Sinus Sabaeus quadrangle

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MC-20 Sinus Sabaeus 0–30° S 0–45° E Quadrangles Atlas
  • USGS-Mars-MC-20-SinusSabaeusRegion-mola.png
  • PIA00180-MC-20-SinusSabeusRegion-19980605.jpg

The Sinus Sabaeus quadrangle contains a few very interesting craters. One contains a strange white rock in the center. Schiaparelli is a large, easily located crater on the equator. There are several neat exposures of layers in the region. Most of the region contains heavily cratered highlands. In this article, some of the best pictures from a number of spacecraft will show what the landscape looks like in this region. The origins and significance of all features will be explained as they are currently understood. The Sinus Sabaeus quadrangle is one of a series of 30 quadrangle maps of Mars]] used by the United States Geological Survey (USGS). It is also referred to as MC-20 (Mars Chart-20).[1] The Sinus Sabaeus quadrangle covers the area from and 0° to 30° degrees south latitude and 315° to 360° west longitude (45-0 E). The Sinus Sabaeus quadrangle contains parts of regions that have classical names: Noachis Terra and Terra Sabaea. The name comes from an incense-rich location south of the Arabian peninsula (the Gulf of Aden).[2]

Layers

Wislicenus Crater and the Schiaparelli basin crater contain layers, also called strata. Many places on Mars show rocks arranged in layers.[3] Sometimes the layers are of different colors. Light-toned rocks on Mars have been associated with hydrated minerals like sulfates. The Mars Rover Opportunity examined such layers close-up with several instruments and detected clay (also called phyllosilicates if you like big words) and found out that light-toned rocks often contain hydrated minerals. Both need water to form. These minerals were mapped with instruments on orbiting spacecraft, but the rover on the ground supplied ground truth. Scientists are excited about finding hydrated minerals such as sulfates and clays on Mars because they are usually formed in the presence of water.[4] Places that contain clays and/or other hydrated minerals would be good places to look for evidence of life.[5] In plain words, if we see light-toned materials, we suspect water once existed there. Rock can form layers in a variety of ways. Volcanoes, wind, or water can produce layers.[6] Layers can be hardened by the action of groundwater. Martian ground water probably moved hundreds of kilometers, and in the process it dissolved many minerals from the rock it passed through. When ground water surfaces in low areas containing sediments, water evaporates in the thin atmosphere and leaves behind minerals as deposits and/or cementing agents. Consequently, layers of dust could not later easily erode away since they were cemented together. On Earth, mineral-rich waters often evaporate forming large deposits of various types of salts and other minerals. Sometimes water flows through Earth's aquifers, and then evaporates at the surface just as is hypothesized for Mars. One location this occurs on Earth is the Great Artesian Basin of Australia.[7] On Earth the hardness of many sedimentary rocks, like sandstone, is largely due to the cement that was put in place as water passed through.

  • Wislicenus Crater Floor, as seen by HiRISE. Erosion on floor has made layers visible.

  • Bouguer Crater) as seen by CTX. Crater rim is at top. Small craters are on floor of the crater.

  • Close up of layers in eroded deposits on the floor of Bouguer Crater, as seen by HiRISE. This image is in a different part of the crater than the previous image.

  • Layers in Monument Valley. These are accepted as being formed, at least in part, by water deposition. Since Mars contains similar layers, water remains as a major cause of layering on Mars.

  • White layers that may be related to the white material in Pollack Crater, as seen by HiRISE under HiWish program.

Schiaparelli Crater

Layers in crater found within the Schiaparelli Crater basin as seen by Mars Global Surveyor 

                 Layers in crater found within the Schiaparelli Crater basin as seen by Mars Global Surveyor

Schiaparelli is an impact crater located near Mars's equator. It is 461 km in diameter and located at latitude 3° south and longitude 344° W. Some places within Schiaparelli show many layers that may have formed by the wind, volcanoes, or deposition under water. Some are quite beautiful as shown in the pictures below. People often seek to travel to our national parks like the Grand Canyon to see layers like the ones in Schiaparelli.

  • MOLA map of area around Schiaparelli Crater

  • Layers in crater found within the Schiaparelli Crater basin as seen by Mars Global Surveyor

  • Circular structures on floor of Schiaparelli Crater, as seen by HiRISE under HiWish program

  • Layered mound in Schiaparelli Crater, as seen by HiRISE under HiWish program

  • Layers in Schiaparelli Crater, as seen by HiRISE under HiWish program

  • Layers in Schiaparelli Crater, as seen by HiRISE under HiWish program

  • Close view of layers in Schiaparelli Crater, as seen by HiRISE under HiWish program Dark sand is visible on some layers.

  • Close, color view of layers in Schiaparelli Crater, as seen by HiRISE under HiWish program Dark sand is visible on some layers.

  • Close view of layers and rough terrain in Northwestern Schiaparelli Crater, as seen by HiRISE under HiWish program

Other Craters

When a comet or asteroid collides at a high rate of speed with the surface of Mars, it creates a primary impact crater. The primary impact may also eject significant numbers of rocks which eventually fall back to make secondary craters.[8] Secondary craters may be arranged in clusters. All of the craters in the cluster would appear to be equally eroded; since they have the same age. If these secondary craters formed from a single, large, nearby impact, then they would have formed at roughly the same instant in time. The image below of Denning Crater shows a cluster of secondary craters.

  • Recent small crater on floor of Denning Crater, as seen by HiRISE. Arrow shows group of secondary craters from ejecta falling down.

