Boulder populations around 82 fresh simple impact craters on the Moon and 15 fresh simple impact craters on Mars

We leveraged our best-trained YOLOv8 model to automatically detect boulders on planetary surfaces, identifying over 2,000,000 boulders around 82 fresh simple impact craters on the Moon and 15 on Mars. This work builds upon the methodologies presented in Prieur et al. (2023) ("Automatic Characterization of Boulders on Planetary Surfaces from High-Resolution Satellite Images"), enhancing it with additional labeled data and transitioning to a more advanced model architecture (YOLOv8 compared to Mask R-CNN). These advancements aim to provide deeper insights into impact ejection mechanisms, focusing on boulder populations as representatives of low-velocity ejected rock fragments.

The database is organized into three main folders: coldspots, fresh_craters_not_coldspots, and mars. The first two folders pertain exclusively to lunar craters. The coldspots folder includes data on boulder populations around cold spots with diameters exceeding 400–500 meters, derived from the Williams et al. (2018) cold spot database ("Lunar Cold Spots and Crater Production on the Moon"). The fresh_craters_not_coldspots folder features very fresh simple impact craters on the lunar surface, likely retaining pristine boulder populations. Tables 1 and 2 summarize key details about these lunar craters and their boulder distributions. Similar information for Martian craters is not yet available. The selection of 15 fresh Martian craters was guided by Watters et al. (2015) ("Morphometry of Small Recent Impact Craters on Mars: Size and Terrain Dependence, Short-term Modification"), focusing on craters with resolvable boulder populations in HiRISE images.

Within each folder, you will find subfolders named after the images used for automatic detection, containing both a raster folder (.tif files for actual imagery) and a shp folder (shapefiles). The shapefiles include:

-crater-center.shp: Crater center coordinates.

-visual-break-in-slope.shp: Visual break in slope, typically smaller than the rim-to-rim diameter.

-visual-break-in-slope-1R-4R-total.shp: Total area from 1 to 4 radii away from the crater center.

-visual-break-in-slope-1R-4R-mapped.shp: Mapped area within 1 to 4 radii, limited to predicted zones.

-YOLO-predictions.shp: YOLO-detected boulders, including some manually added outlines.

This database contributes significantly to the study of ejection dynamics by offering a robust dataset for examining boulder populations across diverse planetary environments.

More information will come in a soon to be submitted article (temptative title: "Systematic analysis of boulder populations around lunar fresh simple impact craters").

Table 1. List around which craters boulder populations have been automatically detected. 

Crater

Crater type

Longitude

Latitude

Apparent diameter (m)

Unit

NAC image

Resolution (m)

Incidence angle (o)

