Mare Australe quadrangle

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Mare Australe quadrangle
USGS-Mars-MC-30-MareAustraleRegion-mola.png
Map of Mare Australe quadrangle from Mars Orbiter Laser Altimeter (MOLA) data. The highest elevations are red and the lowest are blue.
Coordinates 75°S 0°W / 75°S -0°E / -75; -0Coordinates: 75°S 0°W / 75°S -0°E / -75; -0
Image of the Mare Australe Quadrangle (MC-30). The region includes the South Polar ice cap. The central part is mainly a permanent residual ice cap surrounded by layered and troughed terrain which is, in turn, encircled by heavily cratered terrain.

The Mare Australe quadrangle is one of a series of 30 quadrangle maps of Mars used by the United States Geological Survey (USGS) Astrogeology Research Program. The Mare Australe quadrangle is also referred to as MC-30 (Mars Chart-30).[1] The quadrangle covers all the area of Mars south of 65°, including the South polar ice cap, and its surrounding area. The quadrangle's name derives from an older name for a feature that is now called Planum Australe, a large plain surrounding the polar cap.[2]

Contents

Notable features[edit]

Around the southern ice cap is a surface, called the Dorsa Argentea Formation that may be an old ice-rich deposit. It contains a group of sinuous, branched ridges that resembles eskers that form when streams are under glaciers. [3] The formation often contains pits: two major locations are named Cavi Angusti and Cavi Sisyphi. The pits have steep sides and an irregular shape. They are up to 50 km across and 1 km deep.[4]

The quadrangle also contains Angustus Labyrinthus, a formation of intersecting valley or ridges, nicknamed the "Inca City".[5] Researchers were surprised to see parts of the surface having a swiss-cheese appearance. Also, some areas showed strange spider-shaped forms, which were determined to be caused by carbon dioxide gas blowing dust around at certain times of the year.

Gallery[edit]

  • "Inca City" as seen by HiRISE. Light patches are frost deposits.

  • Changes in South Pole surface from 1999 to 2001, as seen by Mars Global Surveyor.

  • Swiss Cheese-like ice formations as seen by Mars Global Surveyor.

  • Swiss Cheese-like ice formations as seen by Mars Global Surveyor showing layers.

  • Close-up of Swiss Cheese Terrain, as seen by Mars Global Surveyor.

  • HiRISE view of South Pole Terrain.

  • This HiRISE image shows layers running roughly up and down, along with faint polygonal fracturing. Polygonal fractures are mostly rectangular.

  • South Pole layers, as seen by THEMIS.

  • Close-up of Layers in wall of McMurdo Crater, as seen by HiRISE.

  • Star burst Channels caused by escaping gas, as seen by HiRISE. Star burst channels, also called spiders, may be about 500 meters in diameter and 1 meter deep.

  • Spider on the second Martian day of spring, as seen by HiRISE.

  • Some spider 14 Martian days later, as seen by HiRISE. Notice increased dark fans caused by outgassing of carbon dioxide and dark material.

  • Hutton Crater Area, as seen by HiRISE. Click on image to see patterned ground.

  • Angustus Labyrinthus, as seen by THEMIS.

  • Philips Crater Area, as seen by HiRISE.

  • Pityusa Patera, as seen by HiRISE.

  • Dust Devil, as shown from HiRISE. Dust devil is moving to the upper left, leaving a dark track to the lower right. The shadow of the dust devil is to the upper left of the dust devil.

  • Map of Mare Australe with major features labeled.

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ Davies, M.E.; Batson, R.M.; Wu, S.S.C. (1992). "Geodesy and Cartography". In Kieffer, H.H.; Jakosky, B.M.; Snyder, C.W. et al. Mars. Tucson: University of Arizona Press. ISBN 978-0-8165-1257-7. 
  2. ^ Patrick Moore and Robin Rees, ed. Patrick Moore's Data Book of Astronomy (Cambridge University Press, 2011), p. 130.
  3. ^ Kargel, J.; Strom, R. (1991). "Terrestrial glacial eskers: analogs for martian sinuous ridges" (PDF). LPSC XXII: 683–684. Bibcode:1991LPI....22..683K. 
  4. ^ Carr, Michael H. (2006). The Surface of Mars. Cambridge University Press. p. [page needed]. ISBN 978-0-521-87201-0. 
  5. ^ Hartmann, W. 2003. A Traveler's Guide to Mars. Workman Publishing. NY NY.
Mars Quad Map
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Mare Australe
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