Baltisk (crater)
|
Baltisk Crater Floor,as seen by HiRISE. Scale bar is 1000 meters long. Dark dunes are visible at the bottom of image on the left. | |
| Planet | Mars |
|---|---|
| Coordinates | 42°42′S 54°42′W / 42.7°S 54.7°WCoordinates: 42°42′S 54°42′W / 42.7°S 54.7°W |
| Diameter | 52 km |
| Eponym | Baltiysk, Russia |
Baltisk Crater is a crater in the Argyre quadrangle of Mars. It is located at 42.7° South and 54.7° West, is 52 km in diameter, and was named after a town in Russia.[1]
Impact craters generally have a rim with ejecta around them, in contrast volcanic craters usually do not have a rim or ejecta deposits. As craters get larger (greater than 10 km in diameter) they usually have a central peak.[2] The peak is caused by a rebound of the crater floor following the impact.[3]
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Baltisk Crater, as seen by CTX camera (on Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter). Dark areas are dunes. Fans are visible in the lower right.
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Dunes in Baltisk Crater, as seen by CTX camera (on Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter). Note: this is an enlargement of a previous image.
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Fans in Baltisk Crater, as seen by CTX camera (on Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter). Note: this is an enlargement of a previous image. Arrows point to layered parts of the fans.
Many craters once contained lakes.[4][5][6] Because some crater floors show deltas, we know that water had to be present for some time. Dozens of deltas have been spotted on Mars.[7] Deltas form when sediment is washed in from a stream entering a quiet body of water. It takes a bit of time to form a delta, so the presence of a delta is exciting; it means water was there for a time, maybe for many years. Primitive organisms may have developed in such lakes; hence, some craters may be prime targets for the search for evidence of life on the Red Planet.[8]
See also
References
- ↑ "Baltisk (crater)". Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature. USGS Astrogeology Research Program.
- ↑ http://www.lpi.usra.edu/publications/slidesets/stones/
- ↑ Hugh H. Kieffer (1992). Mars. University of Arizona Press. ISBN 978-0-8165-1257-7. Retrieved 7 March 2011.
- ↑ Cabrol, N. and E. Grin. 2001. The Evolution of Lacustrine Environments on Mars: Is Mars Only Hydrologically Dormant? Icarus: 149, 291-328.
- ↑ Fassett, C. and J. Head. 2008. Open-basin lakes on Mars: Distribution and implications for Noachian surface and subsurface hydrology. Icarus: 198, 37-56.
- ↑ Fassett, C. and J. Head. 2008. Open-basin lakes on Mars: Implications of valley network lakes for the nature of Noachian hydrology.
- ↑ Wilson, J. A. Grant and A. Howard. 2013. Inventory of Equatorial Alluvial Fans and Deltas on Mars. 44th Lunar and Planetary Science Conference.
- ↑ Newsom H. , Hagerty J., Thorsos I. 2001. Location and sampling of aqueous and hydrothermal deposits in martian impact craters. Astrobiology: 1, 71-88.
