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Columbus (crater)








Columbus (crater)


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Columbus Crater

Martian crater Columbus based on day THEMIS.png
Columbus crater based on THEMIS day-time image

Planet
Mars
Coordinates
29°48′S 166°06′W / 29.8°S 166.1°W / -29.8; -166.1Coordinates: 29°48′S 166°06′W / 29.8°S 166.1°W / -29.8; -166.1
Diameter
119 km
Eponym
Christopher Columbus, Italian explorer (1451-1506)

Columbus Crater is a crater in the Memnonia quadrangle of Mars, located at 29.8° south latitude and 166.1° west longitude. It is 119 km in diameter and was named after Christopher Columbus, Italian explorer (1451–1506).[1][2] The discovery of sulfates and clay minerals in sediments within Columbus Crater are strong evidence that a lake once existed in the crater.[3][4] Research with an orbiting near-infrared spectrometer, which reveals the types of minerals present based on the wavelengths of light they absorb, found evidence of layers of both clay and sulfates in Columbus crater. This is exactly what would appear if a large lake had slowly evaporated.[5][6] Moreover, because some layers contained gypsum, a sulfate which forms in relatively fresh water, life could have formed in the crater.[7]



Layers[edit]


Columbus Crater contains layers, also called strata. In Columbus Crater, the CRISM instrument on the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter found kaolinite, hydrated sulfates including alunite and possibly jarosite.[8] Further study concluded that gypsum, polyhydrated and monohydrated Mg/Fe-sulfates were common and small deposits of montmorillonite, Fe/Mg-phyllosilicates, and crystalline ferric oxide or hydroxide were found. Thermal emission spectra suggest that some minerals were in the tens of percent range.[9][10]





See also[edit]


  • Groundwater on Mars

  • Geology of Mars

  • HiRISE

  • Lakes on Mars

  • List of craters on Mars

  • List of quadrangles on Mars

  • Geological history of Mars

  • Water on Mars


References[edit]




  1. ^ "Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature | Columbus". usgs.gov. International Astronomical Union. Retrieved 4 March 2015. 


  2. ^ http://www.google.com/mars/


  3. ^ http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/msl/multimedia/pia15099.html#.VWyD-c9VhBc


  4. ^ Wray,J., R. Milliken, C. Dundas, G. Swayze, J. Andrews-Hanna, A. Baldridge, M. Chojnacki, J. Bishop, B. Ehlmann, S. Murchie, R. Clark, F. Seelos, L. Tornabene, and S. Squyres. 2011. Columbus crater and other possible groundwater-fed paleolakes of Terra Sirenum, Mars. Journal of Geophysical Research E: Planets DOI: 10.1029/2010JE003694


  5. ^ Cabrol, N. and E. Grin (eds.). 2010. Lakes on Mars. Elsevier.NY.


  6. ^ Wray, J. et al. 2009. Columbus Crater and other possible plaelakes in Terra Sirenum, Mars. Lunar and Planetary Science Conference. 40: 1896.


  7. ^ http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2009/11/091125-mars-crater-lake-michigan-water_2.html


  8. ^ Murchie, S. et al. 2009. A synthesis of Martian aqueous mineralogy after 1 Mars year of observations from the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. Journal of Geophysical Research: 114.


  9. ^ https://pubs.er.usgs.gov/publication/70035986


  10. ^ Wray,J., R. Milliken, C. Dundas, G. Swayze, J. Andrews-Hanna, A. Baldridge, M. Chojnacki, J. Bishop, B. Ehlmann, S. Murchie, R. Clark, F. Seelos, L. Tornabene, and S. Squyres. 2011. Columbus crater and other possible groundwater-fed paleolakes of Terra Sirenum, Mars. Journal of Geophysical Research E: Planets DOI: 10.1029/2010JE003694












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