资源环境科技发展态势分析平台

A secondary objective for the Perseverance rover mission to Jezero crater, Mars is to collect igneous rocks for analysis on Earth. The mafic crater floor unit (MFU) represents the best candidate. Ten‐meter‐scale craters on the MFU exhibit rocky ejecta, rims, and slopes that indicate resistant rock. The frequency distribution of these craters is, however, low. Comparisons of MFU craters to craters on a lava plain at the InSight landing site reveal that the MFU lacks a granular regolith. Removal of regolith or exhumation of the MFU, explain the rocky crater morphology and low density. Erosion rates, calculated using crater retention timescales of ~2.0 Ga for both locations, are 10^‐3 to 10^‐4 m/Myr. The rates derive from craters impacted into rocky materials on the MFU versus regolith at InSight. The difference in material strength, yet comparable erosion rates, require more vigorous surface processes at Jezero relative to global averages on Mars.