Tooting is an impact crater (of the rampart crater type) with volcanic features at 23.1°N, 207.1°E, in

Amazonis Planitia Amazonis Planitia (, Latin ''Amāzŏnis'') is one of the smoothest plains on Mars. It is located between the Tharsis and Elysium volcanic provinces, to the west of Olympus Mons, in the Amazonis and Memnonia quadrangles, centered at . Th ...

(

Amazonis quadrangle The Amazonis quadrangle is one of a series of 30 quadrangle maps of Mars used by the United States Geological Survey (USGS) Astrogeology Research Program. The Amazonis quadrangle is also referred to as MC-8 (Mars Chart-8). The quadrangle cove ...

), due west of the volcano

Olympus Mons Olympus Mons (; ) is a large shield volcano on Mars. It is over high as measured by the Mars Orbiter Laser Altimeter (MOLA), about 2.5 times the elevation of Mount Everest above sea level. It is Mars's tallest volcano, its tallest planetary mou ...

, on

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 atmosph ...

. It was identified by planetary geologist Peter Mouginis-Mark in September 2004. Scientists estimate that its age is on the order of hundreds of thousands of years, which is relatively young for a Martian crater. A later study confirms this

order of magnitude In a ratio scale based on powers of ten, the order of magnitude is a measure of the nearness of two figures. Two numbers are "within an order of magnitude" of each other if their ratio is between 1/10 and 10. In other words, the two numbers are ...

estimate. A preliminary paper describing the geology and geometry of Tooting was published in 2007 by the journal ''Meteoritics and Planetary Science'', vol. 42, pages 1615–1625. Further papers have been published, including a 2010 analysis of flows on the walls of Tooting crater by A. R. Morris et al. (''Icarus'' vol. 209, p. 369–389), and a 2012 review paper by P.J. Mouginis-Mark and J.M. Boyce in ''Chemie der Erde Geochemistry'', vol. 72, p. 1–23. A geologic map has also been submitted in 2012 to the U.S. Geological Survey for consideration and future publication.

Naming

Tooting is named after the

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

suburb of the same name. This is in accordance with the

International Astronomical Union The International Astronomical Union (IAU; , UAI) is an international non-governmental organization (INGO) with the objective of advancing astronomy in all aspects, including promoting astronomical research, outreach, education, and developmen ...

's rules for

planetary nomenclature Planetary nomenclature, like terrestrial nomenclature, is a system of uniquely identifying features on the surface of a planet or natural satellite so that the features can be easily located, described, and discussed. Since the invention of the ...

, which specify that craters on Mars less than 60 km in diameter should be named after "villages of the world with a population of less than 100,000". The discoverer named it after his home town because he "thought ismum and brother would get a kick out of having their home town paired with a land form on Mars". This caused a stir in the British press, with many well-known media outlets reporting on the issue.

Geology

The crater's youth was inferred from the lack of superimposed cratering, preserved impact melt in the crater, and that the central peak of the crater has not been buried by

sediment Sediment is a solid material that is transported to a new location where it is deposited. It occurs naturally and, through the processes of weathering and erosion, is broken down and subsequently sediment transport, transported by the action of ...

. Research published in the journal ''Icarus'' has found pits in Tooting 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.

Due to the flatness of the surrounding lava flows (at 3872 m below Martian datum), it is possible to infer much about the crater's formation and

ejecta Ejecta (; ) are particles ejected from an area. In volcanology, in particular, the term refers to particles including pyroclastic rock, pyroclastic materials (tephra) that came out of a explosive eruption, volcanic explosion and magma eruption v ...

blanket. For example, the volume of ejecta deposited from the formation of the crater is estimated to be 450 cubic kilometres and that this process took less than half an hour.

Comparison

Tooting has been compared to the craters Santa Fe and Endeavour (of ''Opportunity'' ER-Bfame).

Source of Martian Meteorites

Tooting has been suggested as the most likely source of depleted Shergottite meteorites that were ejected 1.1 million years ago.

References

External links