Geology fo mars
Geology fo marsGeology of Mars
by Luke Justis
Mars is the planet that is the closest geologically to our own. Still we know little about the planet. All the information that we have is from what we see. We can speculate about the geology of the planet but we will never know for sure what the planet is really made of until we physicallygo there. The information is all from NASA sites or NASA related sites.
Mars’ red color leads us to believe that the planet has large amounts of iron. This red color is the only color that is on the surface besides the poles. There is also a darker area that runs along the equator. It goes around roughly one third of the planet. This is a giant canyon that makes our Grand Canyon look like a scratch. There are also what appear to be old stream channels. This implies that there could have been liquid water on the surface.
The surface of Mars is varied greatly between north and south. This has been largely attributed to volcanism and erosion. Mars is similar to our moon in the southern hemisphere. This region is referred to as the “Highlands” of Mars. The area is pitted with numerous craters that reach between one to four km above the datum. Ejecta from the impact scatter around the crater making a rim like structure.
The northern hemisphere is very low compared to the southern hemisphere. In the north the ground level rarely reaches above one km below the datum. This stark contrast between north and south is thought to have happened 3 Gyr ago. The south was continuously bombarded with meteors. The north would get hit but it would erode or volcanic flows would cover it. The north also has evidence of ancient stream channels and at the extreme north and south glaciers are still present in the form of an ice cap.
Tharsis:
The region known as Tharsis is at the center of a bulge in the planets surface. This giant volcano is 4000 km across and 10 km high. Another bulge is called Elysium and it is about 2000 km across and 5 km high. At the summit of Tharsis are three volcanoes the tallest of these is Olympus Mons. The peak of this volcano is 27 km above the place where Tharsis ends and Olympus Mons begins.
The volcano itself was made by periodic eruption over a period of time. The lava is most likely very fluid and would have little pyroclastic activity. The large size of the volcano can be attributed the lack of tectonic activity. Few impact craters on the flank of the volcano suggest that the volcano is relatively young. It is possible though, that volcanism...
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