The morphology of fresh lunar and mercurian craters provides insight into processes of crater formation and modification. Measurements determined for mercurian craters and compared to previously presented lunar data are depth/diameter, central peak and wall-related mass movement frequencies as functions of diameter, crater rim wll width/rum diameter, rim diameter/floor diameter, and central peak height/rim diameter. Two important results are as follows: (1) there is no evidence for direct gravity scaling of crater morphology, although some slight (~g14 to g18) scaling relationship may be indicated, and (2) mass movements are responsible for the change in depth/diameter relationship observed near 2-km depth and 10-km diameter. The latter result is helpful in explaining gravitational and topographic data which suggest low-density regions beneath large, fresh craters. |