006∗). Craters often...
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Hagen, T.H. (2015). Secondary-Crater Chain. In: Hargitai, H., Kereszturi, Á. (eds) Encyclopedia of Planetary Landforms. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-3134-3_345
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-3134-3_345
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