South Ray

Fresh impact craters

15.38

-9.15

528

Highlands

M119747321

0.44

55.14

Crater 30

Fresh impact craters

-83.44

13.24

856

Highlands

M1354689363LE

0.98

58.25

Crater 31

Fresh impact craters

-172.28

-1.81

936

Highlands

M1375223288RE

0.86

17.04

Crater 35

Fresh impact craters

-113.01

-3.03

1022

Highlands

M109976907

0.57

9.65

Crater 36

Fresh impact craters

99.71

-18.12

1168

Highlands

M1118226283

0.83

20.23

Crater 41

Fresh impact craters

157.29

8.04

1392

Highlands

M145956430

0.57

63.86

Crater 37

Fresh impact craters

-68.82

-12.71

1474

Highlands

M112047758

0.48

34.91

Crater 40

Fresh impact craters

17.23

-33.72

1508

Highlands

M119740077

0.44

62.2

Crater 27

Fresh impact craters

-60.64

-40.62

1876

Highlands

M1160519487

0.61

54.55

Crater 50

Fresh impact craters

-104.40

-5.12

2072

Highlands

M142950968

0.49

28.77

Crater 52

Fresh impact craters

123.34

26.78

2304

Highlands

M174468232

0.56

42.83

Crater 49

Fresh impact craters

98.89

2.72

2450

Highlands

M167552863

0.59

45.59

Crater 54

Fresh impact craters

173.09

-39.62

2530

Highlands

M1104789289RE

0.71

45.39

Crater 53

Fresh impact craters

-109.92

9.34

2722

Highlands

M130008764

0.52

63.19

Crater 25

Fresh impact craters

49.81

46.73

3088

Highlands

M141932532

0.42

50.69

Hell Q

Fresh impact craters

-4.45

-32.99

3624

Highlands

M126961088

0.44

43.47

Censorinus

Fresh impact craters

32.69

-0.39

3890

Highlands

M157377691

0.38

19.44

Crater 20

Fresh impact craters

85.20

-17.47

4500

Highlands

M139348293

0.43

20.21

Crater 19

Fresh impact craters

-170.07

-16.71

4878

Highlands

M1311787796

0.76

37.2

Crater 16

Fresh impact craters

-45.45

1.16

864

Maria

M135487427RE

0.45

56.36

Crater 17

Fresh impact craters

-66.55

39.74

930

Maria

M109670563

0.53

41.76

Crater 1

Fresh impact craters

-35.25

-4.95

946

Maria

M157825101

0.45

24.89

Crater 18

Fresh impact craters

-28.77

43.63

1004

Maria

M120040136

0.59

62.77

Crater 12

Fresh impact craters

-20.57

-3.77

1088

Maria

M157730212

0.41

23.38

Crater 14

Fresh impact craters

-56.16

49.01

1160

Maria

M173280006

0.48

53.71

Crater 11

Fresh impact craters

-61.05

11.07

1186

Maria

M157994899

0.41

27.78

Piton B

Fresh impact craters

179.85

39.36

1252

Maria

M129289994

0.42

62.6

Crater 13

Fresh impact craters

-31.90

32.10

1316

Maria

M129500195

0.39

61.9

Crater 10

Fresh impact craters

89.09

3.91

1398

Maria

M139320750

0.43

14.03

Crater 9

Fresh impact craters

-70.24

40.80

1432

Maria

M168658296

0.94

51.26

Crater 4

Fresh impact craters

11.21

20.44

1618

Maria

M1225940270

0.31

24.99

Crater 6

Fresh impact craters

38.96

52.88

1764

Maria

M124315515

0.53

51.47

Lassell D

Fresh impact craters

-10.59

-14.57

1910

Maria

M1221383405

0.63

41.1

Posidonius Y

Fresh impact craters

24.91

30.03

1988

Maria

M144463201

0.44

53.66

Linne

Fresh impact craters

11.80

27.75

2180

Maria

M122129845

0.45

36.7

Herigonius K

Fresh impact craters

-36.47

-12.84

2840

Maria

M135426635

0.43

57.53

Encke X

Fresh impact craters

-40.33

0.93

2850

Maria

M157859110

0.42

24.59

Liebig J

Fresh impact craters

-45.18

-24.82

3600

Maria

M140203430

0.44

23.46

La Condamine S

Fresh impact craters

-25.27

57.36

3868

Maria

M155404585

0.39

55.96

Lichtenberg B

Fresh impact craters

-61.50

33.25

4876

Maria

M137949855

0.48

43.67

Cold spot 1722

Cold spots

-148.24

12.47

426

Highlands

M112563492RE

0.57

42.24

Cold spot 1669

Cold spots

-102.53

-9.34

438

Highlands

M1224337289LE

0.78

9.92

Cold spot 1609

Cold spots

