Amazonis Planitia is one of the smoothest plains on
MarsMars is the fourth planet from the Sun in the Solar System. The planet is named after Mars, the Roman god of war. It is also referred to as the "Red Planet" because of its reddish appearance, due to iron oxide prevalent on its surface....
. It is located between the
TharsisThe Tharsis region on Mars is an enormous volcanic plateau located on Mars' equator, at the western end of Valles Marineris. Its name comes from the Bible, where it was the name for the land at western extremity of the known world....
and
ElysiumElysium Planitia is the second largest volcanic region on Mars, after Tharsis Montes. It includes volcanoes, from north to south, Hecates Tholus, Elysium Mons and Albor Tholus. It is centered at ....
volcanic provinces to the west of
Olympus MonsOlympus Mons is the tallest known volcano and mountain in the Solar System and was formed during the Amazonian epoch. It is located on the planet Mars at approximately 18°N 133°W / 18, -133. It is three times as tall as Mount Everest...
in the
Valles MarinerisValles Marineris is system that runs along the Martian east of the Tharsis region...
region of the Memnonia quadrangle, centered at . Its topography exhibits extremely smooth features at several different lengths of scale. Its name derives from one of the classical albedo features observed by early astronomers, which was in turn named after the
AmazonsThe Amazons are a nation of all-female warriors in Classical and Greek mythology. Herodotus placed them in a region bordering Scythia in Sarmatia...
, a mythical race of warrior women.
Only approximately 100 million years old, these plains provide some of the fewest sedimentary layers impeding viewing of the Martian terrain, and closely resemble the composition of Earth's
IcelandThe Republic of Iceland is a European island country located in the North Atlantic Ocean. It has a population of about 320,000 and a total area of 103,000 km². Its capital and largest city is Reykjavík, whose surrounding area is home to approximately two thirds of the national population...
.
Amazonis Planitia is one of the smoothest plains on
MarsMars is the fourth planet from the Sun in the Solar System. The planet is named after Mars, the Roman god of war. It is also referred to as the "Red Planet" because of its reddish appearance, due to iron oxide prevalent on its surface....
. It is located between the
TharsisThe Tharsis region on Mars is an enormous volcanic plateau located on Mars' equator, at the western end of Valles Marineris. Its name comes from the Bible, where it was the name for the land at western extremity of the known world....
and
ElysiumElysium Planitia is the second largest volcanic region on Mars, after Tharsis Montes. It includes volcanoes, from north to south, Hecates Tholus, Elysium Mons and Albor Tholus. It is centered at ....
volcanic provinces to the west of
Olympus MonsOlympus Mons is the tallest known volcano and mountain in the Solar System and was formed during the Amazonian epoch. It is located on the planet Mars at approximately 18°N 133°W / 18, -133. It is three times as tall as Mount Everest...
in the
Valles MarinerisValles Marineris is system that runs along the Martian east of the Tharsis region...
region of the Memnonia quadrangle, centered at . Its topography exhibits extremely smooth features at several different lengths of scale. Its name derives from one of the classical albedo features observed by early astronomers, which was in turn named after the
AmazonsThe Amazons are a nation of all-female warriors in Classical and Greek mythology. Herodotus placed them in a region bordering Scythia in Sarmatia...
, a mythical race of warrior women.
Only approximately 100 million years old, these plains provide some of the fewest sedimentary layers impeding viewing of the Martian terrain, and closely resemble the composition of Earth's
IcelandThe Republic of Iceland is a European island country located in the North Atlantic Ocean. It has a population of about 320,000 and a total area of 103,000 km². Its capital and largest city is Reykjavík, whose surrounding area is home to approximately two thirds of the national population...
. Formed by free-flowing
lavaLava is molten rock expelled by a volcano during eruption. This molten rock is formed in the interior of some planets, including Earth, and some of their satellites. When first erupted from a volcanic vent, lava is a liquid at temperatures from 700 °C to 1,200 °C...
across great plains, Amazonis has been described by
William HartmannWilliam Hartmann may refer to:* William Kenneth Hartmann, planetary scientist and author at the Planetary Science Institute* William M. Hartmann , physicist, psychoacoustician at Michigan State University...
as a "bright dusty volcanic desert crossed by many fresh-looking lava flows." Amazonis has become the primary focus of modern research efforts both because of its geological composition and because of its relative youth compared to other Martian regions. Hartman writes that the plain closely resembles Iceland's surface, with its "strange cobweb-like networks of ridges and crags [on both planets, divide] smoother areas into a pattern something like fragments of a broken plate." Both land masses' shapes have been formed by lava flows from volcanic eruptions, causing both surfaces to be covered by a thick layer of hardened lava. Findings from aerial footage of both Amazonis and Iceland have shown nearly identical terrain patterns, signifying the comparative ages of the two regions.
Ironically, the entire contemporary era on Mars has been named the Amazonian Epoch because researchers originally (and incorrectly) thought Amazonis Planitia to be representative of all Martian plains. Instead, over the past two decades, researchers have realized that the area's youth and extremely smooth surface actually distinguish the area from its neighbors. It is even possible that the area possessed distinctive characteristics when all of Mars was under water.
Although the full implications of Amazonis's youth have not yet been determined, the nature of the area (i.e. lack of sedimentary rock) has at least provided researchers evidence that the areas are the most likely to provide future discoveries, and as such, has been proposed as a future site for most NASA landings.
External links