1. Bradley Central High School
Mars
Research Proposed By
Bradley Central High School
Physics Honors
Cleveland, TN

2. I. Introduction
Is there a difference between the size of the crater and the ejecta blanket?
Hypothesis
The bigger the crater, the bigger the ejecta blanket.
The smaller the crater, the smaller the ejecta blanket.

3. II. Background General Definitions
Crater- circular bowl shaped depression on a surface such as Earth or Mars.
Ejecta – matter thrown out of a crater by an erupting volcano or during meteorite impact.
Ejecta Blanket- is a generally symmetrical apron of ejecta that surrounds a crater.

5. This is a crater that was formed by a meteor impacting Mars’s surface.
This is the ejecta blanket that was formed by the formation of the crater.

9. Preserved Craters Near perfect craters Raised rims Look New
Can sometimes see ejecta blanket or central peak
Young Crater

10. Modified Craters Craters have been changed or modified
Erosion (wind, water, lava)
Other impacts
Sometimes crater ejecta is visible but looks eroded
Crater may have smooth floor (partially filled in with material or sediment)
Middle-aged craters
Modified Craters

11. Destroyed Craters Look very worn away Rims are broken
Have been severely changed or modified
Crater has been filled in almost completely by sediment
Very old craters
Destroyed Craters

12. Craters on Earth
They are formed on earth by meteor collision, or from volcanic magma, and gas explosions.
Most meteors burn up in the atmosphere as shooting stars before ever colliding with the surface of the Earth.
When a meteor makes it through Earth’s atmosphere without burning up, it strikes the ground faster than the speed of sound.
There have only been about 160 terrestrial impact craters that have been recognized on Earth. Due to the factors that scrape away evidence of a crater, some are never detected.

13. Utilizing Impact Craters to Learn About Planets
Impact craters give several typed of evidence about planets. They excavate and expose material. Their central peaks expose material originally about one-tenth of the crater diameter below the surface. For example, Pieters (1982) found that the central peak of the lunar crater Copernicus has a spectrum not seen in other lunar areas, and he interpreted it as olivine-rich, up thrust material from a 10-k, deep crustal layer.

14. Ejecta Blankets A blanket of debris surrounding an impact crater.
Composed of material ejected from the crater during its formation, and is laid down with stratigraphy inverted from that of the bedrock.
Typically a star-shaped distribution of ejecta around the crater rim.
In addition to rock fragments excavated from the crater, and melted material, surface material from outside the crater may be incorporated by base surge erosion or excavated by secondary craters caused by large ejected blocks.

15. III. Experimental Design
Used the THEMIS camera system from the Mars Odyssey Spacecraft
Visible Imagine System
Focusing on craters and ejecta blankets to determine if there is any relation in their sizes.
Images were within the -45 to 45 latitude
Used 30 images

16. Used JMARS Explored each image Recorded measurements
Image ID
Latitude
Longitude
Type of crater (preserved, modified, destroyed)
Recorded measurements
Diameter left to right of the crater
Diameter top to bottom of the crater
Area of the crater
Area of the crater and ejecta blanket
Noted any additional information of interest

17. Targeting our Image

19. Area of Ejecta Blanket & Crater Additional Info of Interest
IV. Analysis Plan
Image ID
(V# or I#)
Lat.
Long.
Diameter Left to Right
Diameter Top to Bottom
Area of Ejecta Blanket & Crater
Area of crater
Type of Crater
Additional Info of Interest V
43.4
359
1.17
1.10
9.286
0.94
Modified
None 2
4.05
3.76
6.02
1.1 V
0.341
119.3
1.16
2.17
1.118
Preserved 9
358
2.34
2.21
5.59
1.83
40.6
1.54
0.84
25.06
2.24

20. Calculating Area of the Ejecta Blanket
Used a formula to determine the difference of:
Total area of Ejecta Blanket and crater
Total area of only the crater

21. Types Of Craters

22. Area Of Crater vs. Area Of Ejecta Blanket

23. Area Of Crater vs. Area Of Ejecta Blanket

24. Distance Across The Crater Left To Right vs. Top To Bottom

25. Distance Across The Crater Left To Right vs. Top To Bottom

26. Map showing location of Craters Analyzed

27. V. Conclusion The largest known crater on Mars is the Hellas Basin.
It is 2,100 km across and as deep as 9 km in places.
It is surrounded by an ejecta field that stretches 4,000 km from the center of the basin.
In Conclusion…take into account the example of Hellas Basin ..
From this, you can see a

28. For that crater, the ejecta blanket was twice the length in size of the crater. Is that the case for all craters?
Our data looked at area as opposed to length and showed that for the majority of craters the area of the ejecta blanket is three times that of the area of the crater.

29. Initial Research Question
Is there a difference between the area of the crater and the area of the ejecta blanket?
Final Data Analysis
Our evidence supports that the area of the ejecta blanket is generally three times that of the crater.
Additionally
As we examined the crater’s diameters, our data showed that there was a one to one ratio meaning the craters were circular in shape.

30. Stated Hypothesis Results
The bigger the crater area, the bigger the area of the ejecta blanket.
The smaller the crater area, the smaller the area of the ejecta blanket.
Results
The evidence supports the hypothesis that bigger the crater area, the bigger the area of the ejecta blanket.
The evidence also supports the hypothesis that the smaller the crater area, the smaller the area of the ejecta blanket.