Mare Acidalium Region
MC – 4
Topographical Map of the Mare Acidalium Region
The southern and northern borders of the Region are approximately 3,065 km and 1,500 km wide, respectively. The north to south distance is about 2,050 km. The Region covers an approximate area of 4.9 million square km, or a little over 3% of Mars’ surface area. This area contains many bright spots on a dark background that may be mud volcanoes. There are also some gullies that formed by relatively recent flows of liquid water.
Image of the Mare Acidalium Region
This Region contains many interesting features, including gullies and possible shorelines of an ancient northern ocean. Some areas are densely layered. The boundary between the southern highlands and the northern lowlands lies in Mare Acidalium.
At the 30 North mark we come to the northern part of Kasei Vallis Canyon and North Kasei Channel area located in the southern part of the Chryse Planitia. Part of the topography map that is a part of the Mare Acidalium Region can be seen below:
The Kasei Valles system begins in Echus Chasma, runs northward, and appears to empty into Chryse Planitia.
Exploring the Mounds in Chryse Region
Further north is Bonestell Crater. It is 42.4 km in diameter and was named after Chesley Bonestell, a famous American space artist (1888-1986), whose drawings inspired many young people to study the sciences.
Bedrock Outcropping at Bonestell Crater
High Altitude Slice of Bonestell Crater
Going further north, we come to the Acidalia Planitia or the Acidalia Plains. The Acidalia Colles is a group of hills located in the Acidalia Planitia area of Mars, located at 50.9° north latitude and 23.1° west longitude. This group of hills occupies an area of 360 miles.
The HiRISE image above of Acidalia Colles shows gullies in the northern hemisphere.
Gullies in Acidalia Planitia
Kunowsky Crater: is a large crater in the Mare Acidalium Region of Mars, located at 57.1° north latitude and 9.7° west longitude. The crater is 67.4 km in diameter and was named after George K. Kunowsky, a German astronomer. Because it lies on a large flat plain, Kunowsky is easy to spot on maps and pictures.
Kunowsky Central Peak with strong Olivine Signature
Kunowsky Crater and Peak in visible light.
Arandas Crater: is a crater in the Mare Acidalium Region of Mars, located 42.77° North and 15.17° West. It is 25.1 km in diameter and is named after a town in Mexico.
Central Peak of Arandas Crater
Part of the wall of Arandas Crater
The Cydonia area: is an area on the planet Mars, which has attracted both scientific and popular interest. The name originally referred to the albedo feature (distinctively colored area) that was visible from earthbound telescopes. The area borders plains of Acidalia Planitia and the Arabia Terra highlands. The area includes the Mars regions: "Cydonia Mensae", an area of flat-topped mesa-like features, "Cydonia Colles", and "Cydonia Labyrinthus", a complex of intersecting valleys. As with other albedo features on Mars, the name Cydonia was drawn from classical antiquity, in this case from Kydonia, a historic polis (or "city-state") on the island of Crete. As we head southeast, the first part of Cydonia that we run into will by the Cydonia Labyrinthus.
Polygonal fractured terrain of Cydonia Labyrinthus
Cydonia Labyrinthus in the Infrared
The next prominent feature we come to in Cydonia contains the "Face on Mars"
The "Face on Mars," is of great interest to the public, is located near 40.8 degrees north and 9.6 degrees west, in the Cydonia area. When Mars Global Surveyor examined it with high resolution, the face turned out to be an eroded mesa. The early Viking Orbiter image (inset is in bottom right corner) makes it look more like a face. There are actually three faces on Mars. This one is probably the best known of the three.
3-D Video of the face on Mars. I will leave it up to the reader to decide if someone made it or is a natural feature.
Some believe there is a city and some pyramids as well. In the map above in the small box is the location of all of these features. The Cydonia Colles is a group of small hills and knobs located south of the face.
A Youthful Crater in the Cydonia Colles area
Note that even though a crater might be called "youthful," it can still mean that the crater was formed tens of thousands of years ago, if not more. Next, we come to Cydonia Mensae that borders Arabia Terra.
Sample of Terraced Crater Walls Southeast of Cydonia Colles
Mud volcanoes: Large areas of Mare Acidalium display bright spots on a dark background. It has been suggested that the spots are mud volcanoes. More than 18,000 of these features, which have an average diameter of about 800 meters, have been mapped. Mare Acidalium would have received large quantities of mud and fluids from outflow channels, so much mud may have accumulated there. The bright mounds have been found to contain crystalline ferric oxides. Mud volcanism here may be highly significant because long-lived conduits for upwelling groundwater could have been produced. These could have been habitats for microorganisms. Mud volcanoes could have brought up samples from deep zones that could therefore be sampled by explorers.
Mud volcanoes near the edge of the ejecta of a nearby crater, as seen by HiRISE.
Next the terrain becomes flat and rocky then goes uphill into Arabia Terra. Arabia Terra is a large upland region in the north-central region of Mars, it lies mostly in the Arabia Region, but also in the bottom SW corner of the Mare Acidalium Region. It is densely cratered and heavily eroded. This battered topography indicates great age, and Arabia Terra is presumed to be one of the oldest terrains on the planet.
Bamberg Crater: is an impact crater in the Mare Acidalium Region of Mars, located at 39.71 N and 356.9 E. It is 55.7 km in diameter and is named after a town in Germany. It is the last location of note before the we enter the next major Region to the east.
Bamberg Crater
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