Noachis quadrangle

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Noachis quadrangle
USGS-Mars-MC-27-NoachisRegion-mola.png
Map of Noachis quadrangle from Mars Orbiter Laser Altimeter (MOLA) data. The highest elevations are red and the lowest are blue.
Coordinates 47°30′S330°00′W / 47.5°S 330°W / -47.5; -330
Image of the Noachis Quadrangle (MC-27). The northeast includes the western half of Hellas basin. The southeastern region contains Peneus Patera and part of the Amphitrites volcano. Noachis Terra.jpg
Image of the Noachis Quadrangle (MC-27). The northeast includes the western half of Hellas basin. The southeastern region contains Peneus Patera and part of the Amphitrites volcano.

The Noachis quadrangle is one of a series of 30 quadrangle maps of Mars used by the United States Geological Survey (USGS) Astrogeology Research Program. The Noachis quadrangle is also referred to as MC-27 (Mars Chart-27). [1]

Contents

The Noachis quadrangle covers the area from 300° to 360° west longitude and 30° to 65° south latitude on Mars. It lies between the two giant impact basins on Mars: Argyre and Hellas. The Noachis quadrangle includes Noachis Terra and the western part of Hellas Planitia.

Noachis is so densely covered with impact craters that it is considered among the oldest landforms on Mars—hence the term "Noachian" for one of the earliest time periods in martian history. In addition, many previously buried craters are now coming to the surface, [2] where Noachis' extreme age has allowed ancient craters to be filled, and once again newly exposed.

Much of the surface in Noachis quadrangle shows a scalloped topography where the disappearance of ground ice has left depressions. [3]

The first piece of human technology to land on Mars landed (crashed) in the Noachis quadrangle. The Soviet's Mars 2 crashed at 44°12′S313°12′W / 44.2°S 313.2°W / -44.2; -313.2 . It weighed about one ton. The automated craft attempted to land in a giant dust storm. To make conditions even worse, this area also has many dust devils. [4]

Scalloped topography

Scalloped Terrain at Peneus Patera, as seen by HiRISE. Scalloped terrain is quite common in some areas of Mars. Scalloped Terrain at Peneus Patera.JPG
Scalloped Terrain at Peneus Patera, as seen by HiRISE. Scalloped terrain is quite common in some areas of Mars.

Certain regions of Mars display scalloped-shaped depressions. The depressions are believed to be the remains of an ice-rich mantle deposit. Scallops are created when ice sublimates from frozen soil. [5] [6] This mantle material probably fell from the air as ice formed on dust when the climate was different due to changes in the tilt of the Mars pole. [7] The scallops are typically tens of meters deep and from a few hundred to a few thousand meters across. They can be almost circular or elongated. Some appear to have coalesced, thereby causing a large heavily pitted terrain to form. A study published in Icarus, found that the landforms of scalloped topography can be made by the subsurface loss of water ice by sublimation under current Martian climate conditions. Their model predicts similar shapes when the ground has large amounts of pure ice, up to many tens of meters in depth. [8] The process of producing the terrain may begin with sublimation from a crack because there are often polygon cracks where scallops form. [3]

Dust devil tracks

Many areas on Mars experience the passage of giant dust devils. A thin coating of fine bright dust covers most of the Martian surface. When a dust devil goes by it blows away the coating and exposes the underlying dark surface creating tracks. Dust devils have been seen from the ground and from orbit. They have even blown the dust off of the solar panels of the two Rovers on Mars, thereby greatly extending their lives. [9] The twin Rovers were designed to last for three months, instead they have lasted more than six years and are still going after over eight years. The pattern of the tracks have been shown to change every few months. [10] TA study that combined data from the High Resolution Stereo Camera (HRSC) and the Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) found that some large dust devils on Mars have a diameter of 700 meters and last at least 26 minutes. [11] Some dust devils are taller than the average tornado on Earth. [12] The image below of Russel Crater shows changes in dust devil tracks over a period of only three months, as documented by HiRISE. Other dust devil tracks are visible in the picture of Frento Vallis.

Craters

Maunder Crater, as seen by HiRISE. The overhang is part of the degraded south (toward bottom) wall of crater. The scale bar is 500 meters long. Maunder Crater.JPG
Maunder Crater, as seen by HiRISE. The overhang is part of the degraded south (toward bottom) wall of crater. The scale bar is 500 meters long.

