Discrete Element Modelling of Pit Crater Formation on Mars

Pit craters are now recognised as being an important part of the surface morphology and structure of many planetary bodies, and are particularly remarkable on Mars. They are thought to arise from the drainage or collapse of a relatively weak surficial material into an open (or widening) void in a much stronger material below. These craters have a very distinctive expression, often presenting funnel-, cone-, or bowl-shaped geometries. Analogue models of pit crater formation produce pits that typically have steep, nearly conical cross sections, but only show the surface expression of their initiation and evolution. Numerical modelling studies of pit crater formation are limited and have produced some interesting, but nonetheless puzzling, results. Presented here is a high-resolution, 2D discrete element model of weak cover (regolith) collapse into either a static or a widening underlying void. Frictional and frictional-cohesive discrete elements are used to represent a range of probable cover rheologies. Under Martian gravitational conditions, frictional-cohesive and frictional materials both produce cone- and bowl-shaped pit craters. For a given cover thickness, the specific crater shape depends on the amount of underlying void space created for drainage. When the void space is small relative to the cover thickness, craters have bowl-shaped geometries. In contrast, when the void space is large relative to the cover thickness, craters have cone-shaped geometries with essentially planar (nearing the angle of repose) slope profiles. Frictional-cohesive materials exhibit more distinct rims than simple frictional materials and, thus, may reveal some stratigraphic layering on the pit crater walls. In an extreme case, when drainage from the overlying cover is insufficient to fill an underlying void, skylights into the deeper structure are created. This study demonstrated that pit crater walls can exhibit both angle of repose slopes and stable, gentler, collapse slopes. In addition, the simulations highlighted that pit crater depth only provides a very approximate estimate of regolith thickness. Cone-shaped pit craters gave a reasonable estimate (proxy) of regolith thickness, whereas bowl-shaped pit craters provided only a minimum estimate. Finally, it appears that fresh craters with distinct, sharp rims like those seen on Mars are only formed when the regolith had some cohesive strength. Such a weakly cohesive regolith also produced open fissures, cliffs, and faults, and exposed regolith “stratigraphy” in the uppermost part of the crater walls.

Discrete Element Modelling of Pit Crater Formation on Mars

Pit craters, and pit crater chains, are now recognised as being an important part of the surface morphology and structure of many planetary bodies, and are particularly remarkable on Mars. Pit craters do not possess the elevated rims, ejecta deposits, or other features that are typically associated with impact craters. They are thought to arise from the drainage/collapse of a relatively weak surficial material into an open (or widening) void in a much stronger material below. The creation of such voids has been suggested to be due to extensional fracturing/dilational faulting, shallow dike intrusion, lava tube collapse amongst other hypotheses. These craters have a very distinctive expression, often presenting funnel, cone, or bowl-shaped geometries. Analogue models of pit crater formation provide a map-view picture of their initiation and evolution but give little insight into their internal structure or geometry, but produce pits that typically have steep, nearly conical cross sections. Numerical modelling studies of their formation have been limited and have produced some quite interesting, but nonetheless puzzling, results whereby the simulated pit craters had generally convex (steepening downward) slope profiles with no distinct rim; quite unlike many of those observed on Earth or on Mars. To address these issues, I present here a high-resolution, 2D discrete element model of weak cover (regolith) collapse into either a static or a widening underlying void. I use frictional and frictional-cohesive discrete elements to represent a range of probable cover rheologies. Under Martian gravitational conditions, frictional-cohesive and frictional materials produce cone, bowl and scoop-shaped pit craters. For a given cover thickness, the specific crater shape depends on the amount of underlying void space created for drainage. When void space is small relative to cover thickness, craters have bowl or scoop-shaped geometries. In contrast, when void space is large relative to cover thickness, craters have cone-shaped geometries with essentially planar (nearing angle of repose) slope profiles. Frictional-cohesive materials exhibit more distinct rims than simple frictional materials and thus may reveal some stratigraphic layering on the pit crater walls. In the limit, when drainage from the overlying cover is insufficient to fill the underlying void, ´skylights´ into the deeper structure are created. Implications of these results for the interpretation of pit craters on Earth, Mars, other planets and moons are discussed.

Episodic earthquake mechanisms and intervening seismicity during the 2018 summit collapse at Kilauea caldera

<p>The 2018 rift zone eruption of Kilauea volcano was accompanied by a remarkable and episodic collapse of its summit. Between May-August the eruption and collapse sequence included over 70,000 earthquakes (M≥0) and 54 major earthquakes (M≥5). We analyzed the seismicity in the Kilauea summit region and estimated seismic full moment tensors with their uncertainties for the 54 M≥5 events. These events occurred at almost daily intervals and were accompanied by intense seismicity which was concentrated between 0-3 km depths beneath the Halema‘uma‘u pit crater. The hypocenters reveal partial elliptical patterns (map view) that migrated downward by ∼200 m. The moment tensors reveal remarkably consistent mechanisms, with negative isotropic source types and localized uncertainties, and vertical P-axis orientations. From the moment tensors we derived Poisson’s ratios which are variable (ν = 0.1 − 0.3) for the first half of the collapse events and converged to ν ∼ 0.28 from June 26 onward.</p>

