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的陨石坑形态和分布。在太阳系中，陨石坑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伤疤。通过比较没有空气的星球上的新陨石坑和有大气的行星上的退化程度更高的陨石坑，我们可以量化已经发生的变化的数量，并限制影响行星表面演变的过程。这个研究项目旨在确定太阳系中不同星球上的陨石坑是如何随着时间的推移而演变的。这将通过三个主要目标来实现：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相对原始的类似于在地球上观察到的陨石坑。在新形成的陨石坑周围经常观察到的一个特征是流状的撞击熔体沉积物。我们将使用来自美国宇航局月球勘测轨道飞行器（LRO）和麦哲伦号任务的公开可用数据，探索关于类地行星撞击坑周围熔体流的起源和位置的几种假设。* * * 2。比较类地行星上的撞击坑形态：使用目标1中获得的数据，我们将研究侵蚀在形成地球撞击坑中所起的作用。我们将把地球上陨石坑的地形剖面与其他类地行星上的陨石坑进行比较，并使用公开可用的景观演化模型来约束导致它们变化的侵蚀类型。限制对土卫六上陨石坑的修改过程：像地球一样，土星的卫星土卫六在其表面缺乏可识别的陨石坑。我们将分析来自美国宇航局卡西尼号宇宙飞船的数据，以了解影响土卫六陨石坑退化的过程。我们将提取土卫六陨石坑的光谱，并将其与不同降解机制预期的成分进行比较。***通过实施提出的目标，我们将获得宝贵的数据，可用于确定随着时间的推移而改变陨石坑的过程，这对于了解地球和其他行星的景观演变至关重要。该研究项目将为培养研究生和本科水平的高素质人才提供机会，为他们在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的领域

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.**