Astronomy:Eridania Lake

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Short description: Theorized ancient lake on Mars

Eridania Lake is a theorized 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]

  • 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


References

  1. ↑ 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. doi:10.1126/science.1071143. PMID 12077414. Bibcode: 2002Sci...296.2209R. 
  2. ↑ de Pablo, M. A.; Fairén, A. G.; Márquez, A. (3 March 2004). "The Geology of Atlantis Basin, Mars, and Its Astrobiological Interest". 35th Lunar and Planetary Science Conference, 15–19 March 2004, League City, Texas: 1223. abstract no.1223. Bibcode: 2004LPI....35.1223D. http://www.lpi.usra.edu/meetings/lpsc2004/pdf/1223.pdf. 
  3. ↑ Cabrol, N. and E. Grin (eds.). 2010. Lakes on Mars. Elsevier. NY.
  4. ↑ Rossman, R. (2002). "A large paleolake basin at the head of Ma'adim Vallis, Mars". Science 296 (5576): 2209–2212. doi:10.1126/science.1071143. PMID 12077414. Bibcode: 2002Sci...296.2209R. 
  5. ↑ "HiRISE | Chaos in Eridania Basin (ESP_037142_1430)". http://www.uahirise.org/ESP_037142_1430. 
  6. ↑ 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. doi:10.1038/ncomms15978. PMID 28691699. Bibcode: 2017NatCo...815978M. 

External links




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