Definition
Closely spaced pits found in the thin, ejecta-related deposits of well-preserved Martian and Vesta impact craters.
Description
Bowl-shaped depressions that range in size from a few meters to more than ~3 km in diameter, but most pits are < ~200 m in diameter. These pits occur on the floors, terraces, and exterior ejecta deposits of fresh craters (Tornabene et al. 2012; Fig. 1). The pits commonly occur in closely spaced groups or clusters whose individual pits are so close together that their rims share straight segments situated between individual pits (Fig. 2). The tendency for the pits in these closely spaced groups to be nearly circular and to share straight rim segments produces a geometry that resembles a 2-D cross section through soap froth or a honeycomb. There are isolated pits that do not exhibit shared rims, but in general pits occur within closely packed groups with rims that do not appear to be raised above the surrounding terrain. In contrast, isolated pits...
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References
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Boyce, J.M. (2014). Clusters of Small Closely Spaced Pits in Ejecta-Related Deposits. In: Encyclopedia of Planetary Landforms. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-9213-9_101-1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-9213-9_101-1
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