Curtin University researchers have confirmed the frequency of asteroid collisions which formed impact craters on Mars and has been consistent over 600 million years.
The study has been published in Earth and Planetary Science Letters. It has analysed the formation of more than 500 large Martian craters. They have used a crater detection algorithm developed at Curtin. This counts the visible impact craters from a high-resolution image.
Previous studies have suggested spikes in the frequency of asteroid collisions. Curtin’s School of Earth and Planetary Sciences researcher Dr. Anthony Lagain has found that they did not differ much at all for many millions of years.
counting impact craters on a planetary surface is the only way to accurately date geological events, including canyons, rivers and volcanoes. It will help to predict how big future collisions would be.
Previous studies have suggested that there was a spike in the timing and frequency of asteroid collisions. This happened because of the production of debris. Scientists also said, the algorithm could also be adapted to work on other planetary surfaces, such as the Moon.
