Skip to main content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

The missing large impact craters on Ceres

July 26, 2016

Asteroids provide fundamental clues to the formation and evolution of planetesimals. Collisional models based on the depletion of the primordial main belt of asteroids predict 10–15 craters >400 km should have formed on Ceres, the largest object between Mars and Jupiter, over the last 4.55 Gyr. Likewise, an extrapolation from the asteroid Vesta would require at least 6–7 such basins. However, Ceres’ surface appears devoid of impact craters >~280 km. Here, we show a significant depletion of cerean craters down to 100–150 km in diameter. The overall scarcity of recognizable large craters is incompatible with collisional models, even in the case of a late implantation of Ceres in the main belt, a possibility raised by the presence of ammoniated phyllosilicates. Our results indicate that a significant population of large craters has been obliterated, implying that long-wavelength topography viscously relaxed or that Ceres experienced protracted widespread resurfacing.

Publication Year 2016
Title The missing large impact craters on Ceres
DOI 10.1038/ncomms12257
Authors S. Marchi, A. Ermakov, C.A. Raymond, R.R. Fu, D.P. O'Brien, Michael T. Bland, E. Ammannito, M.C. De Sanctis, Tim Bowling, P. Schenk, J.E.C. Scully, D.L. Buczkowski, D.A. Williams, H. Hiesinger, C.T. Russell
Publication Type Article
Publication Subtype Journal Article
Series Title Nature Communications
Index ID 70175237
Record Source USGS Publications Warehouse
USGS Organization Astrogeology Science Center