Full Description
Planetary surfaces throughout the Solar System, and the current interest in impacts on the Earth, attest to the importance of impact cratering as a geological process. Impact craters have been identified on all but one of the planetary surfaces we have explored. The authors document the wide variety of crater types that have been observed on the planetary surfaces explored to date, approaching the subject in the context of comparative planetology. Each chapter focusses on a specific crater morphology and discusses what the craters tell us about the surfaces of bodies on which they are found. This approach illustrates not only impact craters themselves, but also emphasizes similarities and differences in crater morphology throughout the Solar System and the implications thereof.
Contents
What are impact craters and what can we learn from them?.- The Cratering Process.- Simple Craters.- Complex Craters.- Multiple Ring Craters.- Craters on Small Bodies.- Crater Populations and Surface Ages.
