List of terrae on Mars

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The following is a list of regions on Mars given the name Terra (pl. Terrae). Most cover large, rugged areas, often including outflow channels, cratering, and "chaos terrain". They may be contrasted with the Planitia (e.g., Amazonis Planitia) and Mare (e.g., Mare Erythraeum), smoother regions of differing albedo.

Contents

NameCoordinatesFeature diameter (km) [1]
Aonia Terra 62°00′S100°00′E / 62.0°S 100.0°E / -62.0; 100.0 3,372
Arabia Terra 23°00′N355°00′E / 23.0°N 355.0°E / 23.0; 355.0 6,000
Terra Cimmeria 35°00′S215°00′E / 35.0°S 215.0°E / -35.0; 215.0 5,400
Margaritifer Terra 5°00′S25°00′E / 5.0°S 25.0°E / -5.0; 25.0 2,049
Noachis Terra 45°00′S350°00′E / 45.0°S 350.0°E / -45.0; 350.0 4,800
Promethei Terra 58°00′S260°00′E / 58.0°S 260.0°E / -58.0; 260.0 3,300
Terra Sabaea 2°00′N318°00′E / 2.0°N 318.0°E / 2.0; 318.0 4,700
Terra Sirenum 40°00′S150°00′E / 40.0°S 150.0°E / -40.0; 150.0 3,900
Tempe Terra 40°00′N71°00′E / 40.0°N 71.0°E / 40.0; 71.0 2,753
Tyrrhena Terra 15°00′S270°00′E / 15.0°S 270.0°E / -15.0; 270.0 2,300
Xanthe Terra 3°00′N48°00′E / 3.0°N 48.0°E / 3.0; 48.0 2,465

Interactive Mars map

Interactive image map of the global topography of Mars. Hover your mouse over the image to see the names of over 60 prominent geographic features, and click to link to them. Coloring of the base map indicates relative elevations, based on data from the Mars Orbiter Laser Altimeter on NASA's Mars Global Surveyor. Whites and browns indicate the highest elevations (+12 to +8 km); followed by pinks and reds (+8 to +3 km); yellow is 0 km; greens and blues are lower elevations (down to -8 km). Axes are latitude and longitude; Polar regions are noted.
(See also: Mars Rovers map and Mars Memorial map) (view * discuss) Mars Map.JPGCydonia MensaeGale craterHolden craterJezero craterLomonosov craterLyot craterMalea PlanumMaraldi craterMareotis TempeMie craterMilankovič craterSisyphi Planum
Interactive icon.svg Interactive image map of the global topography of Mars. Hover your mouse over the image to see the names of over 60 prominent geographic features, and click to link to them. Coloring of the base map indicates relative elevations, based on data from the Mars Orbiter Laser Altimeter on NASA's Mars Global Surveyor . Whites and browns indicate the highest elevations (+12 to +8 km); followed by pinks and reds (+8 to +3 km); yellow is 0 km; greens and blues are lower elevations (down to −8 km). Axes are latitude and longitude; Polar regions are noted.

See also

Related Research Articles

Utopia Planitia Impact basin on Mars

Utopia Planitia is a large plain within Utopia, the largest recognized impact basin on Mars and in the Solar System with an estimated diameter of 3300 km. It is the Martian region where the Viking 2 lander touched down and began exploring on September 3, 1976, and the Zhurong rover touched down on 14 May, 2021, as a part of the Tianwen-1 mission. It is located at the antipode of Argyre Planitia, centered at 46.7°N 117.5°E. It is also in the Casius quadrangle, Amenthes quadrangle, and the Cebrenia quadrangle of Mars.

Vallis or valles is the Latin word for valley. It is used in planetary geology to name landform features on other planets.

Hellas Planitia Plantia on Mars

Hellas Planitia is a plain located within the huge, roughly circular impact basin Hellas located in the southern hemisphere of the planet Mars. Hellas is the third- or fourth-largest known impact crater in the Solar System. The basin floor is about 7,152 m (23,465 ft) deep, 3,000 m (9,800 ft) deeper than the Moon's South Pole-Aitken basin, and extends about 2,300 km (1,400 mi) east to west. It is centered at 42.4°S 70.5°E. Hellas Planitia spans the boundary between the Hellas quadrangle and the Noachis quadrangle.

