Confirmation and utilization of the ``production function'' size-frequency distributions of Martian impact craters

Abstract

On any planetary surface, impacts of interplanetary bodies create an initial (or ``production function'') size-frequency distribution (SFD) of impact craters. Recent questions have been raised about whether this size distribution can be reliably detected, especially at small sizes. In a test area, we confirm an excellent fit to the distribution we have used previously, at diameters 11 m < D $\lesssim$ 1 km. At D $\gtrsim$ 1 km, images with the High Resolution Stereo Camera (HRSC) allow us to confirm earlier proposals on how the burial of old small craters by lava flows can distort the SFD curve in some areas. As a product of this analysis, we present a new tool for quantitative analysis of geologic processes on Mars, namely use of crater statistics to interpret subsurface structure.