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The Argyre quadrangle is one of a series of 30 quadrangle maps of Mars used by the
_
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_and_the_Argyre_Planitia">Argyre_basin,_a_giant_impact_crater.__Research_published_in_the_journal_''Icarus_(journal).html" ;"title="Argyre_Planitia.html" ;"title="smiley.html" "title="Galle_(Martian_crater).html" ;"title="Mars.html" ;"title="rakan, Berma.
The Argyre quadrangle covers the area from 0° to 60° west longitude and from 30° to 65° south latitude on Mars">rakan, Berma.
The Argyre quadrangle covers the area from 0° to 60° west longitude and from 30° to 65° south latitude on Mars. It contains Galle (Martian crater)">Galle crater, which resembles a smiley">smiley face
A smiley, sometimes referred to as a smiley face, is a basic ideogram that represents a smiling face. Since the 1950s it has become part of popular culture worldwide, used either as a standalone ideogram, or as a form of communication, such a ...
and the Argyre Planitia">Argyre basin, a giant impact crater. Research published in the journal ''Icarus (journal)">Icarus'' has found pits in Hale Crater that are caused by hot ejecta falling on ground containing ice. The pits are formed by heat forming steam that rushes out from groups of pits simultaneously, thereby blowing away from the pit ejecta.
Many steep slopes in this quadrangle contain gullies, which are believed to have formed by relatively recent flows of water.
The Argyre quadrangle is one of a series of 30 quadrangle maps of Mars used by the United States Geological Survey
The United States Geological Survey (USGS), formerly simply known as the Geological Survey, is a scientific agency of the United States government. The scientists of the USGS study the landscape of the United States, its natural resources, ...
(USGS) Astrogeology Research Program
The Astrogeology Science Center is the entity within the United States Geological Survey concerned with the study of planetary geology and planetary cartography. It is housed in the Shoemaker Building in Flagstaff, Arizona. The Center was establ ...
. The Argyre quadrangle is also referred to as MC-26 (Mars Chart-26). It contains Argyre Planitia
Argyre Planitia is a plain located within the impact basin Argyre in the southern highlands of Mars. Its name comes from a map produced by Giovanni Schiaparelli in 1877; it refers to Argyre, a mythical island of silver in Greek mythology.
Ar ...
and part of Noachis Terra.
Name
The word Argyre is named after a legendary silver at the mouth of the Ganges-- rakan,_Berma. The_Argyre_quadrangle_covers_the_area_from_0°_to_60°_west_longitude_and_from_30°_to_65°_south_latitude_on_Mars.__It_contains_rakan,_Berma.
The_Argyre_quadrangle_covers_the_area_from_0°_to_60°_west_longitude_and_from_30°_to_65°_south_latitude_on_Mars.__It_contains_Galle_(Martian_crater)">Galle_crater,_which_resembles_a_ rakan,_Berma.
The_Argyre_quadrangle_covers_the_area_from_0°_to_60°_west_longitude_and_from_30°_to_65°_south_latitude_on_Mars.__It_contains_Galle_(Martian_crater)">Galle_crater,_which_resembles_a_smiley">smiley_face_
A_smiley,_sometimes_referred_to_as_a_smiley_face,_is_a_basic_ideogram_that_represents_a__smiling_face._Since_the_1950s_it_has_become_part_of_popular_culture_worldwide,_used_either_as_a_standalone_ideogram,_or_as_a_form_of_communication,_such_a_...
_and_the_ rakan,_Berma.
