Monthly Archives: January 2012

Did big impacts disrupt heat flow in the Martian mantle?

Posted on January 26, 2012 by rburnham

Mars shows more than 20 impact basins with diameters of at least 1,000 kilometers (600 miles), and five of these are 2,500 km wide or larger. Based on crater counts, most of the basins appear to have occurred between in … Continue reading →

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MARSIS detects “Oceanus Borealis” sediments

Posted on January 25, 2012 by rburnham

The ground-penetrating radar instrument MARSIS on the Mars Express orbiter has measured the electrical properties of the north and south polar regions. The results, reported in Geophysical Research Letters by Jérémie Mouginot (University of California, Irvine) and colleagues, strongly support … Continue reading →

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Did Tharsis change its volcanic style?

Posted on January 18, 2012 by rburnham

Volcanic activity on Mars tends toward an “effusive” eruption style: it produces many low-profile, broad-skirted volcanos. These are made with sheets of runny lavas that flow like warm motor oil for long distances, spilling over and around obstacles or burying … Continue reading →

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Mini pedestal craters suggest tropical ice deposits

Posted on January 17, 2012 by rburnham

Craters surrounded by debris aprons that stand above the surrounding surface are known as pedestal craters. Scientists think the slab-like apron of ejecta around such craters covers layers that are rich in water ice. Nearly all pedestal craters found so … Continue reading →

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Home Plate’s volcanic bomb landed with a splat

Posted on January 11, 2012 by rburnham

One of the unusual features that Mars Exploration Rover Spirit discovered at Home Plate, a former hydrothermal vent in the Columbia Hills, was a “bomb sag,” complete with its partially embedded volcanic bomb. To geologists, volcanic bombs are rocks or … Continue reading →

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No flow found in north polar ice layers

Posted on January 10, 2012 by rburnham

The northern polar ice cap of Mars contains a thick stack of layers rich in water ice. Under the right conditions ice can flow, as seen in ice sheets and glaciers on Earth. What about Mars? A group of scientists … Continue reading →

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More dust devilry in the air

Posted on January 9, 2012 by rburnham

Dust devils are the most dynamic feature on Mars, and scientists are zeroing in on how they work. An earlier Red Planet Report described dust devil motions as mapped by fortuitous simultaneous observations by cameras on two separate spacecraft. Now, … Continue reading →

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