Chryse Planitia (Greek, "''Golden Plain''") is a smooth circular plain in the northern equatorial region of

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 ...

close to the

Tharsis Tharsis () is a vast volcanic plateau centered near the equator in the western hemisphere of Mars. The region is home to the largest volcanoes in the Solar System, including the three enormous shield volcanoes Arsia Mons, Pavonis Mons, and Asc ...

region to the west, centered at . Chryse Planitia lies partially in the Lunae Palus quadrangle, partially in the

Oxia Palus quadrangle The Oxia Palus quadrangle is one of a series of 30 quadrangle maps of Mars used by the United States Geological Survey (USGS) Astrogeology Research Program. The Oxia Palus quadrangle is also referred to as MC-11 (Mars Chart-11). The quadrangl ...

, partially in the

Mare Acidalium quadrangle The Mare Acidalium quadrangle is one of a series of 30 quadrangle maps of Mars used by the United States Geological Survey (USGS) Astrogeology Research Program. The quadrangle is located in the northeastern portion of Mars’ western hemisphere ...

. It is 1600 km or 994 mi in diameter and with a floor 2.5 km below the average planetary surface altitude, and has been suggested to be an ancient buried

impact basin 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 craters ...

, though this is contested. It has several features in common with

lunar maria The lunar maria (; singular: mare ) are large, dark, basaltic plains on Earth's Moon, formed by ancient asteroid impacts on the far side on the Moon that triggered volcanic activity on the opposite (near) side. They were dubbed , Latin for 'seas' ...

, such as wrinkle ridges. The density of impact craters in the range is close to half the average for lunar maria. Chryse Planitia shows evidence of water erosion in the past, and is the bottom end for many outflow channels from the southern highlands as well as from

Valles Marineris Valles Marineris (; Latin for '' Mariner Valleys'', named after the ''Mariner 9'' Mars orbiter of 1971–72 which discovered it) is a system of canyons that runs along the Martian surface east of the Tharsis region. At more than long, wide and ...

and the flanks of the Tharsis bulge. It is one of the lowest regions on Mars ( below the mean surface elevation of Mars), so water would tend to flow into it. The elevation generally goes down from the Tharsis Ridge to Chryse.

Kasei Valles The Kasei Valles are a giant system of canyons in Mare Acidalium and Lunae Palus quadrangles on Mars, centered at 24.6° north latitude and 65.0° west longitude. They are long and were named for the word for "Mars" in Japanese. This is one ...

, Maja Valles, and Nanedi Valles appear to run from high areas (Tharsis Ridge) to Chryse Planitia. On the other side of Chryse, to the east, the land gets higher.

Ares Vallis Ares Vallis is an outflow channel on Mars, named after the Greek name for Mars: Ares, the god of war; it appears to have been carved by fluids, perhaps water. The valley 'flows' northwest out of the hilly Margaritifer Terra, where the Iani ...

travels from this high region, then empties into Chryse. Much of

Tiu Valles The Tiu Valles are an outflow channel system in the Oxia Palus quadrangle of Mars, centered at 16.23° North and 34.86° West. They are long and were named after the word for "Mars" in Old English (West Germanic). Wikichaosmap.jpg, Tographi ...

and Simud Valles move toward Chryse as well. Several ancient river valleys discovered in Chryse Planitia by the Viking Orbiters, as part of the

Viking program The ''Viking'' program consisted of a pair of identical American space probes, ''Viking 1'' and ''Viking 2'', which landed on Mars in 1976. Each spacecraft was composed of two main parts: an orbiter designed to photograph the surface of Mars f ...

, provided strong evidence for a great deal of running water on the surface of Mars.Moore, P. et al. 1990. The Atlas of the Solar System. Mitchell Beazley Publishers NY, NY. Chryse Planitia Map Relative.png, Chryse Planitia Map Relative Image:Vedra, Maumee, and Maja valles.jpg, Waters from Vedra Valles, Maumee Valles, and Maja Valles went from Lunae Planum on the left, to Chryse Planitia on the right. Image is located in Lunae Palus quadrangle and was taken by Viking Orbiter. Image:Kasei Valles topolabled.JPG, Area around Northern Kasei Valles, showing relationships among

Bahram Vallis Bahram Vallis is an ancient river valley in the Lunae Palus quadrangle of Mars at 20.7° north latitude and 57.5° west longitude. It is about 302 km long and was named after the word for 'Mars' in Persian. Bahram Vallis is located midway be ...

, Vedra Valles, Maumee Valles, and Maja Valles. Map location is in Lunae Palus quadrangle and includes parts of Lunae Planum and Chryse Planitia. These river valleys once carried water to Chryse Planitia, a low area. Vallesmaumeevedrabox.jpg, Map showing relative positions of a number of features in and near Chryse Planitia, including Vedra Valles, Maumee Valles, and Maja Valles. Box indicates where these valleys can be found. The Viking 1 landing site is indicated. Colors show elevation. Image:Ares Vallis from Viking.jpg,

, capture by Viking and edited as a false color image. The channel is 25 km wide and about 1 km deep. It would be quite spectacular to walk down this valley. It has been theorized that the Chryse basin may have contained a large lake or an ocean during the

Hesperian The Hesperian is a geologic system and time period on the planet Mars characterized by widespread volcanic activity and catastrophic flooding that carved immense outflow channels across the surface. The Hesperian is an intermediate and transitio ...

or early Amazonian periods since all of the large

outflow channels Outflow channels are extremely long, wide swathes of scoured ground on Mars. They extend many hundreds of kilometers in length and are typically greater than one kilometer in width. They are thought to have been carved by huge outburst floods. ...

entering it end at the same elevation, at which some surface features suggest an ancient shoreline may be present. Chryse basin opens into the North Polar Basin, so if an ocean was present Chryse would have been a large bay. ''

Viking 1 ''Viking 1'' was the first of two spacecraft, along with '' Viking 2'', each consisting of an orbiter and a lander, sent to Mars as part of NASA's Viking program. The lander touched down on Mars on July 20, 1976, the first successful Mars la ...

'' landed in Chryse Planitia in 1976, but its landing site was not near the outflow channels and no fluvial features were visible; the terrain at that point appeared primarily volcanic in origin. The

Mars Pathfinder ''Mars Pathfinder'' (''MESUR Pathfinder'') is an American robotic spacecraft that landed a base station with a roving probe on Mars in 1997. It consisted of a lander, renamed the Carl Sagan Memorial Station, and a lightweight, wheeled robot ...

landed in

, at the end of one of the outflow channels emptying into Chryse.

References

External links

Google Mars scrollable map
– centered on Chryse Planitia *Martel, L.M.V. (June 2001) Outflow Channels May Make a Case for a Bygone Ocean on Mars. ''Planetary Science Research Discoveries''. http://www.psrd.hawaii.edu/June01/MarsChryse.html {{Authority control Plains on Mars # Lunae Palus quadrangle Oxia Palus quadrangle Mare Acidalium quadrangle

See also

References

External links