The_Argyre_quadrangle_covers_the_area_from_0°_to_60°_west_longitude_and_from_30°_to_65°_south_latitude_on_Mars.__It_contains_Galle_(Martian_crater)">Galle_crater,_which_resembles_a_smiley">smiley_faceMartian gullies
Gullies are common in some latitude bands on Mars. Usually, martian gullies are found on the walls of craters or troughs, but Charitum Montes, a group of mountains, has gullies in some areas (See the image below). Gullies occur on steep slopes, especially on the walls of craters. Gullies are believed to be relatively young because they have few, if any craters. Moreover, they lie on top of sand dunes which themselves are considered to be quite young. Usually, each gully has an alcove, channel, and apron. Some studies have found that gullies occur on slopes that face all directions, others have found that the greater number of gullies are found on poleward facing slopes, especially from 30-44 S. Although many ideas have been put forward to explain them, the most popular involve liquid water coming from anaquifer
An aquifer is an underground layer of water-bearing, permeable rock, rock fractures, or unconsolidated materials ( gravel, sand, or silt). Groundwater from aquifers can be extracted using a water well. Aquifers vary greatly in their characteris ...
, from melting at the base of old glaciers, or from the melting of ice in the ground when the climate was warmer. Because of the good possibility that liquid water was involved with their formation and that they could be very young, scientists are excited. Maybe the gullies are where we should go to find life.
There is evidence for all three theories. Most of the gully alcove heads occur at the same level, just as one would expect of an aquifer
An aquifer is an underground layer of water-bearing, permeable rock, rock fractures, or unconsolidated materials ( gravel, sand, or silt). Groundwater from aquifers can be extracted using a water well. Aquifers vary greatly in their characteris ...
. Various measurements and calculations show that liquid water could exist in aquifers at the usual depths where gullies begin. One variation of this model is that rising hot magma
Magma () is the molten or semi-molten natural material from which all igneous rocks are formed. Magma is found beneath the surface of the Earth, and evidence of magmatism has also been discovered on other terrestrial planets and some natural sa ...
could have melted ice in the ground and caused water to flow in aquifers. Aquifers are layer that allow water to flow. They may consist of porous sandstone. The aquifer layer would be perched on top of another layer that prevents water from going down (in geological terms it would be called impermeable). Because water in an aquifer is prevented from going down, the only direction the trapped water can flow is horizontally. Eventually, water could flow out onto the surface when the aquifer reaches a break—like a crater wall. The resulting flow of water could erode the wall to create gullies. Aquifers are quite common on Earth. A good example is "Weeping Rock" in Zion National Park
Zion National Park is an American national park located in southwestern Utah near the town of Springdale. Located at the junction of the Colorado Plateau, Great Basin, and Mojave Desert regions, the park has a unique geography and a variety of ...
Utah
Utah ( , ) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. Utah is a landlocked U.S. state bordered to its east by Colorado, to its northeast by Wyoming, to its north by Idaho, to its south by Arizona, and to it ...
.
As for the next theory, much of the surface of Mars is covered by a thick smooth mantle that is thought to be a mixture of ice and dust. This ice-rich mantle, a few yards thick, smooths the land, but in places it has a bumpy texture, resembling the surface of a basketball. The mantle may be like a glacier and under certain conditions the ice that is mixed in the mantle could melt and flow down the slopes and make gullies. Because there are few craters on this mantle, the mantle is relatively young. An excellent view of this mantle is shown below in the picture of the Ptolemaeus Crater Rim, as seen by HiRISE
High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment is a camera on board the '' Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter'' which has been orbiting and studying Mars since 2006. The 65 kg (143 lb), US$40 million instrument was built under the direction ...
.
The ice-rich mantle may be the result of climate changes. Changes in Mars's orbit and tilt cause significant changes in the distribution of water ice from polar regions down to latitudes equivalent to Texas. During certain climate periods water vapor leaves polar ice and enters the atmosphere. The water comes back to ground at lower latitudes as deposits of frost or snow mixed generously with dust. The atmosphere of Mars contains a great deal of fine dust particles. Water vapor will condense on the particles, then fall down to the ground due to the additional weight of the water coating. When Mars is at its greatest tilt or obliquity, up to 2 cm of ice could be removed from the summer ice cap and deposited at midlatitudes. This movement of water could last for several thousand years and create a snow layer of up to around 10 meters thick. When ice at the top of the mantling layer goes back into the atmosphere, it leaves behind dust, which insulating the remaining ice. Measurements of altitudes and slopes of gullies support the idea that snowpacks or glaciers are associated with gullies. Steeper slopes have more shade which would preserve snow.
