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- Most deltas on Mars created by short, catastrophic floods
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Monthly Archives: August 2011
Down in the deltas
Although NASA passed over Eberswalde Crater to choose Gale Crater as the landing site for the Mars Science Laboratory (MSL), Eberswalde offers the best known example on Mars of a river delta built from sediment washed into a crater lake. … Continue reading
Posted in Reports
Tagged craters, delta, Eberswalde Crater, HiRISE, Holden Crater, Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, MRO
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A polar ocean leaves few clay deposits
The northern lowlands of Mars have long invited the notion that in ancient times they once contained a now-vanished polar ocean. Yet a longstanding argument against such was the lack of widespread clay minerals that would naturally occur with such … Continue reading
Posted in Reports
Tagged clay minerals, glaciers, Oceanus Borealis, phyllosilicates, polar ocean
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Hadriaca Patera’s heavy footprint
On the northeast edge of the giant Hellas impact basin, the thick stack of lava in the volcano Hadriaca Patera weighed so much it depressed the Martian surface immediately around it. This bent and cracked the crust on the volcano’s … Continue reading
Posted in Reports
Tagged Dao Vallis, Hadriaca Patera, Hellas, High Resolution Stereo Camera, HRSC, Mars Express, Niger Vallis, outflow channels, volcanos
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About that mound in Gale Crater…
Next August, if plans go right, the Mars Science Laboratory rover, named Curiosity, will come sailing out of the Martian sky and power in for a soft landing on the floor of Gale Crater. Launched to look for geologic evidence … Continue reading
Posted in Reports
Tagged clays, Curiosity, Gale Crater, Mars Science Laboratory, phyllosilicates, sulfates
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Cracks in the basement
When geological forces open a crack in bedrock, molten magma can squeeze in and widen it, after which the magma cools and hardens in place. The result is a dike, and such features let geologists delve into an outcrop’s history … Continue reading
Posted in Reports
Tagged Coprates Chasma, CRISM, dikes, HiRISE, Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, olivine, pyroxene, Tharsis, Valles Marineris, volcanic activity
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Seasonal flows of water on Mars
Finding water on Mars is nothing new. Scientists have known for years that water (as ice) lies in the polar caps and underground in high latitudes. However images from the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera on NASA’s Mars … Continue reading
Posted in Reports
Tagged brine, carbon dioxide, gullies, HiRISE, Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, recurrent slope lineae, recurring slope lineae, RSL, water
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