About the project
Accurate time and rates at which processes occur, e.g. volcanism, are critical for the interpretation of planetary evolution. Absolute time scales for planetary surfaces evolution (except the Earth and the Moon) can only be derived by linking the lunar cr atering frequencies with isotopically dated lunar samples.
This approach, however, is controversial. Commonly, cratering statistics for planetary surface-age determination assumes monotonic cratering rate decay, but this assumption may be flawed. Indicati ons are the erroneous ages derived from cratering-statistics: For example, (1) the oldest remaining planetary surfaces appear younger than expected from isotope ages of returned Moon samples or meteorites, (2) basin-forming events do not occur simultaneou sly on all terrestrial planets during the Late Heavy Bombardment period (around 3.9 Ga), and (3) no time scale exist to asses the period prior to the Late Heavy Bombardment. This implies that any dates for possible primal life on Mars, or the timing and r ates of volcanism, an expression of planetary thermal evolution, are, so far, unreliable for the first 600 Myr.
With the availability of new high resolution space mission data, it is timely to calibrate the cratering-based age-determination technique for this earliest phase of planetary evolution.
Objectives
The Crater Clock team aims to develop a unique cratering chronology model (i.e., for time-variable crater diameters) that will bridge the divide between the theoretical estimates for the dynamically evolving Solar System and new and modern isotope (age) results.
With this novel and unique planetary time-scale, which will for the first time permit studies of the earliest and most constitutive period of planetary evolution (the first 600 Myr), we will assess the the evolution of the terrestrial planetary bodies.
Background
The project is a part of research at the Department of Geosciences, University of Oslo and the CEO Centre for Earth Evolution and Dynamics (CEED).
Financing
The full name of this project is CRATER CLOCK: Calibration of the Cratering Chronometer for the Earliest Planetary Evolution. The project is financed through the Frinatek programme from The Research Council of Norway, with the RCN project number 235058.
The project period for the project is from 2014 to 2018.