Higher elevations have far fewer gullies because ice would tend to sublimate more in the thin air of the higher altitude.
The third theory might be possible since climate changes may be enough to simply allow ice in the ground to melt and thus form the gullies. During a warmer climate, the first few meters of ground could thaw and produce a "debris flow" similar to those on the dry and cold Greenland east coast. Since the gullies occur on steep slopes only a small decrease of the shear strength of the soil particles is needed to begin the flow. Small amounts of liquid water from melted ground ice could be enough. Calculations show that a third of a mm of runoff can be produced each day for 50 days of each Martian year, even under current conditions.
HiRISE
High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment is a camera on board the '' Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter'' which has been orbiting and studying Mars since 2006. The 65 kg (143 lb), US$40 million instrument was built under the direction ...
Image:Green Crater Gullies.jpg, Gullies in Green Crater
Green is an impact crater in the Argyre quadrangle of Mars. It is named after Nathan E. Green, a British astronomer (1823-1899).
Description
Debris flows have been observed on some of the dunes in this crater. Some researchers believe that t ...
, as seen by HiRISE.
Image:Close-up of Green Crater Gullies.JPG, Close-up of gullies in Green Crater, as seen by HiRISE.
Image:Jezza Crater.JPG, Jezza Crater Jezza may refer to:
* Jezža (crater), a crater in the Argyre quadrangle of Mars
* Alex Jesaulenko (born 1945), Australian rules footballer nicknamed Jezza
* Jezza, a nickname for people named Jeremy in Britain
**Jeremy Clarkson (born 1960), Engli ...
, as seen by HiRISE. North wall (at top) has gullies. Dark lines are dust devil tracks. Scale bar is 500 meters long.
Image:ESP 022685 dunesandgullieslabeled.jpg, Gullies, as seen by HiRISE under HiWish program. Location is Nereidum Montes.
Image:24808multilevelgullies.jpg, Scene in Argyre quadrangle with gullies, alluvival fans, and hollows, as seen by HiRISE under HiWish program 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 HiRIS ...
. Enlargements of parts of this image are below.
Image:24808multiplefans.jpg, Several levels of alluvial fans, as seen by HiRISE under HiWish program. Locations of these fans are indicated in the previous image.
Image:24808smallfan.jpg, Small, well-formed alluvial fan, as seen by HiRISE under HiWish program. Location of this fan is shown in an image displayed above.
Image:24808hollows.jpg, Enlargement of above image showing hollows with box showing the size of a football field, as seen by HiRISE under HiWish program.
Image:28540gullies.jpg, Gullies as seen by HiRISE under HiWish program.
File:ESP 028896 1355gullies.jpg, Gullies in Nereidum Montes, as seen by HiRISE under HiWish program.
ESP 039919 1375gullies.jpg, Gullies in a crater, as seen by HiRISE under HiWish program
ESP 039919 1375aprons.jpg, Close up of gully aprons, as seen by HiRISE under HiWish program Note this is an enlargement of the previous image of gullies in a crater.
ESP 040974 1395gullies.jpg, Wide view of gullies in Arkhangelsky Crater Arkhangelsky (masculine), Arkhangelskaya (feminine), or Arkhangelskoye (neuter) may refer to:
People
* Arkhangelsky (surname)
Places
* Arkhangelsky District, a district in the Republic of Bashkortostan, Russia
* Arkhangelsky (rural locality) (''Ar ...
, as seen by HiRISE under HiWish program
40974 1395gullies.jpg, Close-up of small channels in gullies in Arkhangelsky Crater Arkhangelsky (masculine), Arkhangelskaya (feminine), or Arkhangelskoye (neuter) may refer to:
People
* Arkhangelsky (surname)
Places
* Arkhangelsky District, a district in the Republic of Bashkortostan, Russia
* Arkhangelsky (rural locality) (''Ar ...