-118.44

7.14

444

Highlands

M1374871580LE

0.92

15.18

Cold spot 1610

Cold spots

-114.83

0.49

456

Highlands

M168957617

0.38

30.24

Cold spot 1796

Cold spots

-132.64

-17.64

456

Highlands

M1180981884LE

0.86

30.46

Cold spot 1704

Cold spots

130.73

13.80

470

Highlands

M1312166305RE

0.86

32.06

Cold spot 1712

Cold spots

161.26

16.26

472

Highlands

M128230980RE

0.57

45.01

Cold spot 1616

Cold spots

-82.25

5.19

476

Highlands

M112135697LE

0.50

35.09

Cold spot 1578

Cold spots

7.79

0.45

490

Highlands

M157540427RE

0.38

21.29

Cold spot 1781

Cold spots

122.97

-19.30

494

Highlands

M143819421LE

0.62

42.04

Cold spot 1358

Cold spots

143.01

-24.37

496

Highlands

M1104988970RE

0.82

35.44

Cold spot 2096

Cold spots

-133.32

-26.72

496

Highlands

M169080251RE

0.41

37.47

Cold spot 2137

Cold spots

-94.61

-2.81

508

Highlands

M1318344441RE

0.84

43.09

Cold spot 1707

Cold spots

157.39

17.28

512

Highlands

M143594908LE

0.54

39.87

Cold spot 2273

Cold spots

128.57

6.39

518

Highlands

M1316882498RE

0.86

27

Cold spot 1940

Cold spots

-131.75

34.24

524

Highlands

M140765593

0.61

35.91

Cold spot 1663

Cold spots

-135.38

-5.89

542

Highlands

M166731977LE

0.54

55.15

Cold spot 1934

Cold spots

177.56

38.40

560

Highlands

M143458859

0.55

50.86

Cold spot 1719

Cold spots

-158.33

11.60

598

Highlands

M1148193008RE

1.23

11.2

Cold spot 1927

Cold spots

89.84

32.35

598

Highlands

M121627645

0.53

44.46

Cold spot 1723

Cold spots

-141.47

15.61

604

Highlands

M123140924

0.47

21.21

Cold spot 1912

Cold spots

-25.44

11.56

616

Highlands

M1341379336LE

0.88

36.1

Cold spot 1623

Cold spots

-71.00

5.21

618

Highlands

M171027369LE

0.45

9.16

Cold spot 1720

Cold spots

-157.40

18.45

638

Highlands

M153910794RE

0.50

26.97

Cold spot 2232

Cold spots

28.81

-10.45

678

Highlands

M129099109

0.41

53.55

Cold spot 1643

Cold spots

90.77

-5.39

830

Highlands

M159358731LE

0.54

41.97

Cold spot 1880

Cold spots

120.12

-29.73

840

Highlands

M123784480

0.54

32.17

Cold spot 2004

Cold spots

-126.00

5.82

850

Highlands

M1344387281

1.11

6.85

Cold spot 1607

Cold spots

-134.12

4.65

852

Highlands

M1272761144LE

0.91

36.11

Cold spot 1989

Cold spots

136.80

-42.16

876

Highlands

M189700161

0.64

53.1

Cold spot 1646

Cold spots

109.91

-6.74

972

Highlands

M123852771

0.52

11.14

Cold spot 2055

Cold spots

69.14

-18.92

1028

Highlands

M152424055

0.45

42.97

Cold spot 1896

Cold spots

-70.92

-20.62

1128

Highlands

M125033800

0.45

23.04

Cold spot 1648

Cold spots

151.68

-4.08

1402

Highlands

M176643067LE

0.54

59.2

Cold spot 2056

Cold spots

166.64

19.38

1826

Highlands

M121118602

0.52

42.42

Cold spot 1701

Cold spots

121.30

18.68

1990

Highlands

M110797848

0.58

27.58

Cold spot 1784

Cold spots

144.41

-17.68

2268

Highlands

M121267110

0.50

41.55

Cold spot 1873

Cold spots

47.15

-21.07

452

Maria

M1228072113

0.64

41.63

Cold spot 2134

Cold spots

-91.57

-18.16

462

Maria

M168808669LE

0.36

35.93

Cold spot 1759

Cold spots

-14.12

13.77

474

Maria

M1254332694LE

0.89

16.11

Cold spot 1907

Cold spots

-24.14

4.47

524

Maria

M127090695RE

0.42

29.7

Cold spot 1678

Cold spots

-50.46

-0.24

668

Maria

M150850264RE

0.44

57.35

Table 2. Boulder morphometrics, number of boulders detected and variables describing the fragmentation patterns. This data will soon be published in a manuscript. 

Crater

Apparent diameter (m)

Unit

% mapped

Mean top 5-eq. boulder diameter (m)

Mean top-5 long axis (m)

Rock abundace (%)

n boulders detected

K

Power-law exp.

