Crater production on Titan and surface chronology

¹ Facultad de Ciencias Astronómicas y Geofísicas, Universidad Nacional de La Plata, Paseo del Bosque S/N (1900), La Plata, Argentina
e-mail: nrossignoli@fcaglp.unlp.edu.ar
² Instituto de Astrofísica de La Plata, CCT La Plata - CONICET - UNLP, Paseo del Bosque S/N (1900), La Plata, Argentina
³ Instituto Argentino de Radioastronomía, CCT La Plata – CONICET – CICPBA – UNLP, CC N. 5 (1894), Villa Elisa, Argentina

Received: 15 July 2021
Accepted: 5 January 2022

Abstract

Context. Impact crater counts on the Saturnian satellites are a key element for estimating their surface ages and placing constraints on their impactor population. The Cassini mission radar observations allowed crater counts to be made on the surface of Titan, revealing an unexpected scarcity of impact craters that show high levels of degradation.

Aims. Following previous studies on impact cratering rates on the Saturnian satellites, we modeled the cratering process on Titan to constrain its surface chronology and to assess the role of centaur objects as its main impactors.

Methods. A theoretical model previously developed was used to calculate the crater production on Titan, considering the centaur objects as the main impactors and including two different slopes for the size-frequency distribution (SFD) of the smaller members of their source population. A simple model for the atmospheric shielding effects is considered within the cratering process and our results are then compared with other synthetic crater distributions and updated observational crater counts. This comparison is then used to compute Titan’s crater retention age for each crater diameter.

Results. The cumulative crater distribution produced by the SFD with a differential index of s₂ = 3.5 is found to consistently predict large craters (D > 50km) on the surface of Titan, while it overestimates the number of smaller craters. As both the modeled and observed distributions flatten for craters with D ≲ 25 km due to atmospheric shielding, the difference between the theoretical results and the observational crater counts can be considered as a proxy for the scale to which erosion processes have acted on the surface of Titan throughout the Solar System age. Our results for the surface chronology of Titan indicate that craters with D > 50 km can prevail over the Solar System age, whereas smaller craters may be completely obliterated due to erosion processes acting globally.