, as seen by HiRISE under HiWish program Patterned ground in the shape of polygons can be seen to the right. Note: this is an enlargement of the previous image from Arkhangelsky Crater.
40974 1395gully.jpg, Close-up of a gully showing a channel going across the apron, as seen by HiRISE under HiWish program. Note: this is an enlargement of a previous image from Arkhangelsky Crater.
ESP 047395 1415gulliesridges.jpg, Gullies in crater, as seen by HiRISE under HiWish program
47395 1415gullycurvedchannels.jpg, Close view of gullies from previous image The channels are quite curved. Because channels of gullies often form curves, it was thought that they were made by flowing water. Today, it is thought that they could be produced with chunks of dry ice. The image is from HiRISE under HiWish program.
ESP 047528 1355gullies.jpg, Gullies on two sides of a mound, as seen by HiRISE under HiWish program
File:ESP 047963 1305gullies.jpg, Gullies, as seen by HiRISE under HiWish program
47963 1305gullychannelclose.jpg, Close view of gully channel, as seen by HiRISE under HiWish program Arrow shows small channel within larger channel. Small channel is quite curved in this image.
Argyre basin
The Argyre basin was created by a giant impact that occurred 70 million years after the Hellas impact. It is believed to have contained a lake early in the history of Mars. At least three river valleys (Surius Vallis, Dzigal Vallis, and Palacopus Vallis) drain into it from the south. After it froze solid, the ice formed eskers which are visible today. An article written by 22 researchers in Icarus concluded that the impact that formed the Argyre basin probably stuck an ice cap or a thick permafrost layer. Energy from the impact melted the ice and formed a giant lake that eventually sent water to the North. The lakes's volume was equal to that of Earth's Mediterranean Sea. The deepest part of the lake may have taken more than a hundred thousand years to freeze, but with the help of heat from the impact, geothermal heating, and dissolved solutes it may have had liquid water for many millions of years. Life may have developed in this time. This region shows a great deal of evidence of glacial activity with flow features, crevasse-like fractures,drumlin
A drumlin, from the Irish word ''droimnín'' ("littlest ridge"), first recorded in 1833, in the classical sense is an elongated hill in the shape of an inverted spoon or half-buried egg formed by glacial ice acting on underlying unconsolidated ...
s, esker
An esker, eskar, eschar, or os, sometimes called an ''asar'', ''osar'', or ''serpent kame'', is a long, winding ridge of stratified sand and gravel, examples of which occur in glaciated and formerly glaciated regions of Europe and North Ame ...
s, tarns
A tarn (or corrie loch) is a proglacial mountain lake, pond or pool, formed in a cirque excavated by a glacier. A moraine may form a natural dam below a tarn.
Etymology
The word is derived from the Old Norse word ''tjörn'' ("a small mount ...
, aretes, cirques
A (; from the Latin word ') is an amphitheatre-like valley formed by glacial erosion. Alternative names for this landform are corrie (from Scottish Gaelic , meaning a pot or cauldron) and (; ). A cirque may also be a similarly shaped landform ...
, horns Horns or The Horns may refer to:
* Plural of Horn (instrument), a group of musical instruments all with a horn-shaped bells
* The Horns (Colorado), a summit on Cheyenne Mountain
* ''Horns'' (novel), a dark fantasy novel written in 2010 by Joe Hill ...
, U-shaped valleys, and terraces. Because of the shapes of Argyre sinuous ridges, the authors concluded that they are eskers. Studies with advanced cameras, such as CTX, and MRO High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) suggests that these ridges are probably eskers.
Other craters
The older a surface is the more craters it will have; therefore the crater density of a area is used to determine the relative age. 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. The peak is caused by a rebound of the crater floor following the impact. Often, craters with diameters greater than 100 km have rings on their floors. Since so much material is blasted away, the ground readjusts, making circular faults. When lava flows upward along the faults, rings are produced.HiRISE
High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment is a camera on board the '' Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter'' which has been orbiting and studying Mars since 2006. The 65 kg (143 lb), US$40 million instrument was built under the direction ...
.
Image:Bond Crater Floor.JPG, Bond Crater Floor, as seen by HiRISE.
Image:Hartwig crater HiRISE.jpg, Hartwig Crater Floor, as seen by HiRISE. The scale bar is 500 meters long.
Image:Baltisk Crater Floor.JPG, Baltisk Crater Floor, as seen by HiRISE. Scale bar is 1000 meters long. Dark dunes are visible at the bottom of image on the left.
Image:Lohse Crater.JPG, Lohse Crater Gullies on Central Peak, as seen by HiRISE.
Image:Arkhangelsky crater dunes.jpg, Arkhangelsky Crater Arkhangelsky (masculine), Arkhangelskaya (feminine), or Arkhangelskoye (neuter) may refer to:
People
* Arkhangelsky (surname)
Places
* Arkhangelsky District, a district in the Republic of Bashkortostan, Russia
* Arkhangelsky (rural locality) (''Ar ...
Dunes, as seen by THEMIS
In Greek mythology and religion, Themis (; grc, Θέμις, Themis, justice, law, custom) is one of the twelve Titan children of Gaia and Uranus, and the second wife of Zeus. She is the goddess and personification of justice, divine order, fai ...
. Click on image to see possible gullies on central peak.
Wikihalleyeast.jpg, East side of Halley Crater, as seen by CTX camera (on Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter
''Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter'' (MRO) is a spacecraft designed to study the geology and climate of Mars, provide reconnaissance of future landing sites, and relay data from surface missions back to Earth. It was launched on August 12, 2005, an ...
).
Wikihalleydevils.jpg, Floor of Halley Crater, as seen by CTX camera (on Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter). Thin dark lines are dust devil tracks
Martian dust devils (dust devils on Mars) were first photographed by the Viking orbiters in the 1970s. In 1997, the Mars Pathfinder lander detected a dust devil passing over it. In the first image below, photographed by the Mars Global Surveyor, ...
. Note: this is an enlargement of the previous image of Halley Crater.
Wikivogelwest.jpg, West side of Vogel Crater, as seen by CTX camera (on Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter).
Wikihooke.jpg, Hooke Crater, as seen by CTX camera (on Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter). Dark places are dunes.
Wikihookedevils.jpg, Dust devil tracks
Martian dust devils (dust devils on Mars) were first photographed by the Viking orbiters in the 1970s. In 1997, the Mars Pathfinder lander detected a dust devil passing over it. In the first image below, photographed by the Mars Global Surveyor, ...
in and around Hooke Crater, as seen by CTX camera (on Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter). Note: this is an enlargement of the previous image of Hooke Crater.
Wikihookedunesgullies.jpg, Dunes and gullies in Hooke Crater, as seen by CTX camera (on Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter). Note: this is an enlargement of a previous image of Hooke Crater.
WikihookedunesESP 027432 1350.jpg, Dunes and dust devil tracks
Martian dust devils (dust devils on Mars) were first photographed by the Viking orbiters in the 1970s. In 1997, the Mars Pathfinder lander detected a dust devil passing over it. In the first image below, photographed by the Mars Global Surveyor, ...
in Hooke Crater, as seen by HiRISE. There are also gullies just visible.
Wikijonesfloor.jpg, Fan, layers, and dunes on the floor of Jones Crater, as seen by CTX camera (on Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter). Note: this is an enlargement of the previous image of Jones Crater.
Wikimaraldi.jpg, Maraldi Crater, as seen by CTX camera (on Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter).
Wikimaraldidevils.jpg, Dust devil tracks just outside rim of Maraldi Crater, as seen by CTX camera (on Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter). Note: this is an enlargement of the previous image of Maraldi Crater.
Wikihelmholtzeast.jpg, East side of Helmholtz Crater, as seen by CTX camera (on Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter).
Wikihelmholtzdunesdevils.jpg, Dunes and dust devil tracks in Helmholtz Crater, as seen by CTX camera (on Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter). Note: this is an enlargement of the previous image of Helmholtz Crater.