Imaging the subsurface structure of pit craters

<p>Pit craters are enigmatic sub-circular depressions observed on rocky and icy planetary bodies across the Solar System. These craters do not primarily form during catastrophic impact or the forcible eruption of subsurface materials, but likely due to collapse of subsurface cavities following fluid (e.g., magma) movement and/or extensional tectonics. Pit craters thus provide important surficial records of otherwise inaccessible subsurface processes. However, unlocking these pit crater archives is difficult because we do not know how their surface expression relates to their subsurface structure or driving mechanisms. As such, there is a variety of hypotheses concerning pit crater formation, which variously relate cavity collapse to: (i) opening of dilatational jogs during faulting; (ii) tensile fracturing; (iii) karst development; (iv) permafrost melting; (v) lava tube evacuation; (vi) volatile release from dyke tip process zones; (vii) pressure waning behind a propagating dike tip; (viii) migration of magma away from a reservoir; and/or (ix) hydrothermal fluid movement inducing host rock porosity collapse. Validating whether these proposed mechanisms can drive pit crater formation and, if so, identifying how the physical characteristics of pits can be used to infer their driving mechanisms, is critical to probing subsurface processes on Earth and other planetary bodies.</p><p>Here we use seismic reflection data from the North Carnarvon Basin offshore NW Australia, which provides ultra-sound like images of Earth’s subsurface, to characterize the subsurface structure of natural pit craters. We extracted geometrical data for 61 pits, and find that they are broadly cylindrical, with some displaying an inverted conical (trumpet-like) morphology at their tops. Fifty-six pit craters, which are sub-circular and have widths of ~150–740 m, extend down ~500 m to and are aligned in chains above the upper tips of dikes; crater depths are  ~12–225 m. These dike-related pit craters occur within long, linear graben interpreted to be bound by dyke-induced normal faults. Five pit craters, which are ~140–740 m wide and ~32–107 m deep, formed independent of dykes and are associated only with tectonic normal faults. Our preliminary data reveal a moderate, positive correlation between crater width and depth but there is no distinction between the depth and width trends of pit craters associated with dikes and those with tectonic normal faults. To test whether our quantitative data can be used to inform interpretation of pit craters observed on other planetary bodies, we compare their morphology to those imaged in Noctis Labyrinthus on Mars; there are >200 pit craters here, most of which occur in chains, with widths ranging from 369–11743 m and depths from 1–1858 m.</p><p>Overall, we show reflection seismology is a powerful tool for studying the three-dimensional geometry of pit craters, with which we can test pit crater formation mechanisms. We anticipate future seismic-based studies will improve our understanding of how the surface expressions of pit craters (either in subaerial or submarine settings) can be used to reconstruct subsurface structures and processes on other planetary bodies, where such subsurface information is not currently available.</p>

Study of the 2012-2020 pit crater evolution in the summit caldera of Nyamulagira volcano using multiple satellite sensors and UAS-based photogrammetry

<p>Since its last flank eruption in 2011-2012, the activity of Nyamulagira volcano (Virunga Volcanic Province, DR Congo) has been characterized by pit crater collapse, lava fountaining and intermittent lava lake activity. No more flank eruption occurred since this concentration of the eruptive activity at the summit. As Nyamulagira is located in a remote area of the Virunga National Park, field observations remain limited. As a consequence, observations of the ongoing changes at the summit of the volcano mostly rely on satellite observations. Time-series of very-high to high resolution optical and SAR amplitude images for instance provide the required information to follow the evolution of the pit crater, from the first signs of collapse to its filling by lava. Hotspot detection from the combination of MODIS and Landsat-type images (including Sentinel-2) allows detecting the first appearance of lava in the pit crater and describing the intermittence of the lava lake activity that has developed since 2014. The OMI and TROPOMI instruments allow measuring the evolution of SO<sub>2</sub> emissions. Thanks to few aerial surveys and the use of Unoccupied Aerial Systems (UAS or “drone”), the volume of lava accumulated within the pit crater since 2014 was measured. All these satellite and drone-based observations were finally compared with the known historical eruptive activity, in terms of lava and gas discharge rates and type of summit eruptive activity. The presented work shows how combining various remote sensing techniques that make use of recent generations of satellite images and UAS acquisitions allow a detailed interpretation of the evolution of the volcano, even when field access is an issue.</p><div> </div>

Time Variation in the Chemical and Isotopic Composition of Volcanic Gas at Mt. Mihara of Izu-Oshima Island, Japan

Volcanic gas was sampled at three fumaroles and one borehole on Mt. Mihara, Izu-Oshima volcano. The fumarolic gas and the borehole steam possessed an excess enthalpy relative to the air saturated with water vapor. The fumarolic gas located west of the pit crater on Mt. Mihara showed a time variation in chemical and isotopic composition. The cause of the variation seems to be an enhancement of water vapor condensation. No similar variation was observed in the fumarolic gas located east of the pit crater, suggesting the above variation is a phenomena localized around the western fumarole. Hydrogen gas was detected in the sampled gases with low concentration. The change in the H2 concentration synchronized among the three fumaroles, suggesting the H2 gas originated in the hydrothermal system developed beneath Mt. Mihara.