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Volume 60 Supplement 4

Special Issue: Lunar Science with the SELENE “Kaguya” Mission-Prelaunch Studies-

Lunar cratering chronology: Statistical fluctuation of crater production frequency and its effect on age determination

Earth, Planets and Space volume 60, pages 265–270 (2008)Cite this article

Abstract

The crater frequency is often used to determine ages of planetary surfaces. In this study, we evaluate the statistical fluctuation of the crater frequency and its effect on age determination using a Monte Carlo simulation prior to the SELENE (KAGUYA) / Terrain Camera acquiring extensive high-resolution images over the entire Moon. We found that the ages estimated between 2.5 and 3.5 Gyr tend to be too young when there are not enough craters. Age determination for Eratosthenian units is least accurate. The errors defined with 1σ are 0.7 Gyr for units of 100 km2, 0.5 Gyr for units of 1000 km2, and 0.4 Gyr for units of 2500 km2. The maximum error exceeds 20% and is comparable with the error due to the cratering asymmetry.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Space & Astronautical Science, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, 3-1-1 Yoshinodai, Sagamihara, 229-8510, Japan

    Tomokatsu Morota, Jun’ichi Haruyama, Chikatoshi Honda, Yasuhiro Yokota & Makiko Ohtake

  2. Center for Global Environmental Research, National Institute for Environmental Studies, 16-2 Onogawa, Tsukuba, 305-8506, Japan

    Yoshiko Ogawa & Tsuneo Matsunaga

Authors
  1. Tomokatsu Morota
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  2. Jun’ichi Haruyama
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  3. Chikatoshi Honda
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  4. Yasuhiro Yokota
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  5. Makiko Ohtake
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  6. Yoshiko Ogawa
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  7. Tsuneo Matsunaga
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Correspondence to Tomokatsu Morota.

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Morota, T., Haruyama, J., Honda, C. et al. Lunar cratering chronology: Statistical fluctuation of crater production frequency and its effect on age determination. Earth Planet Sp 60, 265–270 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1186/BF03352790

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1186/BF03352790

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