Wikiwegener.jpg, Wegener Crater, as seen by CTX camera (on Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter).
Wikiwegenerdefrostingdunes.jpg, Wegener Crater showing dunes defrosting, as seen by CTX camera (on Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter). Dark spots are places where frost has disappeared from the dark dunes. Note: this is an enlargement of the previous image of Wegener Crater.
Wikivonkarmann.jpg, Von Karman Crater, as seen by CTX camera (on Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter). Dark parts near the top are dunes.
Wikivankarmanndefrostingdunes.jpg, Defrosting dunes in Von Karman Crater, as seen by CTX camera (on Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter). Dark places are where frost has left dark dunes. Picture taken in the springtime on Mars.
Layers
Layers may be formed by groundwater rising up depositing minerals and cementing sediments. The hardened layers are consequently more protected from erosion. This process may occur instead of layers forming under lakes. Some locations on the Red Planet show groups of layered rocks. In some places the layers are arranged into regular patterns. It has been suggested that the layers were put into place by volcanoes, the wind, or by being at the bottom of a lake or sea. Calculations and simulations show that groundwater carrying dissolved minerals would surface in the same locations that have abundant rock layers. According to these ideas, deep canyons and large craters would receive water coming from the ground. Many craters in the Arabia area of Mars contain groups of layers. Some of these layers may have resulted from climate change. The tilt of the rotational axis of Mars has repeatedly changed in the past. Some changes are large. Because of these variations of climate, at times the atmosphere of Mars would have been much thicker and contained more moisture. The amount of atmospheric dust also has increased and decreased. It is believed that these frequent changes helped to deposit material in craters and other low places. The rising of mineral-rich ground water cemented these materials. The model also predicts that after a crater is full of layered rocks, additional layers will be laid down in the area around the crater. So, the model predicts that layers may also have formed in intercrater regions; layers in these regions have been observed. Layers can be hardened by the action of groundwater. Martian ground water probably moved hundreds of kilometers, and in the process it dissolved many minerals from the rock it passed through. When ground water surfaces in low areas containing sediments, water evaporates in the thin atmosphere and leaves behind minerals as deposits and/or cementing agents. Consequently, layers of dust could not later easily erode away since they were cemented together. On Earth, mineral-rich waters often evaporate forming large deposits of various types ofsalts
In chemistry, a salt is a chemical compound consisting of an ionic assembly of positively charged cations and negatively charged anions, which results in a compound with no net electric charge. A common example is table salt, with positively c ...
and other mineral
In geology and mineralogy, a mineral or mineral species is, broadly speaking, a solid chemical compound with a fairly well-defined chemical composition and a specific crystal structure that occurs naturally in pure form.John P. Rafferty, ed. (2 ...
s. Sometimes water flows through Earth's aquifers, and then evaporates at the surface just as is hypothesized for Mars. One location this occurs on Earth is the Great Artesian Basin
The Great Artesian Basin (GAB), located in Australia, is the largest and deepest artesian basin in the world, stretching over , with measured water temperatures ranging from . The basin provides the only source of fresh water through much ...
of Australia. On Earth the hardness of many sedimentary rock
Sedimentary rocks are types of rock that are formed by the accumulation or deposition of mineral or organic particles at Earth's surface, followed by cementation. Sedimentation is the collective name for processes that cause these particles ...
s, like sandstone
Sandstone is a clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate grains. Sandstones comprise about 20–25% of all sedimentary rocks.
Most sandstone is composed of quartz or feldspar (both silicates ...
, is largely due to the cement that was put in place as water passed through.
