Rim Slumping inside pre-Nectarian Gamov

Faulting of a crater rim. Downhill to lower right, LROC Narrow Angle Camera (NAC) M187307653L & R, LRO orbit 12672, March 25, 2012; field of view approximately 1.9 km across, resolution 1.79 meters per pixel from 189.55 km [NASA/GSFC/Arizona State University].

Lillian Ostrach
LROC News System

Post-impact modification is frequently observed in LROC NAC images, because post-impact modification begins as soon as the impact crater has formed and ejecta emplaced. Impact crater formation is a violent process, so it should be no surprise that the target rock surrounding the impact site may be fractured and faulted, especially near the crater rim.

Today's Featured Image of the northern rim of an unnamed about 8.5 km diameter crater (64.754°N, 145.546°E) focuses on the faulted nature of the crater rim and evidence for mass wasting.

12.2 km wide field of view from the LROC NAC mosaic showing the entirety of the left and right frames of observation M187307653. The area highlighted in the LROC Featured Image further up is outlined by the white square [NASA/GSFC/Arizona State University].

The upper portion of the opening image is the outer flank of the crater, the fractures represent the crater rim "edge" (the lower portion of the image is the steep interior wall). As time passes and materials (blocks, fine-grained material) are dislodged from the rim and crater wall, the crater rim erodes and degrades, expanding outward (the diameter of the crater actually increases, while its depth decreases).

LROC Wide Angle Camera (WAC) monochrome mosaic highlighting a bowl-shaped crater superposed in pre-Nectarian Gamow crater. An asterisk denotes location of the area seen at high resolution in opening image [NASA/GSFC/Arizona State University].

Some examples of this "slope retreat" of the crater rim are very obvious, whereas others, like today's example, are less so. Today's example shows small-scale slumping of the crater wall as opposed to larger-scale slumping of massive portions of rim material. Perhaps the smaller size of this crater compared to other examples is the reason the slope retreat does not appear well-developed, or maybe the failure of rim faults is less pronounced due to pre-existing target properties (e.g., highly fractured nature of the highlands, impact into floor material of a larger crater, etc.).

Explore this farside simple crater for yourself in the full LROC NAC image, HERE.

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