Ejecta patterns diagnostic of planetary rotations

Abstract

A new scheme for determining a body's rotational history from the geological record is presented. Trajectories of ejecta on a rotating object are affected by the Coriolis effect in a manner characteristic of the direction and speed of the object's spin. This information is registered on the surface in the form of debris deposits and ray patterns, and can be interpreted by comparing photographs of the planet's surface with specified paradigms. This approach has the advantage of being independent of the body's internal structure and of relating its rotational history directly to its cratering chronology. This approach could be used, for example, to date the despinning of Mercury relative to its latest bombardment.