Eridania Lake
Eridania Lake is a hypothesized ancient lake on Mars with a surface area of roughly 1.1 million square kilometers. It is located at the source of the Ma'adim Vallis outflow channel and extends into Eridania quadrangle and the Phaethontis quadrangle.[1] As Eridania Lake dried out in the late Noachian epoch it divided into a series of smaller lakes.[2][3][4][5]
-
Map showing estimated water depth in different parts of Eridania Sea This map is about 850 km (530 miles) across. -
Features around Eridania Sea labeled
Later research with CRISM found thick deposits, greater than 400 meters thick, that contained the minerals saponite, talc-saponite, Fe-rich mica (for example, glauconite-nontronite), Fe- and Mg-serpentine, Mg-Fe-Ca-carbonate and probable Fe-sulphide. The Fe-sulphide probably formed in deep water from water heated by volcanoes. Such a process, classified as hydrothermal may have been a place where life began.[6] Some sources say clay deposits can be up to 2 km thick.[7]
The Eridania lake shows an assumed shoreline seeing all the depressions that are all connected which is why this might have been a huge lake in ancient times. The Eridania lake is supposed to be one of the largest lake systems on mars at a point in time. [8](Dang et al. 2020). The lake is part of the Ariadnes Basin, and it's coastline is approximately 900 meters above the Mars Datum. Fe/Mg-rich smectite clays and other phyllosilicate deposits have been detected in this area. [9](Molina et al. 2014)
The Eridania lake drained into the Ma’adim valleys turning into isolated closed lakes. By looking at the thickness of the sediments in these closed lakes we can see that they may have lasted for a long period of time (Adeli (2016).[10] Some observations continue to point toward a lake and catastrophic drainage such as the presence of valley networks terminating at the elevation of the Ma’adim Valles (Hughes et al. (2024).[11]
The Eridania lake is believed to have had atleast 562,000 km3 of water, and there was a breach in the Eridania paleolake system which created the Ma’adim valleys which was forced by a catastrophic flood (Pajola, 2016).[12]
-
Deep-basin deposits from the floor of Eridania Sea. The mesas on the floor are there because they were protected against intense erosion by deep water/ice cover. CRISM measurements show minerals may be from seafloor hydrothermal deposits. Life may have originated in this sea. -
Diagram showing how volcanic activity may have caused deposition of minerals on floor of Eridania Sea. Chlorides were deposited along the shoreline by evaporation.
See also
[edit]References
[edit]- ^ Rossman, P. Irwin III; Ted A. Maxwell; Alan D. Howard; Robert A. Craddock; David W. Leverington (21 June 2002). "A Large Paleolake Basin at the Head of Ma'adim Vallis, Mars". Science. 296 (5576): 2209–2212. Bibcode:2002Sci...296.2209R. doi:10.1126/science.1071143. PMID 12077414. S2CID 23390665.
- ^ de Pablo, M. A.; Fairén, A. G.; Márquez, A. (3 March 2004). "The Geology of Atlantis Basin, Mars, and Its Astrobiological Interest" (PDF). 35th Lunar and Planetary Science Conference, 15–19 March 2004, League City, Texas: 1223. Bibcode:2004LPI....35.1223D. abstract no.1223.
- ^ Cabrol, N. and E. Grin (eds.). 2010. Lakes on Mars. Elsevier. NY.
- ^ Rossman, R.; et al. (2002). "A large paleolake basin at the head of Ma'adim Vallis, Mars". Science. 296 (5576): 2209–2212. Bibcode:2002Sci...296.2209R. doi:10.1126/science.1071143. PMID 12077414. S2CID 23390665.
- ^ "HiRISE | Chaos in Eridania Basin (ESP_037142_1430)".
- ^ Joseph R. Michalski, Eldar Z. Noe Dobrea, Paul B. Niles & Javier Cuadros (10 July 2017). "Ancient hydrothermal seafloor deposits in Eridania basin on Mars". Nature Communications. 8: 15978. Bibcode:2017NatCo...815978M. doi:10.1038/ncomms15978. PMC 5508135. PMID 28691699.
{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) - ^ Morden, S. 2022. The Red Planet. Pegasus Books. New York.
- ^ Dang, Yanan; Zhang, Feng; Zhao, Jiannan; Wang, Jiang; Xu, Yi; Huang, Ting; Xiao, Long (2020). "Diverse Polygonal Patterned Grounds in the Northern Eridania Basin, Mars: Possible Origins and Implications". Journal of Geophysical Research: Planets. 125 (12): e2020JE006647. doi:10.1029/2020JE006647. ISSN 2169-9100.
- ^ Molina, Antonio; de Pablo, Miguel Ángel; Hauber, Ernst; Le Deit, Laetitia; Fernández-Remolar, David (Carlos) (3 July 2014). "Geology of the Ariadnes Basin, NE Eridania quadrangle, Mars – 1:1Million". Journal of Maps. 10 (3): 487–499. doi:10.1080/17445647.2014.888018. ISSN 1744-5647.
- ^ Adeli, Solmaz (2016). "Geologic History of Water on Mars: Regional Evolution of Aqueous and Glacial Processes in the Southern Highlands, through Time". doi:10.17169/refubium-10705.
{{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires|journal=(help) - ^ Hughes, Emmy B.; Wray, James; Karunatillake, Suniti; Fanson, Grace; Harrington, Elise; Hood, Don R. (2024). "Water-Limited Hydrothermalism and Volcanic Resurfacing of Eridania Basin, Mars". Journal of Geophysical Research: Planets. 129 (7): e2024JE008461. doi:10.1029/2024JE008461. ISSN 2169-9100.
- ^ Pajola, Maurizio; Rossato, Sandro; Carter, John; Baratti, Emanuele; Pozzobon, Riccardo; Erculiani, Marco Sergio; Coradini, Marcello; McBride, Karen (1 September 2016). "Eridania Basin: An ancient paleolake floor as the next landing site for the Mars 2020 rover". Icarus. 275: 163–182. doi:10.1016/j.icarus.2016.03.029. ISSN 0019-1035.
External links
[edit]
.jpg){kind=small} | This article about geology, geography or other features of the planet Mars or its moons is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |