Chaotic Terrain - Revision history

RichardWSmith: /* Water formed Chaotic Terrain on Mars: */ Added link.

2024-11-23T08:20:18Z

Water formed Chaotic Terrain on Mars:: Added link.

RichardWSmith: /* Noctis Labyrinthus is cool, but not chaotic terrain: */ Added Link.

2024-11-23T08:16:12Z

Noctis Labyrinthus is cool, but not chaotic terrain:: Added Link.

RichardWSmith: /* Water formed Chaotic Terrain on Mars: */ Added link

2024-08-23T03:43:28Z

Water formed Chaotic Terrain on Mars:: Added link

RichardWSmith: /* Possible Impact(s) on Mars Formed Tharsis: */

2024-08-23T03:42:23Z

Possible Impact(s) on Mars Formed Tharsis:

RichardWSmith: /* Examples of Chaotic Terrain in the Solar System: */

2024-08-23T03:41:53Z

Examples of Chaotic Terrain in the Solar System:

RichardWSmith: /* Water formed Chaotic Terrain on Mars: */

2024-08-23T03:41:39Z

Water formed Chaotic Terrain on Mars:

RichardWSmith: /* Noctis Labyrinthus is cool, but not chaotic terrain: */

2024-08-23T03:41:22Z

Noctis Labyrinthus is cool, but not chaotic terrain:

RichardWSmith: /* Biography: */

2024-08-23T03:41:02Z

Biography:

RichardWSmith: /* Possible Impact(s) on Mars Formed Tharsis: */

2022-05-03T15:47:17Z

Possible Impact(s) on Mars Formed Tharsis:

RichardWSmith: /* Examples of Chaotic Terrain in the Solar System: */

2022-04-18T00:20:11Z

Examples of Chaotic Terrain in the Solar System:

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 ==Water formed Chaotic Terrain on Mars:==
-The closest analog on Earth may be the mass wasting observed during permafrost melting.<ref>US National Park Service, "Mass Wasting". https://www.nps.gov/subjects/erosion/mass-wasting.htm</ref>
+The closest analog on Earth may be the mass wasting observed during [[Permafrost]] melting.<ref>US National Park Service, "Mass Wasting". https://www.nps.gov/subjects/erosion/mass-wasting.htm</ref>
 On Mars, it is thought that a large area of soil saturated with ice may melt to create chaotic terrain.  This melting may be caused by asteroid impact, gradual geothermal heating, a magma intrusion, seismic activity, increased pore pressure, or the dissociation of carbon dioxide & methane [[Clathrates]].  (Different areas may well have had different forms of melting.)  Some land near chaotic terrain appears undisturbed, and may be an area where the ground water did NOT melt.

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 ==Noctis Labyrinthus is cool, but not chaotic terrain:==
-Note that Noctis Labyrinthus (the Labyrinth of the Night), west of Valles Marineris, was once thought to have been created by this process, but now is believed to have been created by faulting.  (That is, this mesa and gully terrain is created when horsts remain still, and the corresponding gaben sink.)
+Note that [[Noctis Labyrinthus]] (the Labyrinth of the Night), west of Valles Marineris, was once thought to have been created by this process, but now is believed to have been created by faulting.  (That is, this mesa and gully terrain is created when horsts remain still, and the corresponding gaben sink.)
 ==Biography:==

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 The closest analog on Earth may be the mass wasting observed during permafrost melting.<ref>US National Park Service, "Mass Wasting". https://www.nps.gov/subjects/erosion/mass-wasting.htm</ref>
-On Mars, it is thought that a large area of soil saturated with ice may melt to create chaotic terrain.  This melting may be caused by asteroid impact, gradual geothermal heating, a magma intrusion, seismic activity, increased pore pressure, or the dissociation of carbon dioxide & methane clathrates.  (Different areas may well have had different forms of melting.)  Some land near chaotic terrain appears undisturbed, and may be an area where the ground water did NOT melt.
+On Mars, it is thought that a large area of soil saturated with ice may melt to create chaotic terrain.  This melting may be caused by asteroid impact, gradual geothermal heating, a magma intrusion, seismic activity, increased pore pressure, or the dissociation of carbon dioxide & methane [[Clathrates]].  (Different areas may well have had different forms of melting.)  Some land near chaotic terrain appears undisturbed, and may be an area where the ground water did NOT melt.
 However this water liquified, it flows downhill (causing collapses in the soil where it leaves), and may emerge to the surface lifting up and tilting huge blocks of rock.  Chaos terrain is associated with a confusion of mesas, hills, valleys, gullies, & buttes.  The chaotic terrain is often associated with the heads of large river systems on Mars, and it is theorized that massive amounts of water catastrophically emerged from some of these areas in sudden, huge floods.

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 *On Pluto chaotic Terrain can be found at the antipode from the Sputnik Planitia impact basin.
-=='''Possible Impact(s) on Mars Formed Tharsis:'''==
+==Possible Impact(s) on Mars Formed Tharsis:==
 The Tharsis Bulge and the Hellas basin are at approximate antipodes from each other.  In particular, Alba Mons, (an old, very large shield volcano north east of Olympus Mons), is exactly opposite from Hellas Planitia.  It is possible that chaotic terrain caused by the Hellas impact weakened the crust at Tharsis and triggered, or aided, the formation of the Tharsis Bulge.  Also note that the Isidis Impact basin (half the diameter of Hellas) is also opposite the southern parts of the Tharsis Bulge.

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 Both of these types of terrain have occurred on Mars.
-=='''Examples of Chaotic Terrain in the Solar System:'''==
+==Examples of Chaotic Terrain in the Solar System:==
 *On Mercury there is the Caloris Impact Basin which is about 1,550 km in diameter.  On the exact antipode from this impact is chaotic terrain (also known as "a weird terrain"), which is made up of hilly, grooved terrain with few impact craters.

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 *Galaxias Chaos (this lacks an outflow river).
-=='''Noctis Labyrinthus is cool, but not chaotic terrain:'''==
+==Noctis Labyrinthus is cool, but not chaotic terrain:==
 Note that Noctis Labyrinthus (the Labyrinth of the Night), west of Valles Marineris, was once thought to have been created by this process, but now is believed to have been created by faulting.  (That is, this mesa and gully terrain is created when horsts remain still, and the corresponding gaben sink.)

@@ Line 45: / Line 45: @@
 Note that Noctis Labyrinthus (the Labyrinth of the Night), west of Valles Marineris, was once thought to have been created by this process, but now is believed to have been created by faulting.  (That is, this mesa and gully terrain is created when horsts remain still, and the corresponding gaben sink.)
-=='''Biography:'''==
+==Biography:==
 "Deccan Volcanism, the Chicxlub Impact, and the end-Cretaceous mass extinction: Coincidence? Cause and effect?" by Keller, G.  Published in Volcanism, Impacts, and Mass Extinctions: Causes and Effects, GSA Special Paper 505.  https://web.archive.org/web/20170618024315/http://specialpapers.gsapubs.org/content/early/2014/06/10/2014.2505_03.1.abstract
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 "The Geology of Mars: Evidence from Earth-Based Analogs", published by Cambridge Planetary Science, Edited by Mary Chapman.
-References:
+==References:==
 <references />

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 =='''Possible Impact(s) on Mars Formed Tharsis:'''==
-The Tharsis Bulge and the Hellas basin are at approximate antipodes from each other.  In particular, Alba Mons, (an old, very large shield volcano north east of Olympus Mons), is exactly opposite from Hellas Planitia.  It is possible that chaotic terrain caused by the Hellas impact weakened the crust at Tharsis and triggered, or aided, the formation of the Tharsis Bulge.  Also note that the Isidis Impact basin (half the diameter of Hellas) is also opposite the Tharsis Bulge.
+The Tharsis Bulge and the Hellas basin are at approximate antipodes from each other.  In particular, Alba Mons, (an old, very large shield volcano north east of Olympus Mons), is exactly opposite from Hellas Planitia.  It is possible that chaotic terrain caused by the Hellas impact weakened the crust at Tharsis and triggered, or aided, the formation of the Tharsis Bulge.  Also note that the Isidis Impact basin (half the diameter of Hellas) is also opposite the southern parts of the Tharsis Bulge.
 =='''Water formed Chaotic Terrain on Mars:'''==

@@ Line 13: / Line 13: @@
 *On Earth, at the antipode of the Chicxulub Impact Event is India.  At the time of the impact, the Deccan Traps formed.  The Deccan Traps were caused when huge cracks opened in the Earth's surface and massive amounts of Lava flowed out, forming lava flows, in some areas, 2 km thick.  (Approximately 1,000,000 cubic kilometres of lava were produced.)  Gerta Keller, in a 2015 paper, has argued that the Chicxulub Impact created chaotic terrain in India, and the fractures produced in the crust allowed the Deccan Traps to form.
-*On Luna, the largest impact crater is the South Pole-Aitken basin.  Approximately opposite it are large lunar maria, and a concentration of the KREEP elements.  (KREEP is from: K is the atomic symbol for Phosphorus, Rare Earth Elements, and Potassium.) It is currently thought that the impactor which formed the Aitken basin cracked the crust on the opposite side of the moon, and allowed the still liquid KREEP rich magma to form the 'seas' on the lunar northern near side. <ref>Aitken basin impact origin of the lunar compositional asymmetry| https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.abm8475</ref>
+*On Luna, the largest impact crater is the South Pole-Aitken basin.  Approximately opposite it are large lunar maria, and a concentration of the KREEP elements.  (KREEP is from: K is the atomic symbol for Phosphorus, Rare Earth Elements, and Potassium.) It is currently thought that the impactor which formed the Aitken basin cracked the crust on the opposite side of the moon, and allowed the still liquid KREEP rich magma to form the 'seas' on the lunar northern near side. <ref>Aitken basin impact origin of the lunar compositional asymmetry https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.abm8475</ref>
 *On Jupiter's moon, Europa there is the Conamara Chaos.  No impact on the opposite side the world remains, but the ice plates over a liquid ocean may have erased a previous impact basin.