DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.16915341
title: Updated database of craters on Mars with pitted impact deposits

description: This point-based database (provided in two formats: as a ESRI shapefile set and simple .csv) currently contains 312 craters on Mars that possess “crater-related pitted materials” (CRPM), which are consistent with impact deposits described in detail in Tornabene et al. (2007; 2012). The Tornabene et al. (2012) publication is the original source of the initial database of 204 craters, which was based on a survey by the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) over a period of late 2006 to early 2012. MRO continues to image the surface and its craters, as such the database has since grown from 204 to 312 entries to date. Despite this growth, the general characteristics of the crater population remains generally consistent with what is described in Tornabene et al. (2012) (e.g., size range, latitudinal and elevation distribution, etc.).

When present, these pitted impact deposits represent the upper most surface of the crater-fill with the pits potentially representing top-down views of so-called degassing pipes observed only in eroded cross-sections at some terrestrial impact structures such as the Ries in Germany (e.g., Caudill et al., 2021). Therefore, the craters that contain pits and preserve them well are themselves amongst the very best-preserved and often youngest craters of their size-class on Mars. Indeed, some of these craters are observed to have far-reaching (10s to 100s of crater radii) thermal / secondary crater rays (e.g., Tornabene et al. 2006), which is considered to be a feature associated with only the best-preserved and youthful craters on planets/moons with solid surfaces.

These craters have enabled us to place further constraints on the scaling of crater depth as a function of diameter for complex craters on Mars (Tornabene et al. 2018) and may even help us to ultimately determine where the only samples we have of Mars — the Martain Meteorites — come from.

See README rtf file for further details on the database.

 

Versions8.20.2025b: 3rd version upload - fixed 1 duplicate (312 entries), caught some additional updates with respect to new official crater names, and CTX image IDs.

8.20.2025: 2nd version with an increase to 313 entries with some updates to preservation ratings, image IDs, etc.

5.3.2023: 1st version uploaded with 300 entries

 

Main references (*original/source  database):

*Tornabene, L.L., Osinski, G.R., McEwen, A.S., Boyce, J.M., Bray, V.J., Caudill, C.M., Grant, J.A., Hamilton, C.W., Mattson, S. and Mouginis-Mark, P.J., 2012. Widespread crater-related pitted materials on Mars: Further evidence for the role of target volatiles during the impact process. Icarus, 220(2), pp.348-368. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.icarus.2012.05.022

Tornabene, L.L., McEwen, A.S., Osinski, G.R., Mouginis-Mark, P.J., Boyce, J.M., Williams, R.M.E., Wray, J.J. and Grant, J.A., 2007. Impact melting and the role of subsurface volatiles: Implications for the formation of valley networks and phyllosilicate-rich lithologies on early Mars. In International Conf. on Mars VII. Lunar Planet. Sci. Inst. Contri (Vol. 1353), Abstract# 3288.

Other references:

Tornabene, L.L., Moersch, J.E., McSween Jr, H.Y., McEwen, A.S., Piatek, J.L., Milam, K.A. and Christensen, P.R., 2006. Identification of large (2–10 km) rayed craters on Mars in THEMIS thermal infrared images: Implications for possible Martian meteorite source regions. Journal of Geophysical Research: Planets, 111(E10).

Boyce, J.M., Wilson, L., Mouginis-Mark, P.J., Hamilton, C.W. and Tornabene, L.L., 2012. Origin of small pits in martian impact craters. Icarus, 221(1), pp.262-275.

Denevi, B.W., Blewett, D.T., Buczkowski, D.L., Capaccioni, F., Capria, M.T., De Sanctis, M.C., Garry, W.B., Gaskell, R.W., Le Corre, L., Li, J.Y. and Marchi, S., 2012. Pitted terrain on Vesta and implications for the presence of volatiles. Science, 338(6104), pp.246-249.

Sizemore, H.G., Platz, T., Schorghofer, N., Prettyman, T.H., De Sanctis, M.C., Crown, D.A., Schmedemann, N., Neesemann, A., Kneissl, T., Marchi, S. and Schenk, P.M., 2017. Pitted terrains on (1) Ceres and implications for shallow subsurface volatile distribution. Geophysical Research Letters, 44(13), pp.6570-6578.

Tornabene, L.L., Watters, W.A., Osinski, G.R., Boyce, J.M., Harrison, T.N., Ling, V. and McEwen, A.S., 2018. A depth versus diameter scaling relationship for the best-preserved melt-bearing complex craters on Mars. Icarus, 299, pp.68-83.

Caudill, C., Osinski, G.R., Greenberger, R.N., Tornabene, L.L., Longstaffe, F.J., Flemming, R.L. and Ehlmann, B.L., 2021. Origin of the degassing pipes at the Ries impact structure and implications for impact‐induced alteration on Mars and other planetary bodies. Meteoritics & Planetary Science, 56(2), pp.404-422.

Michalik, T., Matz, K.D., Schröder, S.E., Jaumann, R., Stephan, K., Krohn, K., Preusker, F., Raymond, C.A., Russell, C.T. and Otto, K.A., 2021. The unique spectral and geomorphological characteristics of pitted impact deposits associated with Marcia crater on Vesta. Icarus, 369, p.114633.