The modification stage of basin formation: Conditions of ring formation

Abstract

The sequence of crater and basin morphologies has been re-examined to establish a classification scheme of basin ring structural types. Rings were classified on the basis of morphology, morphometry, transitional basin types, characteristic geophysical signatures, theoretical scaling and collapse models, and structural analyses of terrestrial impacts. Simple and complex craters, central peak-, peak ring-, and multiring-basins form a single continuous morphological and structural sequence with no apparent discontinuities. New rings characteristically appear between the main rim and the next inner structure (ring or peak)