Geology of Mars

Geology of Mars

Mars is the planet that is the closest geologically to our own. Still we know little about the planet. All the information that we have is from what we see. We can speculate about the geology of the planet but we will never know for sure what the planet is really made of until we physicallygo there. The information is all from NASA sites or NASA related sites.

Mars' red color leads us to believe that the planet has large amounts of iron. This red color is the only color that is on the surface besides the poles. There is also a darker area that runs along the equator. It goes around roughly one third of the planet. This is a giant canyon that makes our Grand Canyon look like a scratch. There are also what appear to be old stream channels. This implies that there could have been liquid water on the surface.

The surface of Mars is varied greatly between north and south. This has been largely attributed to volcanism and erosion. Mars is similar to our moon in the southern hemisphere. This region is referred to as the "Highlands" of Mars. The area is pitted with numerous craters that reach between one to four km above the datum. Ejecta from the impact scatter around the crater making a rim like structure.

The northern hemisphere is very low compared to the southern hemisphere. In the north the ground level rarely reaches above one km below the datum. This stark contrast between north and south is thought to have happened 3 Gyr ago. The south was continuously bombarded with meteors. The north would get hit but it would erode or volcanic flows would cover it. The north also has evidence of ancient stream channels and at the extreme north and south glaciers are still present in the f...

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...an moons Phobos and Deimos, firing a 1,100 lb. copper projectile into comet P/Tempel 1, studying Jupiter's interior, globally imaging and studying Mercury, and measuring the composition and circulation of Venus's middle atmosphere.

This article told me much about the past, present, and future NASA missions. We are certainly learning more about the other planets in our solar systems, especially Mars, and I believe that we are doing the right thing in proposing more future missions that will help us learn more about our solar system and its planets.

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Bibliography:

Bibliography:

Internet sites:

marsnt3.jpl.nasa.gov/education/models/webpages/modulepage.htn

cmex-www.arc.nasa/gov/exo_strat/docs/state.html

nssdc.gsfc.nasa.cov/planetary/planet/marspage.html

Encyclopedias:

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