Revised recommended methods for analyzing crater size-frequency distributions |
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| Authors: | Stuart J Robbins Jamie D Riggs Brian P Weaver Edward B Bierhaus Clark R Chapman Michelle R Kirchoff Kelsi N Singer Lisa R Gaddis |
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| Institution: | 1. Southwest Research Institute, 1050 Walnut Street, Suite 300, Boulder, Colorado, 80302 USA;2. Northwestern University, 339 East Chicago Ave., Chicago, Illinois, 60611 USA;3. Statistical Sciences, CCS-6, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, New Mexico, 87545 USA;4. Lockheed Martin Space Systems Company, P.O. Box 5. 179, Mail Stop S8100, Denver, Colorado, 80201 USA;6. U.S. Geological Survey, Astrogeology Science Center, Flagstaff, Arizona, 86001 USA |
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| Abstract: | Impact crater populations help us to understand solar system dynamics, planetary surface histories, and surface modification processes. A single previous effort to standardize how crater data are displayed in graphs, tables, and archives was in a 1978 NASA report by the Crater Analysis Techniques Working Group, published in 1979 in Icarus. The report had a significant lasting effect, but later decades brought major advances in statistical and computer sciences while the crater field has remained fairly stagnant. In this new work, we revisit the fundamental techniques for displaying and analyzing crater population data and demonstrate better statistical methods that can be used. Specifically, we address (1) how crater size-frequency distributions (SFDs) are constructed, (2) how error bars are assigned to SFDs, and (3) how SFDs are fit to power-laws and other models. We show how the new methods yield results similar to those of previous techniques in that the SFDs have familiar shapes but better account for multiple sources of uncertainty. We also recommend graphic, display, and archiving methods that reflect computers’ capabilities and fulfill NASA's current requirements for Data Management Plans. |
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