Earthlike Mars? |
Earthlike Mars? |
Apr 1 2009, 02:28 AM
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Member Group: Members Posts: 233 Joined: 21-April 05 Member No.: 328 |
All, I know this isn't the right place for this post, but I've looked around and can't find an appropriate, current UMSF forum (Doug, perhaps you could give me some guidance on establishing such) -- so here goes: I think a [the] new paradigm for Martian geology is rapidly coalescing, namely, that Mars is very much like the Earth in terms of the preponderance of water -- except that it is all frozen, and covered under a thin layer of dust/regolith! See, for example, this article:
http://www.skyandtelescope.com/news/41995902.html Hence the "seepages" found in crater walls; hence the evidence of catastophic flooding -- the result of volcanism melting huge pockets of ice. And I am going to add my own wrinkle (probably not original): that the differentiation of Mars into a rougher southern hemisphere and smoother northern hemsphere represents something like Earth's Pangea stage, ie, the northern hemisphere is a vast frozen sea covered with a thin layer of ice. |
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May 5 2009, 12:14 AM
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Senior Member Group: Moderator Posts: 2785 Joined: 10-November 06 From: Pasadena, CA Member No.: 1345 |
As part of an imaging project I've been planning, I've made a list of all the Mondo Big Impacts in the Solar System.
"Mondo Big" I defined as rim or feature diameters > 350 km. Most of the data on the list comes from the USGS Gazetteer. Big_Craters_of_the_Solar_System_bigger_than_350_km_20090504.xls ( 21K ) Number of downloads: 829 This list is better entitled as "List of big impact features that have been preserved." Kinda interesting on the list that in the Jovian and Saturnian system only the outer satellites have preserved craters. And in the inner solar system, Earth and Venus are notably absent. Either they didn't get whapped (doubtful) or surface process have done a nice job of obliterating the evidence. Relevant to this thread, the putative Vasititas Borealis on Mars fit's nicely with other basins seen on Mercury and the Moon. It's still on the big size, but not too weird when looking at the other planets. -Mike [EDIT: 20090504 2030 Updated coordinates for South Pole/Aitken basin] -------------------- Some higher resolution images available at my photostream: http://www.flickr.com/photos/31678681@N07/
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