  • Group of secondary craters, as seen by HiRISE under HiWish program

Impact craters generally have a rim with ejecta around them, in contrast volcanic craters usually do not have a rim or ejecta deposits. Sometimes craters expose layers that were buried. Rocks from deep underground are tossed onto the surface. Hence, craters can show us what lies deep under the surface.

  • Bakhuysen Crater, as seen by CTX camera (on Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter). Channels are visible on the north (top) and south (bottom) rims of crater.

  • Channels on south rim of Bakhuysen Crater, as seen by CTX camera (on Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter). Note: this is an enlargement of the previous image of Bakhuysen Crater.

White rock in Pollack crater

Within the region is Pollack crater, which has light-toned rock deposits. Mars has an old surface compared to Earth. While much of Earth's land surface is just a few hundred million years old, large areas of Mars are billions of years old. Some surface areas have been formed, eroded away, then covered over with new layers of rocks. The Mariner 9 spacecraft in the 1970s photographed a feature that was called "White Rock." Newer images revealed that the rock is not really white, but that the area close by is so dark that the white rock looks really white.[9] It was thought that this feature could have been a salt deposit, but information from the instruments on Mars Global Surveyor demonstrated rather that it was probably volcanic ash or dust. Today, it is believed that White Rock represents an old rock layer that once filled the whole crater that it's in, but today it has since been mostly eroded away. The picture below shows white rock with a spot of the same rock some distance from the main deposit, so it is thought that the white material once covered a far larger area.[10]

  • White Rock in Pollack Crater as seen by HiRISE.

  • Enlargement of White Rock in Pollack Crater, as seen by HiRISE.

  • Whiterock on crater floor may be what's left of a much larger deposit. Arrow shows that the deposit once reached much farther. Picture taken by THEMIS.

Channels in Sinus Sabaeus quadrangle

There is enormous evidence that water once flowed in river valleys on Mars.[11] [12] Images of curved channels have been seen in images from Mars spacecraft dating back to the early seventies with the Mariner 9 orbiter.[13] [14] [15] [16] Indeed, a study published in June 2017, calculated that the volume of water needed to carve all the channels on Mars was even larger than the proposed ocean that the planet may have had. Water was probably recycled many times from the ocean to rainfall around Mars.[17] [18]

  • Winding channel, as seen by HiRISE under HiWish program

  • Channels, as seen by HiRISE under HiWish program

  • Channels, as seen by HiRISE under HiWish program

Ridges

  • This straight ridge may be a dike that has been exposed by erosion. It was initially formed by magma moving under the surface along weak spots. The picture was taken with HiRISE under the HiWish program.

  • This long, straight ridge may be a dike that has been exposed by erosion. It was initially formed by magma moving under the surface. The picture was taken with HiRISE under the HiWish program.

Dunes

  • Dunes, as seen with HiRISE under the HiWish program.

See also

References

Further reading

  • Grotzinger, J. and R. Milliken (eds.). 2012. Sedimentary Geology of Mars. SEPM.

External links

  1. ↑ Davies, M.E.; Batson, R.M.; Wu, S.S.C. “Geodesy and Cartography” in Kieffer, H.H.; Jakosky, B.M.; Snyder, C.W.; Matthews, M.S., Eds. Mars. University of Arizona Press: Tucson, 1992.
  2. ↑ Blunck, J. 1982. Mars and its Satellites. Exposition Press. Smithtown, N.Y.
  3. ↑ Grotzinger, J. and R. Milliken (eds.) 2012. Sedimentary Geology of Mars. SEPM
  4. ↑ http://themis.asu.edu/features/nilosyrtis
  5. ↑ http://hirise.lpl.arizona.edu/PSP_004046_2080
  6. ↑ http://hirise.lpl.arizona.edu?PSP_008437_1750
  7. ↑ Habermehl, M. A. (1980) The Great Artesian Basin, Australia. J. Austr. Geol. Geophys. 5, 9–38.
  8. ↑ http://hirise.lpl.arizona.edu/science_themes/impact.php
  9. ↑ Grotzinger, J. and R. Milliken (eds.) 2012. Sedimentary Geology of Mars. SEPM
  10. ↑ http://space.com/scienceastronomy/solarsystem/mars_daily_020419.html
  11. ↑ Baker, V., et al. 2015. Fluvial geomorphology on Earth-like planetary surfaces: a review. Geomorphology. 245, 149–182.
  12. ↑ Carr, M. 1996. in Water on Mars. Oxford Univ. Press.
  13. ↑ Baker, V. 1982. The Channels of Mars. Univ. of Tex. Press, Austin, TX
  14. ↑ Baker, V., R. Strom, R., V. Gulick, J. Kargel, G. Komatsu, V. Kale. 1991. Ancient oceans, ice sheets and the hydrological cycle on Mars. Nature 352, 589–594.
  15. ↑ Carr, M. 1979. Formation of Martian flood features by release of water from confined aquifers. J. Geophys. Res. 84, 2995–300.
  16. ↑ Komar, P. 1979. Comparisons of the hydraulics of water flows in Martian outflow channels with flows of similar scale on Earth. Icarus 37, 156–181.
  17. ↑ http://spaceref.com/mars/how-much-water-was-needed-to-carve-valleys-on-mars.html
  18. ↑ Luo, W., et al. 2017. New Martian valley network volume estimate consistent with ancient ocean and warm and wet climate. Nature Communications 8. Article number: 15766 (2017). doi:10.1038/ncomms15766
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