Just within the crater walls are channels and valleys threading and weaving down the inner slope - these are thought to have been carved and sculpted by running water. As a rocky impactor slammed into the surface of Mars it likely compacted the loose and powdery material - small-grained dust and soil dubbed ‘regolith’ - to form a small plateau that has stood the test of time. These stacked deposits may have formed during the impact that carved out the crater itself. The outer walls around the crater are slightly raised above its surroundings. These are common in craters on rocky worlds throughout the Solar System, especially on Mars, and are thought to form as icy material explosively vaporises and turns to gas in the heat of the initial crater-forming collision. At its very centre is a small depression known as a central pit. The crater visible on the top right of this image is around 4 km deep and 50 km in diameter. Noachis Terra is representative of ancient Mars’ surface, which is characteristically peppered with craters that have been preserved for billions of years, although many have degraded over time. Noachis Terra is one of the oldest known regions on the Red Planet, dating back at least 3.9 billion years- in fact, the earliest martian era, the Noachian epoch, is named after it. This region sits south-west of a dark plain named Mare Serpentis (literally ‘the sea of serpents’), which in turn is located in Noachis Terra (literally ‘the land of Noah’). This striking perspective view from ESA’s Mars Express shows an unnamed but eye-catching impact crater on Mars.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |