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Thaumasia Plateau
The Thaumasia Plateau is a vast sloping volcanic plain in the western hemisphere of Mars, and is the most extensive component of the Tharsis Rise by area. Syria Planum, Solis Planum, Sinai Planum, and Thaumasia Planum are the constituent sectors of the plateau, which sits between 8 km and 4 km above the surrounding southern highlands. It is bounded by vestigial basement terrains that predate the formation of Tharsis. This area has been proposed to be a drainage basin that sourced the floodwaters forming the outflow channels surrounding Chryse Planitia. Context The Thaumasia Plateau lies at the heart of the Tharsis Rise, and is framed to the northwest by the Noctis Labyrinthus fracture zone and the Valles Marineris chasmata (particularly, Ius Chasma, Melas Chasma, and Coprates Chasma, from northwest to northeast). Older Noachian basement crust, likely predating the formation of Tharsis, bound the Thaumasia Plateau to the west ( Claritas Rise and the Claritas Fossa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mars
Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun. It is also known as the "Red Planet", because of its orange-red appearance. Mars is a desert-like rocky planet with a tenuous carbon dioxide () atmosphere. At the average surface level the atmospheric pressure is a few thousandths of Earth's, atmospheric temperature ranges from and cosmic radiation is high. Mars retains some water, in the ground as well as thinly in the atmosphere, forming cirrus clouds, frost, larger polar regions of permafrost and ice caps (with seasonal snow), but no liquid surface water. Its surface gravity is roughly a third of Earth's or double that of the Moon. It is half as wide as Earth or twice the Moon, with a diameter of , and has a surface area the size of all the dry land of Earth. Fine dust is prevalent across the surface and the atmosphere, being picked up and spread at the low Martian gravity even by the weak wind of the tenuous atmosphere. The terrain of Mars roughly follows a north-south ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Claritas Fossae
Claritas Fossae is a densely-dissected highland terrain on the Tharsis, Tharsis Rise of Mars, located immediately south of the Tharsis Montes. The fossae of the Claritas Fossae region are many superposed swarms of graben. Context Claritas Fossae is a group of troughs in the Phoenicis Lacus quadrangle, Phoenicis Lacus and Thaumasia quadrangle, Thaumasia quadrangles of Mars, located at 31.5 S and 104.1 W. The structure is 2,050.0 km long and was named after a classical albedo feature name. It was proposed that this area might be still tectonically active in relatively recent times. Geology Long narrow depressions on Mars are called fossae. This term is derived from Latin; therefore fossa is singular and fossae is plural. Troughs form when the crust is stretched until it breaks. The stretching can be due to the large weight of a nearby volcano. Fossae/pit craters are common near volcanoes in the Tharsis and Elysium Planitia, Elysium regions. A trough often has two breaks wit ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Elysium (volcanic Province)
Elysium, located in the Elysium and Cebrenia quadrangles, is the second largest volcanic region on Mars, after Tharsis. The region includes the volcanoes (from north to south) Hecates Tholus, Elysium Mons and Albor Tholus. The province is centered roughly on Elysium Mons at . Elysium Planitia is a broad plain to the south of Elysium, centered at . Another large volcano, Apollinaris Mons, lies south of Elysium Planitia and is not part of the province. Besides having large volcanoes, Elysium has several areas with long trenches, called fossa or fossae (plural) on Mars. They include the Cerberus Fossae, Elysium Fossae, Galaxias Fossae, Hephaestus Fossae, Hyblaeus Fossae, Stygis Fossae and Zephyrus Fossae. Composition The southeastern portion of the province is geochemically distinct from the northwest. The southeast is composed of sedimentary and porous rocks. The majority of the southeastern portion is made up of Amazonian- Hesperian volcanic units. Most of the r ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hecates Tholus
Hecates Tholus is a Martian volcano, notable for results from the European Space Agency's Mars Express mission which indicate a major eruption took place 350 million years ago. The eruption created a caldera 10 km in diameter on the volcano's western flank. The volcano is at location 32.12°N 150.24°E, in the volcanic province Elysium, and has a diameter of 182 km. It is the northernmost of the Elysium volcanoes; the others are Elysium Mons and Albor Tholus. Hecates Tholus is in the Cebrenia quadrangle. Origin of name In planetary nomenclature, a " tholus" is a "small domical mountain or hill". Hecates is named after Hecate, the goddess of the ghost-world, nightly events, and sorcery. Observation history Hecates Tholus was first named in 1973. In 2004, ESA's High Resolution Stereo Camera and NASA's Thermal Emission Imaging System both took pictures of the region from orbit. These observations showed that this region was more complex than previously assumed, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Phreatomagmatic Eruption
Phreatomagmatic eruptions are volcanic eruptions resulting from interaction between magma and water. They differ from exclusively magmatic eruptions and phreatic eruptions. Unlike phreatic eruptions, the products of phreatomagmatic eruptions contain juvenile (magmatic) clasts.Heiken, G. & Wohletz, K. 1985. Volcanic Ash. University of California Press, Berkeley It is common for a large explosive eruption to have magmatic and phreatomagmatic components. Mechanisms Several competing theories exist as to the exact mechanism of ash formation. The most common is the theory of explosive thermal contraction of particles under rapid cooling from contact with water. In many cases the water is supplied by the sea, such as in the Surtsey eruption. In other cases the water may be present in a lake or caldera-lake, as at Santorini, where the phreatomagmatic component of the Minoan eruption was a result of both a lake and later the sea. There have also been examples of interaction between mag ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Stratovolcano
A stratovolcano, also known as a composite volcano, is a typically conical volcano built up by many alternating layers (strata) of hardened lava and tephra. Unlike shield volcanoes, stratovolcanoes are characterized by a steep profile with a summit crater and explosive eruptions. Some have collapsed summit craters called calderas. The lava flowing from stratovolcanoes typically cools and solidifies before spreading far, due to high viscosity. The magma forming this lava is often felsic, having high to intermediate levels of silica (as in rhyolite, dacite, or andesite), with lesser amounts of less viscous mafic magma. Extensive felsic lava flows are uncommon, but can travel as far as 8 km (5 mi). The term ''composite volcano'' is used because strata are usually mixed and uneven instead of neat layers. They are among the most common types of volcanoes; more than 700 stratovolcanoes have erupted lava during the Holocene Epoch (the last 11,700 years), and many ol ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pyroclastic Rock
Pyroclastic rocks are clastic rocks composed of rock fragments produced and ejected by explosive volcanic eruptions. The individual rock fragments are known as pyroclasts. Pyroclastic rocks are a type of volcaniclastic deposit, which are deposits made predominantly of volcanic particles. 'Phreatic' pyroclastic deposits are a variety of pyroclastic rock that forms from volcanic steam explosions and they are entirely made of accidental clasts. 'Phreatomagmatic' pyroclastic deposits are formed from explosive interaction of magma with groundwater. The word ''pyroclastic'' is derived from the Greek , meaning fire; and , meaning broken. Unconsolidated accumulations of pyroclasts are described as tephra. Tephra may become lithified to a pyroclastic rock by cementation or chemical reactions as the result of the passage of hot gases (fumarolic alteration) or groundwater (e.g. hydrothermal alteration and diagenesis) and burial, or, if it is emplaced at temperatures so hot that the soft gla ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Terra Sirenum
Terra Sirenum is a large region in the southern hemisphere of the planet Mars. It is centered at and covers 3900 km at its broadest extent. It covers latitudes 10 to 70 South and longitudes 110 to 180 W. Terra Sirenum is an upland area notable for massive cratering including the large Newton Crater. Terra Sirenum is in the Phaethontis quadrangle and the Memnonia quadrangle of Mars. A low area in Terra Sirenum is believed to have once held a lake that eventually drained through Ma'adim Vallis. Terra Sirenum is named after the Sirens, who were birds with the heads of girls. In the ''Odyssey'' these girls captured passing seamen and killed them. Chloride deposits Evidence of deposits of chloride based minerals in Terra Sirenum was discovered by the 2001 Mars Odyssey orbiter's Thermal Emission Imaging System in March 2008. The deposits are approximately 3.5 to 3.9 billion years old. This suggests that near-surface water was widespread in early Martian history, which ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Daedalia Planum
Daedalia Planum is a plain on Mars located south of Arsia Mons at and appears to be relatively featureless plain with multiple lava flows and small craters. It is mostly in the Memnonia quadrangle, but parts are in Tharsis quadrangle and Phoenicis Lacus quadrangle. Modern imagery suggests that it may more accurately be called a " fluctus" rather than a " planum". There is evidence that an ancient 4500 km-diameter impact basin formed in the Noachian epoch may be centered in Daedalia Planum. Wikimolaargyre.jpg, MOLA map showing boundaries of Daedalia Planum and other regions. Colors show elevations. ESP 035848 1510memnoniacraterlayers.jpg, Layers in crater wall, as seen by HiRISE under HiWish program ESP 039673 1705layeredbuttes.jpg, Layers exposed at the base of a group of buttes in Mangala Valles in Memnonia quadrangle The Memnonia quadrangle is one of a series of 30 quadrangle maps of Mars used by the United States Geological Survey (USGS) Astrogeology Resear ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Northwestern Slope Valley
Northwestern or North-western or North western may refer to: * Northwest, a direction * Northwestern University, a private research university in Evanston, Illinois ** The Northwestern Wildcats, this school's intercollegiate athletic program ** Northwestern Medicine, an academic medical system comprising: *** Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine *** Northwestern Memorial Hospital. Other colleges and universities * Northwestern College (Iowa), a small Christian college in Iowa * University of Northwestern – St. Paul (formerly Northwestern College), a small Christian college, located in Roseville, Minnesota * The former Northwestern College in Watertown, Wisconsin, which was incorporated into Martin Luther College in New Ulm, Minnesota in 1995 * Northwestern Michigan College, a small college located in Traverse City, Michigan * Northwestern Oklahoma State University in Alva, Oklahoma * Northwestern State University, in Natchitoches, Louisiana * Northwestern Califor ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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. Argyre is centered at and lies between 35° and 61° S and 27° and 62° W in the Argyre quadrangle. The basin is approximately wide and drops below the surrounding plains; it is the second-deepest impact basin on Mars after Hellas. The crater Galle, located on the east rim of Argyre at , strongly resembles a smiley face. The basin was formed by a giant impact event by an impactor around in diameter during the Late Heavy Bombardment of the early Solar System, approximately 4–3.8 billion years ago, and may be one of the best preserved ancient impact basins from that period. Argyre is surrounded by rugged massifs which form concentric and radial patterns around the basin. Several mountain ranges are present, some of these mountain r ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pavonis Mons
Pavonis Mons (Latin for "peacock mountain") is a large shield volcano located in the Tharsis region of the planet Mars. It is the middle member of a chain of three volcanic mountains (collectively known as the Tharsis Montes) that straddle the Martian equator between longitudes 235°E and 259°E. The volcano was discovered by the Mariner 9 spacecraft in 1971, and was originally called Middle Spot. Its name formally became Pavonis Mons in 1973. The equatorial location of its peak and its height make it the ideal terminus for a space elevator, and it has often been proposed as a space elevator location, especially in science fiction. It is also an ideal location for a Sky Ramp. General description Pavonis Mons stands at the southern edge of the Tharsis quadrangle - approximately 400 km southwest of Ascraeus Mons (the northernmost of the Tharsis Montes) and 400 km northeast of Arsia Mons (the southernmost member of the chain). The Tharsis Montes volcanoes lie along ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
