JournalofGeophysicalResearch: Planets RESEARCH ARTICLE Topographic power spectra of cratered terrains: 10.1002/2014JE004746 Theory and application to the Moon Key Points: Margaret A. Rosenburg1, Oded Aharonson2, and Re’em Sari3 • Impact cratering produces characteristic variations in the 1Division of Geological and Planetary Sciences, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California, USA, 2Department topographic PSD of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Weizmann Institute of Technology, Rehovot, Israel, 3Racah Institute of Physics, Hebrew • The size-frequency distribution and shape of craters control University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem, Israel PSD variations • We investigate the topographic PSD on model terrains and Impact cratering produces characteristic variations in the topographic power spectral density lunar topography Abstract (PSD) of cratered terrains, which are controlled by the size-frequency distribution of craters and the spectral content (shape) of individual features. These variations are investigated here in two parallel Correspondence to: approaches. First, a cratered terrain model, based on Monte Carlo emplacement of craters and benchmarked M. A. Rosenburg,
[email protected] by an analytical formulation of the one-dimensional PSD, is employed to generate topographic surfaces at a range of size-frequency power law exponents and shape dependencies. For self-similar craters, the slope of the PSD, , varies inversely with that of the production function, , leveling off to 0 at high (surface Citation: Rosenburg, M. A., O. Aharonson, topography dominated by the smallest craters) and maintaining a roughly constant value ( ∼ 2) at low and R. Sari (2015), Topographic (surface topography dominated by the largest craters). The effects of size-dependent shape parameters power spectra of cratered terrains: and various crater emplacement rules are also considered.