Abstract

Craters formed by impact and volcanic processes are among the most fundamental planetary landforms. This study examines the morphology of diverse craterforms on Io, the Moon, Mars, and Earth using quantitative, outline-based shape analysis and multivariate statistical methods to evaluate the differences between different types of. Ultimately, this should help establish relationships between the form and origin of craterforms. Developed in the field of geometric morphometrics by paleontological and biological sciences communities, these methods were used for the analysis of the shapes of crater outlines. The shapes of terrestrial ash-flow calderas, terrestrial basaltic shield calderas, martian calderas, Ionian paterae, and lunar impact craters were quantified and compared. Specifically, we used circularity, ellipticity, elliptic Fourier analysis (EFA), Zahn and Roskies (Z-R) shape function, and diameter. Quantitative shape descriptors obtained from EFA yield coefficients from decomposition of the Fourier series that separates the vertical and horizontal components among the outline points for each shape. The shape descriptors extracted from Z-R analysis represent the angular deviation of the shapes from a circle. These quantities were subjected to multivariate statistical analysis including principal component analysis (PCA) and discriminant analysis, to examine maximum differences between each a priori established group. Univariate analyses of morphological quantities including diameter, circularity, and ellipticity, as well as multivariate analyses of elliptic Fourier coefficients and Z-R shape function angular quantities show that ash-flow calderas and paterae on Io, as well as basaltic shield calderas and martian calderas, are most similar in shape. Other classes of craters are also shown to be statistically distinct from one another. Multivariate statistical models provide successful classification of different types of craters. Three classification models were built with overall successful classification rates ranging from 90% to 75%, each conveying different shape information. The EFA model including coefficients from the 2nd to 10th harmonic was the most successful supervised model with the highest overall classification rate and most successful predictive group membership assignments for the population of examined craterforms. Multivariate statistical methods and classification models can be effective tools for analyzing landforms on planetary surfaces and geologic morphology. With larger data sets used to enhance supervision of the model, more successful classification by the supervised model could likely reveal clues to the formation and variables involved in the genesis of landforms.

Degree

MS

College and Department

Physical and Mathematical Sciences; Geological Sciences

Rights

http://lib.byu.edu/about/copyright/

Date Submitted

2017-12-01

Document Type

Thesis

Handle

http://hdl.lib.byu.edu/1877/etd9685

Keywords

planetary geology, volcanology, geomorphology, shape analysis, geometric morphometrics, remote sensing, image processing, multivariate statistics, geomorphology

Language

english

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