Pacing early Mars river activity: Embedded craters in the Aeolis Dorsa region imply river activity spanned ≳(1–20) Myr

We find net sedimentation rate ≲(13–200) μm/yr in the Aeolis Dorsa region, Mars, using the frequency of crater–river interactions. This sets a lower bound of 1–20 Myr on the total interval spanned by fluvial activity, which we correlate to the Noachian–Hesperian transition. The main uncertainty is the impact flux at the time of deposition. This result rules out basin-filling by a single catastrophic episode, such as a single impact-induced water–vapor greenhouse.