Bakhuysen (crater)

Bakhuysen Crater, as seen by CTX camera (on Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter). Channels are visible on the north (top) and south (bottom) rims of crater.
Channels on south rim of Bakhuysen Crater, as seen by CTX camera (on Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter). Note: this is an enlargement of the previous image of Bakhuysen Crater.

Bakhuysen Crater is an impact crater in the Sinus Sabaeus quadrangle of Mars, located at 23.3°S latitude and 344.4°W longitude. It is 161km in diameter and was named after H.G. van de Sande Bakhuyzen, and the name was approved in 1973 by the International Astronomical Union (IAU) Working Group for Planetary System Nomenclature (WGPSN).[1] Along the rim of the crater are many channels.[2] These are visible in the pictures below. Since the channels are found only on the inside of the rim, and not the outside, it is thought that they are caused by groundwater, rather than by rainfall. Rainfall would have led to a dense integrated drainage channel network like this, but the network would be on both the inside and outside of the crater rim.[3]

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature | Bakhuysen". usgs.gov. International Astronomical Union. Retrieved 4 March 2015.
  2. ↑ Moore, J. A. Howard. 2005. Large alluvial fans on Mars. Journal of Geophysical Research: 110, E04005.
  3. ↑ Malin, M., M. Carr. 1999. Groundwater formation of martian gullies. Nature: 397, 589-591.
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