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Icelandic Pit Chains as Planetary Analogs: Using Morphologic Measurements of Pit Chains to Determine Regolith Thickness

Pit chains are distinctive geologic landforms present on planetary bodies across the solar system, which can be used to understand regolith properties and formation. If there is a direct relationship between pit diameter and the regolith depth, pit chains can be used to map regolith thickness across a planetary surface. Here, the morphology of individual pits within pit chains in northern Iceland was measured as a planetary analog to determine whether there is a direct relationship between individual pit diameters and pit depth, which is assumed to be a proxy for regolith depth. The morphology of pit chains and regolith thickness was measured in three different locations in northern Iceland, within two different substrates: unconsolidated floodplain sediments and more consolidated soils overlaying basaltic lava flows. There is a significant linear relationship between pit diameter and depth for pit chains located in the floodplain sediment, but not for pits located in basaltic materials. However, this depth‐diameter relationship does not correlate with regolith thickness. The depth of the pits in basaltic materials is more representative of the regolith depth than the pits in the floodplain sediments. If high‐resolution topography data are available, then the depth of pits in more consolidated materials can be used as a reliable estimate of regolith thickness. In more unconsolidated materials, the pit depth represents a minimum regolith depth. This ability to resolve regolith thicknesses may help resolve the processes by which regolith is emplaced and has implications for the thermal evolution of planetary bodies.