Impact Craters Large and Small: Exploring Target Environments on Mars, the Moon, and Europa

My dissertation work uses numerical models to examine geophysical problems and processes related to small and large impact craters on three different planetary bodies. Two projects examine the post-impact modification and potential removal of small craters through topographic relaxation based on the subsurface structures, material rheology, and thermal environments on Mars and the Moon. For Mars I investigate the potential subsurface ice extent and abundance around the Phoenix landing site through its capability to relax small craters to resemble observed shallow palimpsest craters in the region. For the Moon I demonstrate that small craters emplaced on freshly solidified melt sheets of mare or highlands material are unable to relax due to the stiff rheologies despite significantly elevated subsurface thermal profiles. In my third project I use hydrocode modeling to simulate the formation of large-scale impact basins on Europa’s seafloor, exploring various scenarios of its interior layering.