Building a Theoretical Crater Size-Frequency Distribution for Venus: A New Approach to Constrain the Age of Venusian Crustal Resurfacing

It is generally accepted that the bodies of the inner solar system have been exposed to similar populations of impactors. We can get a sense of the energy distribution of these impactors for a particular orbit by looking at a relatively simple crater size-frequency distribution model for an airless body such as the moon. It is then theoretically possible to extrapolate a mass-velocity-material (iron, stony, etc.) distribution for the impactor population, and to migrate this population into another orbit to examine the cratering effects on a body with an atmosphere. In this study, we begin with size-frequency distribution models that have been developed from the crater population on the lunar surface. From these, we determine a range of likely impactor populations, and migrate this population into the orbit of Venus. Finally, we calculate the effects (ablation, disintegration, etc.) of the Venusian atmosphere on this population, and generate a crater population on the surface of Venus as a function of time. By comparing the present-day surface of Venus with the time indicated by the model to achieve a similarly cratered surface, we develop additional constraints regarding the crustal resurfacing of Venus.