Chryse Planitia Planitia on Mars

Chryse Planitia is a smooth circular plain in the northern equatorial region of Mars close to the Tharsis region to the west, centered at 28.4°N 319.7°E. Chryse Planitia lies partially in the Lunae Palus quadrangle, partially in the Oxia Palus quadrangle, partially in the Mare Acidalium quadrangle. It is 1600 km or 994 mi in diameter and with a floor 2.5 km below the average planetary surface altitude, and is thought to be an ancient impact basin; it has several features in common with lunar maria, such as wrinkle ridges. The density of impact craters in the 100 to 2,000 metres range is close to half the average for lunar maria.

Ares Vallis

Ares Vallis is an outflow channel on Mars, named after the Greek name for Mars: Ares, the god of war; it appears to have been carved by fluids, perhaps water. The valley 'flows' northwest out of the hilly Margaritifer Terra, where the Iani Chaos depression 180 km (110 mi) long and 200 km (120 mi) wide) is connected to the beginning of Ares Vallis by a 100 km (62 mi) wide transition zone centered on 342.5° East and 3° North. It then continues through the ancient Xanthe Terra highlands, and ends in a delta-like region of Chryse Planitia. Ares Vallis was the landing site of NASA's Mars Pathfinder spacecraft, which studied a region of the valley near the border with Chryse in 1997.

Amazonis Planitia Planitia on Mars

Amazonis Planitia is one of the smoothest plains on Mars. It is located between the Tharsis and Elysium volcanic provinces, to the west of Olympus Mons, in the Amazonis and Memnonia quadrangles, centered at 24.8°N 196.0°E. The plain's topography exhibits extremely smooth features at several different lengths of scale. A large part of the Medusae Fossae Formation lies in Amazonis Planitia.

North Polar Basin (Mars) Large basin in the northern hemisphere of Mars

The North Polar Basin, more commonly known as the Borealis Basin, is a large basin in the northern hemisphere of Mars that covers 40% of the planet. Some scientists have postulated that the basin formed during the impact of a single, large body roughly 2% of the mass of Mars, having a diameter of about 1,900 km. However, the basin is not currently recognized as an impact basin by the IAU. The basin is one of the flattest areas in the Solar System, and has an elliptical shape. Chryse Planitia, the landing site of the Viking 1 lander, is a bay that opens into this basin.

Chaos terrain Distinctive area of broken or jumbled terrain

In astrogeology, chaos terrain, or chaotic terrain, is a planetary surface area where features such as ridges, cracks, and plains appear jumbled and enmeshed with one another. Chaos terrain is a notable feature of the planets Mars and Mercury, Jupiter's moon Europa, and the dwarf planet Pluto. In scientific nomenclature, "chaos" is used as a component of proper nouns.

Arcadia Planitia

Arcadia Planitia is a smooth plain with fresh lava flows and Amazonian volcanic flows on Mars. It was named by Giovanni Schiaparelli in 1882 after the Arcadia region of ancient Greece. It dates from the Amazonian period's Arcadia formation's lava flows and small cinder cones. It includes a more recently developed large region of aeolian materials derived from periglacial processes.

Acidalia Planitia

Acidalia Planitia is a plain on Mars. It is located between the Tharsis volcanic province and Arabia Terra to the north of Valles Marineris, centered at 49.8°N 339.3°E. Most of this region is found in the Mare Acidalium quadrangle, but a small part is in the Ismenius Lacus quadrangle. The plain contains the famous Cydonia region at the contact with the heavily cratered highland terrain.

Noachis quadrangle

The Noachis quadrangle is one of a series of 30 quadrangle maps of Mars used by the United States Geological Survey (USGS) Astrogeology Research Program. The Noachis quadrangle is also referred to as MC-27.