Power-law exp. error

Dmin

South Ray

528

Highlands

100

10.24

12.03

0.78

4579

52453

-4.64

0.204

3.44

Crater 30

856

Highlands

67

14.60

16.91

0.42

1056

214648

-4.76

0.265

5.54

Crater 31

936

Highlands

98

17.88

21.64

0.40

1414

143266

-4.43

0.196

5.75

Crater 35

1022

Highlands

92

19.77

21.03

0.39

1956

85447

-4.17

0.255

6.89

Crater 36

1168

Highlands

100

17.69

19.48

0.22

1494

81415

-4.51

0.279

6.50

Crater 41

1392

Highlands

100

19.20

23.00

0.42

10333

33871

-4.19

0.222

6.16

Crater 37

1474

Highlands

78

22.83

26.42

0.73

16735

24477

-3.68

0.127

5.59

Crater 40

1508

Highlands

75

18.20

21.01

0.89

28330

20445

-3.69

0.086

4.30

Crater 27

1876

Highlands

84

31.25

36.82

1.18

35950

38390

-3.64

0.042

4.06

Crater 50

2072

Highlands

68

27.18

35.19

1.24

40530

35210

-3.58

0.037

3.82

Crater 52

2304

Highlands

71

31.10

37.19

0.71

26397

12389

-3.26

0.048

4.28

Crater 49

2450

Highlands

70

26.30

32.88

0.63

25854

10599

-3.24

0.034

3.40

Crater 54

2530

Highlands

40

34.32

42.82

0.76

12810

17460

-3.27

0.059

4.74

Crater 53

2722

Highlands

55

26.65

34.44

1.41

73325

32505

-3.51

0.033

3.97

Crater 25

3088

Highlands

38

31.26

35.88

1.26

71191

17672

-3.25

0.026

3.24

Hell Q

3624

Highlands

33

44.41

57.38

1.81

117215

21658

-3.17

0.021

3.40

Censorinus

3890

Highlands

28

36.25

43.87

0.98

57096

14261

-3.27

0.034

3.79

Crater 20

4500

Highlands

24

53.97

69.80

2.22

111159

22240

-2.96

0.022

4.15

Crater 19

4878

Highlands

44

51.61

61.21

1.11

57780

25572

-3.17

0.025

5.26

Crater 16

864

Maria

57

15.35

18.54

3.07

28087

127554

-4.37

0.083

3.46

Crater 17

930

Maria

85

16.51

19.48

2.14

21488

165170

-4.37

0.079

4.06

Crater 1

946

Maria

76

14.97

18.14

2.05

20649

215066

-4.57

0.120

4.69

Crater 18

1004

Maria

88

13.15

15.04

1.36

19653

262305

-5.36

0.130

3.95

Crater 12

1088

Maria

76

18.01

20.00

2.52

35506

127536

-4.12

0.074

4.34

Crater 14

1160

Maria

81

23.22

29.35

2.12

34503

54711

-3.67

0.049

3.67

Crater 11

1186

Maria

54

17.67

20.94

1.70

24691

54164

-4.02

0.077

3.59

Piton B

1252

Maria

88

19.44

23.49

2.53

74634

52797

-3.82

0.040

3.26

Crater 13

1316

Maria

36

15.35

17.76

2.56

40790

221510

-4.93

0.168

4.59

Crater 10

1398

Maria

80

23.12

29.14

2.17

36495

111906

-3.89

0.065

5.07

Crater 9

1432

Maria

57

23.44

28.45

3.02

124605

42989

-3.79

0.043

3.11

Crater 4

1618

Maria

92

19.92

23.76

0.21

2405

46873

-4.30

0.144

5.38

Crater 6

1764

Maria

81

16.71

19.48

1.13

42894

93455

-4.47

0.064

4.10

Lassell D

1910

Maria

81

28.47

33.73

1.34

31942

26153

-3.24

0.028

3.60

Posidonius Y

1988

Maria

56

21.39

25.32

1.17

49782

15638

-3.40

0.035

3.00

Linne

2180

Maria

59

23.84

27.76

1.31

76822

23886

-3.69

0.032

3.00

Herigonius K

2840

Maria

42

25.56

30.68

1.42

108674

17121

-3.45

0.028

3.00

Encke X

2850

Maria

41

32.68

40.13

1.21

54457

13914

-3.10

0.027

3.24

Liebig J

3600

Maria

32

24.02

29.77

2.05

126140

66177

-3.84

0.029

3.89

La Condamine S

3868

Maria

9

32.31

40.95

4.28

100052

90168

-3.53

0.053

5.09

Lichtenberg B

4876

Maria

28

46.24

54.88

0.95

100753

11390

-3.25

0.031

3.88

Cold spot 1722

426

Highlands

60

8.67

11.15

0.33

502

21797

-4.34

0.318

3.06

Cold spot 1669

438

Highlands

100

15.91

17.00

0.34

420