Impact craters generally have a rim with ejecta around them, in contrast volcanic craters usually do not have a rim or ejecta deposits. As craters get larger (greater than 10 km in diameter) they usually have a central peak. [13] The peak is caused by a rebound of the crater floor following the impact. [14] Sometimes craters will display layers. Craters can show us what lies deep under the surface.

Gullies

Gullies on steep slopes are found in certain regions of Mars. Many ideas have been advanced to explain them. Formation by running water when the climate was different is a popular idea. Recently, because changes in gullies have been seen since HiRISE has been orbiting Mars, it is thought that they may be formed by chunks of dry ice moving down slope during spring time. Gullies are one of the most interesting discoveries made by orbiting space craft. [15] [16] [17] [18]

Hellas floor features

Wide view of part of the floor of the Hellas basin, as seen by CTX G18 025437 1406hellasbandssuperwide.jpg
Wide view of part of the floor of the Hellas basin, as seen by CTX

The Hellas floor contains some strange-looking features. One of these features is called "banded terrain." [19] [20] [21] This terrain has also been called "taffy pull" terrain, and it lies near honeycomb terrain, another strange surface. [22] Banded terrain is found in the north-western part of the Hellas basin. This section of the Hellas basin is the deepest. The banded-terrain deposit displays an alternation of narrow band shapes and inter-bands. The sinuous nature and relatively smooth surface texture suggesting a viscous flow origin. A study published in Planetary and Space Science found that this terrain was the youngest deposit of the interior of Hellas. They also suggest in the paper that banded terrain may have covered a larger area of the NW interior of Hellas. The bands can be classified as linear, concentric, or lobate. Bands are typically 3–15 km long, 3 km wide. Narrow inter-band depressions are 65 m wide and 10 m deep. [23]

See also

Related Research Articles

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hellas Planitia</span> Plantia on Mars

Hellas Planitia is a plain located within the huge, roughly circular impact basin Hellas located in the southern hemisphere of the planet Mars. Hellas is the fourth- or fifth-largest known impact crater in the Solar System. The basin floor is about 7,152 m (23,465 ft) deep, 3,000 m (9,800 ft) deeper than the Moon's South Pole-Aitken basin, and extends about 2,300 km (1,400 mi) east to west. It is centered at 42.4°S 70.5°E. It features the lowest point on Mars, serves as a known source of global dust storms, and may have contained lakes and glaciers. Hellas Planitia spans the boundary between the Hellas quadrangle and the Noachis quadrangle.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Terra Sabaea</span> Terra on Mars

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Casius quadrangle</span> Map of Mars

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cebrenia quadrangle</span> One of 30 quadrangle maps of Mars used by the US Geological Survey

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Diacria quadrangle</span> Map of Mars

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Arcadia quadrangle</span> Map of Mars

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hellas quadrangle</span> Map of Mars

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Phaethontis quadrangle</span> Map of Mars

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Argyre quadrangle</span> Map of Mars

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mare Australe quadrangle</span> Map of Mars

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Scalloped topography is common in the mid-latitudes of Mars, between 45° and 60° north and south. It is particularly prominent in the region of Utopia Planitia, in the northern hemisphere, and in the region of Peneus and Amphitrites Paterae in the southern hemisphere. Such topography consists of shallow, rimless depressions with scalloped edges, commonly referred to as "scalloped depressions" or simply "scallops". Scalloped depressions can be isolated or clustered and sometimes seem to coalesce. A typical scalloped depression displays a gentle equator-facing slope and a steeper pole-facing scarp. This topographic asymmetry is probably due to differences in insolation. Scalloped depressions are believed to form from the removal of subsurface material, possibly interstitial ice, by sublimation. This process may still be happening at present. This topography may be of great importance for future colonization of Mars because it may point to deposits of pure ice.

