Morphometric Characterization and Reconstruction Effect Among Lunar Impact Craters

Impact craters on the lunar surface have a variety of morphometric characteristics that are very useful in understanding the evolutionary history of lunar landscape morphologies. Based on digital elevation model data and photographs from China’s Chang’E-1 lunar orbiter, we develop morphologic parameters and quantitative methods for presenting the morphometric characteristics of impact craters, analyzing their relational distribution, and estimating the relative order of their formation. We also analyze features in profile where craters show signs of having formed on the edge of previously existing craters to show that superimposed impacts affect morphologic reconstructions. As a result, impact craters have significant effects on the reconstruction of ancient topography and the estimation of relative formation ages.