7902

-3.28

0.186

3.34

Cold spot 1609

444

Highlands

57

8.75

9.69

0.09

49

33006

-4.47

1.241

5.98

Cold spot 1610

456

Highlands

100

8.58

9.90

0.45

1998

24148

-4.36

0.261

3.33

Cold spot 1796

456

Highlands

70

9.23

10.08

0.23

251

13545

-3.86

0.255

3.13

Cold spot 1704

470

Highlands

53

9.14

9.66

0.15

99

33274

-4.32

0.644

4.52

Cold spot 1712

472

Highlands

100

9.32

9.97

0.34

977

30223

-4.47

0.318

3.74

Cold spot 1616

476

Highlands

100

9.70

11.49

0.44

1595

16222

-3.95

0.219

3.32

Cold spot 1578

490

Highlands

82

12.45

15.63

0.36

1111

11226

-3.74

0.289

3.83

Cold spot 1781

494

Highlands

100

6.80

7.62

0.16

580

36023

-5.29

0.479

3.55

Cold spot 1358

496

Highlands

100

8.34

9.53

0.09

178

16156

-4.60

0.495

3.80

Cold spot 2096

496

Highlands

60

9.44

11.72

0.34

1178

3458

-3.45

0.453

3.91

Cold spot 2137

508

Highlands

100

7.90

8.48

0.20

431

1412617

-6.77

0.691

4.74

Cold spot 1707

512

Highlands

95

9.26

11.12

0.28

1012

18281

-4.30

0.307

3.60

Cold spot 2273

518

Highlands

100

12.97

13.14

0.17

279

8625

-3.70

0.227

3.34

Cold spot 1940

524

Highlands

100

14.00

15.97

0.19

412

4492

-3.33

0.322

4.41

Cold spot 1663

542

Highlands

88

9.99

11.09

0.27

1180

6906

-3.80

0.289

3.44

Cold spot 1934

560

Highlands

100

10.07

11.05

0.39

1834

109375

-5.16

0.473

4.71

Cold spot 1719

598

Highlands

100

10.04

11.53

0.03

36

1889

-3.47

0.758

5.66

Cold spot 1927

598

Highlands

100

10.02

12.01

0.41

1927

14355

-3.82

0.137

3.04

Cold spot 1723

604

Highlands

83

12.28

14.60

0.50

1877

46515

-4.27

0.299

4.77

Cold spot 1912

616

Highlands

100

11.18

13.64

0.18

397

78489

-4.80

0.411

5.02

Cold spot 1623

618

Highlands

55

13.34

15.36

0.43

1311

10939

-3.65

0.229

3.58

Cold spot 1720

638

Highlands

100

11.07

13.30

0.26

1453

7693

-3.68

0.179

3.29

Cold spot 2232

678

Highlands

100

10.67

12.19

0.52

5821

14089

-4.01

0.153

3.17

Cold spot 1643

830

Highlands

57

15.18

17.15

0.46

2017

17412

-3.69

0.220

4.54

Cold spot 1880

840

Highlands

100

15.14

17.69

0.77

5545

23921

-3.56

0.085

3.64

Cold spot 2004

850

Highlands

100

20.04

23.34

0.22

364

15049

-3.38

0.233

6.23

Cold spot 1607

852

Highlands

60

10.71

11.71

0.22

576

15699

-3.85

0.162

3.27

Cold spot 1989

876

Highlands

100

15.64

16.99

0.53

3942

35587

-4.03

0.176

4.86

Cold spot 1646

972

Highlands

100

14.39

17.67

0.22

1620

16563

-3.88

0.253

5.47

Cold spot 2055

1028

Highlands

82

20.53

24.42

1.13

13247

12792

-3.07

0.048

3.00

Cold spot 1896

1128

Highlands

93

19.66

23.60

0.33

5342

7666

-3.53

0.125

3.97

Cold spot 1648

1402

Highlands

68

22.71

25.60

0.64

7080

8178

-2.97

0.058

3.57

Cold spot 2056

1826

Highlands

73

26.11

31.62

0.66

18264

8774

-3.14

0.045

3.46

Cold spot 1701

1990

Highlands

75

25.89

29.39

0.37

8682

14895

-3.62

0.104

5.36

Cold spot 1784

2268

Highlands

47

30.46

37.36

0.71

17092

12781

-3.21

0.071

4.97

Cold spot 1873

452

Maria

100

8.08

9.54

0.28

679

49722

-4.92

0.531

4.23

Cold spot 2134

462

Maria

76

8.12

9.87

0.84

4170

33526

-4.60

0.228

3.00

Cold spot 1759

474

Maria

100

9.18

9.88

0.09

113

52574

-4.89

0.698

5.06

Cold spot 1907

524

Maria

47

11.35

13.36

0.35

729

5516

-3.37

0.229

3.00

Cold spot 1678

668

Maria

89

14.29

16.29

2.45

21491

577228

-5.14

0.287

5.83