Aureum Chaos is a rough, collapsed region (
chaos terrain) in the
Margaritifer Sinus quadrangle
The Margaritifer Sinus quadrangle is one of a series of 30 quadrangle maps of Mars used by the United States Geological Survey (USGS) Astrogeology Research Program. The Margaritifer Sinus quadrangle is also referred to as MC-19 (Mars Chart-19) ...
(MC-19) portion of the planet
Mars
Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun and the second-smallest planet in the Solar System, only being larger than Mercury. In the English language, Mars is named for the Roman god of war. Mars is a terrestrial planet with a thin at ...
at approximately 4.4° south latitude and 27° west longitude, it is also in the west of
Margaritifer Terra. It is 368 km across and was named after a classical albedo feature name.
The classic name came from one of the first maps of Mars drawn by
Schiaparelli who has been called the "Father of Mars." He called a feature "Aurea Cherso, which translates to the golden peninsula—an ancient name for Malaya. Aureum is the Latin word for
gold
Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au (from la, aurum) and atomic number 79. This makes it one of the higher atomic number elements that occur naturally. It is a bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile me ...
. In chemistry, the symbol for gold is Au from gold's Latin name.
In many places, the canyons of Aureum Chaos are about 1 km deep—a little more than half the depth of the
Grand Canyon. But, Aureum Chaos covers an area about the size of the state of
Alabama
(We dare defend our rights)
, anthem = "Alabama"
, image_map = Alabama in United States.svg
, seat = Montgomery
, LargestCity = Huntsville
, LargestCounty = Baldwin County
, LargestMetro = Greater Birmingham
, area_total_km2 = 135,765 ...
, almost 20 times larger than the
Grand Canyon National Park.
Description
Aureum Chaos is a major canyon system and collapsed area. Large outflow channels on Mars are believed to be caused by catastrophic discharges of ground water. Many of the channels begin in chaotic terrain, where the ground has apparently collapsed. In the collapsed section, blocks of undisturbed material can be seen. The OMEGA experiment on
Mars Express
''Mars Express'' is a space exploration mission being conducted by the European Space Agency (ESA). The ''Mars Express'' mission is exploring the planet Mars, and is the first planetary mission attempted by the agency. "Express" originally ref ...
discovered clay minerals (phyllosilicates) in a variety places in Aureum Chaos.
Clay
Clay is a type of fine-grained natural soil material containing clay minerals (hydrous aluminium phyllosilicates, e.g. kaolin, Al2 Si2 O5( OH)4).
Clays develop plasticity when wet, due to a molecular film of water surrounding the clay par ...
minerals need water to form, so the area may once have contained large amounts of water.
Scientists are interested in determining what parts of Mars contained water because evidence of past or present life may be found there. Aureum Chaos is one more piece of evidence that Mars once had great amounts of water.
Gallery
File:Canyons and Mesas of Aureum Chaos in Oxia Palus.JPG, Huge canyons in Aureum Chaos, 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 ...
. Gullies are rare at this latitude.
File:Aureum Chaos from Themis.JPG, Aureum Chaos, as seen from Themis.
File:Aureum Chaos wide context.JPG, THEMIS image of wide view of following HiRISE images. Black box shows location of HiRISE images. Image is part of the Aureum Chaos. Click on image for details.
File:Aureum Chaos wide view.JPG, Aureum Chaos, as seen by HiRISE, under the 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 ...
.
File:Aureum Chaos HiWish.JPG, Close up view of previous image, as seen by HiRISE under HiWish program. Small round dots are boulders.
File:ESP_024807whitebutte.jpg, Light toned butte on floor of crater, light toned butte, as seen by HiRISE. Arrows show outcrops of light toned material (probably sulfate-rich and once covering the whole floor).
File:24807whitebutte.jpg, Light toned butte, as seen by HiRISE, under HiWish program.
File:24807buttetop.jpg, Close up of top of light toned butte, as seen by HiRISE under HiWish program.
ESP 047923 1765whitelayers.jpg, Light-toned mass in Aureum Chaos, as seen by HiRISE under HiWish program Light-toned materials often form on Mars with the aid of water.
47923 1765layersbutte.jpg, Layered features, as seen by HiRISE under HiWish program Light-toned materials often form on Mars with the aid of water. Gray material in image is probably dark, basalt sand.
47923 1765layersshadows.jpg, Layered features, as seen by HiRISE under HiWish program Light-toned materials often form on Mars with the aid of water. Gray material in image is probably dark, basalt sand.
See also
*
List of areas of chaos terrain on Mars
References
External links
*
The mesas of Aureum Chaos with Mars Express*
{{Portal bar, Solar System
Margaritifer Sinus quadrangle
Chaotic terrains on Mars