Fretted terrain is a type of surface feature common to certain areas of Mars and was discovered in Mariner 9 images. It lies between two different types of terrain. The surface of Mars can be divided into two parts: low, young, uncratered plains that cover most of the northern hemisphere, and high-standing, old, heavily cratered areas that cover the southern and a small part of the northern hemisphere. Between these two zones is a region called the Martian dichotomy and parts of it contain fretted terrain. This terrain contains a complicated mix of cliffs, mesas, buttes, and straight-walled and sinuous canyons. It contains smooth, flat lowlands along with steep cliffs. The scarps or cliffs are usually 1 to 2 km high. Channels in the area have wide, flat floors and steep walls. Fretted terrain shows up in northern Arabia, between latitudes 30°N and 50°N and longitudes 270°W and 360°W, and in Aeolis Mensae, between 10 N and 10 S latitude and 240 W and 210 W longitude. Two good examples of fretted terrain are Deuteronilus Mensae and Protonilus Mensae.

HiWish is a program created by NASA so that anyone can suggest a place for the HiRISE camera on the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter to photograph. It was started in January 2010. In the first few months of the program 3000 people signed up to use HiRISE. The first images were released in April 2010. Over 12,000 suggestions were made by the public; suggestions were made for targets in each of the 30 quadrangles of Mars. Selected images released were used for three talks at the 16th Annual International Mars Society Convention. Below are some of the over 4,224 images that have been released from the HiWish program as of March 2016.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gullies on Mars</span> Incised networks of narrow channels and sediments on Mars

Martian gullies are small, incised networks of narrow channels and their associated downslope sediment deposits, found on the planet of Mars. They are named for their resemblance to terrestrial gullies. First discovered on images from Mars Global Surveyor, they occur on steep slopes, especially on the walls of craters. Usually, each gully has a dendritic alcove at its head, a fan-shaped apron at its base, and a single thread of incised channel linking the two, giving the whole gully an hourglass shape. They are estimated to be relatively young because they have few, if any craters. A subclass of gullies is also found cut into the faces of sand dunes, that are themselves considered to be quite young. Linear dune gullies are now considered recurrent seasonal features.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Glaciers on Mars</span> Extraterrestrial bodies of ice

Glaciers, loosely defined as patches of currently or recently flowing ice, are thought to be present across large but restricted areas of the modern Martian surface, and are inferred to have been more widely distributed at times in the past. Lobate convex features on the surface known as viscous flow features and lobate debris aprons, which show the characteristics of non-Newtonian flow, are now almost unanimously regarded as true glaciers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Evidence of water on Mars found by Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter</span>

The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter's HiRISE instrument has taken many images that strongly suggest that Mars has had a rich history of water-related processes. Many features of Mars appear to be created by large amounts of water. That Mars once possessed large amounts of water was confirmed by isotope studies in a study published in March 2015, by a team of scientists showing that the ice caps were highly enriched with deuterium, heavy hydrogen, by seven times as much as the Earth. This means that Mars has lost a volume of water 6.5 times what is stored in today's polar caps. The water for a time would have formed an ocean in the low-lying Mare Boreum. The amount of water could have covered the planet about 140 meters, but was probably in an ocean that in places would be almost 1 mile deep.

The common surface features of Mars include dark slope streaks, dust devil tracks, sand dunes, Medusae Fossae Formation, fretted terrain, layers, gullies, glaciers, scalloped topography, chaos terrain, possible ancient rivers, pedestal craters, brain terrain, and ring mold craters.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Perepelkin (Martian crater)</span> Crater on Mars

Perepelkin Crater is an impact crater in the Arcadia quadrangle of the planet Mars. It is located at 52.8°N latitude and 64.6°W longitude. It is 77 km in diameter. It was named after Russian astronomer Yevgeny Perepyolkin.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Polygonal patterned ground</span>

Polygonal, patterned ground is quite common in some regions of Mars. It is commonly believed to be caused by the sublimation of ice from the ground. Sublimation is the direct change of solid ice to a gas. This is similar to what happens to dry ice on the Earth. Places on Mars that display polygonal ground may indicate where future colonists can find water ice. Low center polygons have been proposed as a marker for ground ice. Polygonal terrain is also found on earth's permafrost.