,
Channels
There is enormous evidence that water once flowed in river valleys on Mars. Images of curved channels have been seen in images from Mars spacecraft dating back to the early seventies with the Mariner 9 orbiter. Indeed, a study published in June 2017, calculated that the volume of water needed to carve all the channels on Mars was even larger than the proposed ocean that the planet may have had. Water was probably recycled many times from the ocean to rainfall around Mars. Many places on Mars show channels of different sizes. Many of these channels probably carried water, at least for a time. The climate of Mars may have been such in the past that water ran on its surface. It has been known for some time that Mars undergoes many large changes in its tilt or obliquity because its two small moons lack the gravity to stabilize it, as our moon stabilizes Earth; at times the tilt of Mars has even been greater than 80 degreesDust devil tracks
Dust devil tracks can be very pretty. They are caused by giant dust devils removing bright colored dust from the Martian surface; thereby exposing a dark layer. Dust devils on Mars have been photographed both from the ground and high overhead from orbit. They have even blown dust off the solar panels of two Rovers on Mars, thereby greatly extending their useful lifetime. The pattern of the tracks has been shown to change every few months. A study that combined data from theHigh Resolution Stereo Camera High Resolution Stereo Camera (HRSC) is a camera experiment on ''Mars Express''.DLR - ...
(HRSC) and the Mars Orbiter Camera
The Mars Orbiter Camera and Mars Observer Camera (MOC) were scientific instruments on board the Mars Observer and Mars Global Surveyor spacecraft. The camera was built by Malin Space Science Systems (MSSS) for NASA and the cost of the whole MOC s ...
(MOC) found that some large dust devils on Mars have a diameter of and last at least 26 minutes.
Dust devil tracks
Martian dust devils (dust devils on Mars) were first photographed by the Viking orbiters in the 1970s. In 1997, the Mars Pathfinder lander detected a dust devil passing over it. In the first image below, photographed by the Mars Global Surveyor, ...
as seen by HiRISE under HiWish program
File:ESP 057669 1245devils.jpg, Dust devil tracks, as seen by HiRISE under HiWish program
Dunes
Other features in Argyre quadrangle
Other Mars quadrangles
Interactive Mars map
See also
*Climate of Mars
The climate of Mars has been a topic of scientific curiosity for centuries, in part because it is the only terrestrial planet whose surface can be directly observed in detail from the Earth with help from a telescope.
Although Mars is smaller t ...
* Dust Devil Tracks
Martian dust devils (dust devils on Mars) were first photographed by the Viking orbiters in the 1970s. In 1997, the Mars Pathfinder lander detected a dust devil passing over it. In the first image below, photographed by the Mars Global Surveyor, ...
* HiRISE
High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment is a camera on board the '' Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter'' which has been orbiting and studying Mars since 2006. The 65 kg (143 lb), US$40 million instrument was built under the direction ...
* HiWish 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 HiRIS ...
* Impact crater
An impact crater is a circular depression in the surface of a solid astronomical object formed by the hypervelocity impact of a smaller object. In contrast to volcanic craters, which result from explosion or internal collapse, impact crater ...
* Lakes on Mars
In summer 1965, the first close-up images from Mars showed a cratered desert with no signs of water. However, over the decades, as more parts of the planet were imaged with better cameras on more sophisticated satellites, Mars showed evidence o ...
* List of quadrangles on Mars
The surface of Mars has been divided into thirty cartographic quadrangles by the United States Geological Survey. Each quadrangle is a region covering a specified range of latitudes and longitudes on the Martian surface. The quadrangles are name ...
* Martian Gullies
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 ...
* Ore resources on Mars
Mars may contain ores that would be very useful to potential colonists. The abundance of volcanic features together with widespread cratering are strong evidence for a variety of ores. While nothing may be found on Mars that would justify the hi ...
* Unconformity
An unconformity is a buried erosional or non-depositional surface separating two rock masses or strata of different ages, indicating that sediment deposition was not continuous. In general, the older layer was exposed to erosion for an interval ...
* Water on Mars
Almost all water on Mars today exists as ice, though it also exists in small quantities as vapor in the atmosphere. What was thought to be low-volume liquid brines in shallow Martian soil, also called recurrent slope lineae, may be grains of ...
References
External links
General review of many of the theories involving the origin of gullies.
Good review of the history of the discovery of gullies.
Lakes on Mars - Nathalie Cabrol (SETI Talks)
{{Portal bar, Solar System Mars