Analysis and Comparison of Physical Properties and Morphology of Impact Melt Flows on

ii Impact melt flows form when target material melted by an impact breaches the rim of the impact crater. The melt flows out and away from the crater, forming a lava flow. Such flows have been identified on Venus and the Moon by previous studies. This study aims to document impact melt flows on these two bodies to determine the differences, if any, between them, and to ascertain whether these differences are due to atmospheric conditions. Previously recorded morphological data from Robert Herrick of the Lunar and Planetary Institute and Neish et al. (2014) are used in conjunction with S-band (12.6 cm) radar data from the Magellan spacecraft, the Arecibo Observatory, and the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter. It was found that the flow length in terms of crater diameter and CPR, a proxy for surface roughness, are very different for the flows on the two bodies. Venus flows originating from craters with a diameter d ≥ 15 km had an average flow length of 2.33 crater diameters, and lunar flows originating from craters d ≥ 15 km had an average flow length of 0.47 crater diameters. The CPR of Venus flows at radar incidence angles of 40-60 ° averaged at 0.305 and the CPR of lunar flows averaged at 0.868