References

  1. ↑ Davies, M.E.; Batson, R.M.; Wu, S.S.C. "Geodesy and Cartography" in Kieffer, H.H.; Jakosky, B.M.; Snyder, C.W.; Matthews, M.S., Eds. Mars. University of Arizona Press: Tucson, 1992.
  2. ↑ Mars Space Flight Facility (17 March 2004). "Exhumed Crater (Released 17 March 2004)". Arizona State University. Archived from the original on 27 September 2011. Retrieved 19 December 2011.
  3. 1 2 Lefort, A.; et al. (2010). "Scalloped terrains in the Peneus and Amphitrites Paterae region of Mars as observed by HiRISE". Icarus. 205 (1): 259–268. Bibcode:2010Icar..205..259L. doi:10.1016/j.icarus.2009.06.005.
  4. ↑ Hartmann, W. 2003. A Traveler's Guide to Mars. Workman Publishing. NY, NY.[ page needed ]
  5. ↑ "HiRISE | Scalloped Depressions in Peneus Patera (PSP_004340_1235)".
  6. ↑ McEwen, A., et al. 2017. Mars The Pristine Beauty of the Red Planet. University of Arizona Press. Tucson.[ page needed ]
  7. ↑ Head, James W.; Mustard, John F.; Kreslavsky, Mikhail A.; Milliken, Ralph E.; Marchant, David R. (2003). "Recent ice ages on Mars". Nature. 426 (6968): 797–802. Bibcode:2003Natur.426..797H. doi:10.1038/nature02114. PMID   14685228. S2CID   2355534.
  8. ↑ Dundas, Colin M.; Byrne, Shane; McEwen, Alfred S. (2015). "Modeling the development of martian sublimation thermokarst landforms". Icarus. 262: 154–169. Bibcode:2015Icar..262..154D. doi:10.1016/j.icarus.2015.07.033.
  9. ↑ "Press Release Images: Spirit". National Aeronautics and Space Administration. 12 April 2007. Retrieved 19 December 2011.
  10. ↑ "Ken Edgett". National Aeronautics and Space Administration. 2001. Archived from the original on October 28, 2011. Retrieved 19 December 2011.
  11. ↑ Reiss, D.; Zanetti, M.; Neukum, G. (2011). "Multitemporal observations of identical active dust devils on Mars with the High Resolution Stereo Camera (HRSC) and Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC)". Icarus. 215 (1): 358–369. Bibcode:2011Icar..215..358R. doi:10.1016/j.icarus.2011.06.011.
  12. ↑ "How tall is a tornado?". 23 February 2023.
  13. ↑ "Stones, Wind, and Ice: A Guide to Martian Impact Craters".
  14. ↑ Hugh H. Kieffer (1992). Mars. University of Arizona Press. ISBN   978-0-8165-1257-7 . Retrieved 7 March 2011.
  15. ↑ "NASA Spacecraft Observes Further Evidence of Dry Ice Gullies on Mars". Jet Propulsion Laboratory .
  16. ↑ "HiRISE | Activity in Martian Gullies (ESP_032078_1420)".
  17. ↑ "Gullies on Mars Carved by Dry Ice, Not Water". Space.com . 16 July 2014.
  18. ↑ "Frosty Gullies on Mars - SpaceRef".
  19. ↑ Diot, X., et al. 2014. The geomorphology and morphometry of the banded terrain in Hellas basin, Mars. Planetary and Space Science: 101, 118-134.
  20. ↑ "NASA - Banded Terrain in Hellas".
  21. ↑ "HiRISE | Complex Banded Terrain in Hellas Planitia (ESP_016154_1420)".
  22. ↑ Bernhardt, H., et al. 2018. THE BANDED TERRAIN ON THE HELLAS BASIN FLOOR, MARS: GRAVITY-DRIVEN FLOW NOT SUPPORTED BY NEW OBSERVATIONS. 49th Lunar and Planetary Science Conference 2018 (LPI Contrib. No. 2083). 1143.pdf
  23. ↑ Diot, X.; El-Maarry, M.R.; Schlunegger, F.; Norton, K.P.; Thomas, N.; Grindrod, P.M.; Chojnacki, M. (2016). "Complex geomorphologic assemblage of terrains in association with the banded terrain in Hellas basin, Mars" (PDF). Planetary and Space Science. 121: 36–52. Bibcode:2016P&SS..121...36D. doi: 10.1016/j.pss.2015.12.003 .
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