Morphological features and spatial distribution of the lunar Copernican secondary craters
Ke ZHANG1,2, Jianzhong LIU1,2(), Weiming CHENG2,3
1.Lunar and Planetary Science Research Center, Institute of Geochemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guiyang 550002, China 2.University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China 3.State Key Laboratory of Resources and Environmental Information System, Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China
Lunar secondary crater, a kind of geological feature that is easily confused with the primary craters on the Moon, can introduce significant errors in lunar dating. However, it can be used to determine the impact direction of the primary crater, so it is important to identify secondary craters. In this paper, based on remote sensing data and topography data, comprehensive consideration of the spatial location and diameter of the lunar primary crater, the authors selected five typical Copernican primary craters to study the quantitative morphological indices so as to characterize their secondary craters, including depth-diameter ratio, rim height-diameter ratio, irregularity, and ellipticity. On such a basis, the intelligent identification, extraction and spatial distribution of secondary craters were studied. As a result, a total of 17 811 secondary craters were detected, from which a geodatabase was established that included five categories according to location, size, morphological indices, distance, and impact direction of secondary craters. The scale and distribution characteristics of secondary craters were studied based on the distance range from primary crater edge. A new method based on secondary crater major axis was developed. Some conclusions have been reached: ① As for craters size, the lunar mare secondary crater diameter is (2.7±0.11)% of its primary crater diameter, the lunar highland secondary crater diameter is (3±0.3)% of its primary crater diameter. The spatial distribution law is consistent between lunar highland and lunar mare. The secondary distribution distance is (57±7)% of the maximum distribution distance. ②The impact direction of the Tycho crater is W-E. The impact directions of the Copernicus crater and the Kepler crater are SE-NW. The impact directions of the Aristarchus crater and the Jackson crater are NW-SE. This study will be helpful for more accurate study of crater impact direction.
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Ke ZHANG, Jianzhong LIU, Weiming CHENG. Morphological features and spatial distribution of the lunar Copernican secondary craters. Remote Sensing for Land & Resources, 2019, 31(1): 255-263.
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2019, Vol. 31 
), 程维明2,3
