Martian cratering V: Toward an Empirical Martian Chronology, and Its Implications

This paper estimates ages of Martian features by dividing least‐square‐fitted crater densities by an estimated Martian crater production rate. This method is more rigorous than methods based purely on assumptions about correspondence of lunar and Martian cratering rates. Results are interpreted as supporting the conclusion of Burns et al. (in press) that Mars shifted climatic states due to a change in obliguity caused by buildup of massive volcanics. Prior to a few gy. ago, conditions favored erosion, deposition, and fluvial channel formation. Recent volcanics postdate this era, and the surfaces of the major shields are fairly well constrained in age to a few hundred my, in agreement with Masursky et al.