Cebrenia quadrangle

The Cebrenia quadrangle is one of a series of 30 quadrangle maps of Mars used by the United States Geological Survey (USGS) Astrogeology Research Program. The quadrangle is located in the northeastern portion of Mars’ eastern hemisphere and covers 120° to 180° east longitude and 30° to 65° north latitude. The quadrangle uses a Lambert conformal conic projection at a nominal scale of 1:5,000,000 (1:5M). The Cebrenia quadrangle is also referred to as MC-7. It includes part of Utopia Planitia and Arcadia Planitia. The southern and northern borders of the Cebrenia quadrangle are approximately 3,065 km (1,905 mi) and 1,500 km (930 mi) wide, respectively. The north to south distance is about 2,050 km (1,270 mi). The quadrangle covers an approximate area of 4.9 million square km, or a little over 3% of Mars’ surface area.

Diacria quadrangle

The Diacria quadrangle is one of a series of 30 quadrangle maps of Mars used by the United States Geological Survey (USGS) Astrogeology Research Program. The quadrangle is located in the northwestern portion of Mars’ western hemisphere and covers 180° to 240° east longitude and 30° to 65° north latitude. The quadrangle uses a Lambert conformal conic projection at a nominal scale of 1:5,000,000 (1:5M). The Diacria quadrangle is also referred to as MC-2. The Diacria quadrangle covers parts of Arcadia Planitia and Amazonis Planitia.

Lunae Palus quadrangle Quadrangle map in Mars

The Lunae Palus quadrangle is one of a series of 30 quadrangle maps of Mars used by the United States Geological Survey (USGS) Astrogeology Research Program. The quadrangle is also referred to as MC-10. Lunae Planum and parts of Xanthe Terra and Chryse Planitia are found in the Lunae Palus quadrangle. The Lunae Palus quadrangle contains many ancient river valleys.

Maja Valles

The Maja Valles are a large system of ancient outflow channels in the Lunae Palus quadrangle on Mars. Their location is 12.6° north latitude and 58.3° west longitude. The name is a Nepali word for "Mars". The Maja Valles begin at Juventae Chasma. Parts of the system have been partially buried by thin volcanic debris. The channels end at Chryse Planitia.

Hydaspis Chaos

Hydaspis Chaos is a region in the Oxia Palus quadrangle of Mars, located at 3.2° north latitude and 27.1° west longitude. The region is about 355 km across. It was named after a classical albedo feature.

Shalbatana Vallis

Shalbatana Vallis is an ancient water-worn channel on Mars, located in the Oxia Palus quadrangle at 7.8° north latitude and 42.1° west longitude. It is the westernmost of the southern Chryse outflow channels. Beginning in a zone of chaotic terrain, at 0° latitude and 46° W longitude, it ends in Chryse Planitia.

Outflow channels Long, wide swathes of scoured ground on Mars

Outflow channels are extremely long, wide swathes of scoured ground on Mars, They extend many hundreds of kilometers in length and are typically greater than one kilometer in width. They are thought to have been carved by huge outburst floods.

Chaos terrain on Mars is distinctive; nothing on Earth compares to it. Chaos terrain generally consists of irregular groups of large blocks, some tens of kilometers across and a hundred or more meters high. The tilted and flat topped blocks form depressions hundreds of metres deep. A chaotic region can be recognized by a rat's nest of mesas, buttes, and hills, chopped through with valleys which in places look almost patterned. Some parts of this chaotic area have not collapsed completely—they are still formed into large mesas, so they may still contain water ice. Chaos regions formed long ago. By counting craters and by studying the valleys' relations with other geological features, scientists have concluded the channels formed 2.0 to 3.8 billion years ago.

The common surface features of Mars include dark slope streaks, dust alien tracks, sand dunes, Medusae Fossae Formation, fretted terrain, layers, gullies, glaciers, scalloped topography, chaos terrain, possible ancient rivers, pedestal craters, brain terrain, and ring mold craters.

References

  1. Staff (3 April 2000). "Mars features database". MIT . Retrieved 15 June 2019.