Landscape evolution of planetary surfaces: Comparative analysis of impact craters in the solar system

我的研究计划的长期目标是了解行星表面如何随着时间的推移而演变，并描述塑造这些景观的过程。为了实现这些目标，我将研究太阳系行星和卫星表面撞击坑的形态和分布。撞击坑在太阳系中是一个普遍存在的过程，大多数行星和卫星都保留着过去撞击留下的数千个疤痕。通过将无空气世界上的新陨石坑与有大气层的行星上更退化的陨石坑进行比较，我们可以量化已经发生的修改量，并限制影响行星表面演变的过程。 这项研究计划旨在确定太阳系中不同世界的陨石坑如何随时间演变。这将通过三个主要目标来实现： 1.描述类地行星上的新撞击坑：月球和金星上的撞击坑提供了与地球上观测到的撞击坑相对原始的类似物。在年轻、新鲜的陨石坑周围经常观察到的一个特征是撞击熔化物的流动状沉积物。我们将使用美国宇航局的月球勘测轨道飞行器（LRO）和麦哲伦使命的公开数据，探讨几个假设的起源和侵位的熔体流周围的撞击坑类地行星。 2.比较类地行星上的撞击坑形态：利用目标1中获得的数据，我们将研究侵蚀在塑造地球撞击坑中所起的作用。我们将比较地球上的陨石坑的地形剖面与其他类地行星上的陨石坑，并使用公开可用的景观演变模型来约束负责其修改的侵蚀类型。 3.限制修改土卫六上的撞击坑的过程：像地球一样，土星的卫星土卫六在其表面上缺乏可识别的撞击坑。我们将分析来自美国宇航局卡西尼号航天器的数据，以了解土卫六上影响陨石坑退化的过程。我们将提取土卫六陨石坑的光谱，并将其与不同降解机制的预期成分进行比较。 通过实现拟议的目标，我们将获得宝贵的数据，这些数据可用于确定随着时间的推移改变陨石坑的过程，这对于了解地球和其他行星的景观演变至关重要。该研究方案将为研究生和本科生一级的高素质人才提供培训机会，使他们为遥感领域的职业生涯做好准备，这是加拿大工业和政府的一个高度优先领域。

The long-term objective of my research program is to understand how planetary surfaces evolve over time, and characterize the processes working to shape these landscapes. To achieve these goals, I will study the morphology and distribution of impact craters on the surface of planets and satellites in the solar system. Impact cratering is a ubiquitous process in the solar system, with most planets and moons retaining thousands of scars from past impacts. By comparing fresh craters on airless worlds to their more degraded counterparts on planets with atmospheres, we can quantify the amount of modification that has occurred and constrain the processes that affect the evolution of planetary surfaces. This research program aims to determine how craters evolve over time on different worlds in the solar system. This will be accomplished through three main objectives: 1. Characterize fresh impact craters on terrestrial planets: Impact craters on the Moon and Venus provide relatively pristine analogues for craters observed on the Earth. One feature that is commonly observed around young, fresh craters is flow-like deposits of impact melt. We will use publicly available data from NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) and the Magellan mission to explore several hypotheses regarding the origin and emplacement of melt flows around impact craters on terrestrial planets. 2. Compare impact crater morphology on terrestrial planets: Using data obtained in Objective 1, we will investigate the role that erosion has played in shaping the Earth’s impact craters. We will compare the topographic profiles of craters on Earth to craters on other terrestrial planets, and use publicly available landscape evolution models to constrain the type of erosion responsible for their modification. 3. Constrain the processes modifying impact craters on Titan: Like the Earth, Saturn’s moon Titan has a dearth of recognizable impact craters on its surface. We will analyze data from NASA’s Cassini spacecraft to understand the processes that effect crater degradation on Titan. We will extract spectra of Titan’s craters, and compare them to the compositions expected from different degradation mechanisms. By carrying out the proposed objectives, we will obtain valuable data that can be used to identify the processes working to modify craters over time, critical for understanding the landscape evolution of the Earth and other planets. This research program will provide opportunities for training Highly Qualified Personnel at the postgraduate and undergraduate levels, preparing them for careers in the field of remote sensing, a high priority area for Canadian industry and government.