The Iapygia Region
MC – 21
Topographical Map of the Iapygia Region
The name comes from the Iapyges (Greek ? ) or Iapygians who were an Indo-European people who inhabited the heel of Italy (modern Apulia) before being absorbed by the Romans. So this is a classical named given to this Region of the planet. The Iapygia Region covers the area from 45° to 90° east longitude and from 0° to 30° south latitude on Mars.
Image of the Iapygia Region
Rocks on Mars dug from far underground by crater-blasting impacts are providing glimpses of one possible way Mars' atmosphere has become much less dense than it used to be. At several places where cratering has exposed material from depths of about 5 kilometers (3 miles) or more beneath the surface have been observed by a mineral-mapping instrument on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter indicating carbonate minerals. These are not the first detections of carbonates on Mars. However, compared to earlier findings, they bear closer resemblance to what some scientists have theorized for decades about the whereabouts of Mars' "missing" carbon. If deeply buried carbonate layers are found to be widespread, they would help answer questions about the disappearance of most of ancient Mars' atmosphere, which is deduced to have been thick and mostly carbon dioxide. The carbon that goes into formation of carbonate minerals can come from atmospheric carbon dioxide. The Iapygia Region may hold the answer to this enigma.
As usual we start from the northeast Corner of the Region which this time is part of the Tesserenc de Bert Crater a crater that is located in 4 different Regions just like the 4 corner states in the USA.
Tesserenc de Bert Crater
Tesserenc de Bert Crater in the Iapygia Region is located at 1 °E 1°S. It is 119 kilometers in diameter and is named after Léon Philippe Teisserenc de Bort (November 5, 1855 in Paris, France – January 2, 1913 in Cannes, France) who was a French meteorologist and a pioneer in the field of Aerology. Atmospheric science has been extended to the field of planetary science and the study of the atmospheres of the planets of the solar system in this case the scientific study of Mars.
To the east at a good distance at we come to Schroeter Crater which is centered at 56°E 2°S.
Crater with Central Peak Within Schroeter Crater
Schröeter Crater is 292 kilometers in diameter. It is named after Johann Hieronymus Schröeter (August 30, 1745, Erfurt – August 29, 1816, Lilienthal) who was a German astronomer.
Just to the southeast of Schröeter crater is the small Winslow Crater. It is located at 59.5°E 4°S.
Winslow Crater
Winslow Crater is a crater in the Iapygia Region of Mars. It is 1.0 km in diameter and was named after a Town in Arizona that is just east of Meteor Crater. Winslow Crater on the Earth and Mars have a similar size and infrared characteristics.
Next we come to the Tisia Valles located along the western border of the Iapygia Region. It is located at 2°E 11°S.
Tisia Valles
The Tisia Valles is 399 kilometers long. It is named after The Tisza or Tisa River which is one of the main rivers of Central Europe.
The Terra Sabaea Area covers the eastern part of the Iapygia Region.
Terra Sabaea Area in the Iapygia Region
To the north of Huygens crater is the Liris Valles a small group channels centered at 54.5°E 10°S This Valles seems to be a group of channels coming or going to the east and northeast of the crater.
Liris Valles Area around Huygens Crater
Liris Valles is 613 kilometers long and is named after the Liri (Latin: Liris or Lyris, previously, Clanis river; Greek ?) is one of the principal rivers of central Italy, flowing into the Tyrrhenian Sea.
On the northwest rim of Huygens Crater is a small crater called Lucaya Crater located at 52°E 11.5°S.
Lucaya Crater at the top of the image on the NW rim of Huygens Crater
Lucaya Crater is a small impact crater located on the northwestern rim of Huygens Crater, both of which are located in Terra Sabaea. It is named after a town in the Commonwealth of the Bahamas. The Crater is not more than about 35 kilometers in diameter.
Next we come to Huygens Crater centered at 56°E 14°S
Huygens Crater with circle showing place where carbonate was discovered. This deposit may represent a time when Mars had abundant liquid water on its surface. Scale bar is 259 km long. With all the channels leading into it, it would have definitely have held water in the past.
Carbonates (calcium or iron carbonates) were discovered in a crater on the rim of Huygens Crater. The impact on the rim exposed material that had been dug up from the impact that created Huygens. These minerals represent evidence that Mars once was had a thicker carbon dioxide atmosphere with abundant moisture. These kind of carbonates only form when there is a lot of water. They were found with the Compact Reconnaissance Imaging Spectrometer for Mars (CRISM) instrument on the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. Earlier, the instrument had detected clay minerals. The carbonates were found near the clay minerals. Both of these minerals form in wet environments. It is supposed that billions of years age Mars was much warmer and wetter. At that time, carbonates would have formed from water and the carbon dioxide-rich atmosphere. Later the deposits of carbonate would have been buried. The double impact has now exposed the minerals. Earth has vast carbonate deposits in the form of limestone. Limestone is a sedimentary rock, which means that it preserves the remains of the past. On Earth dinosaur bones are found in limestone Jurassic fish and the like are preserved in limestone. The same could apply to the limestone on mars preserving the remains of life that once lived on the surface of the planet. In this particular case the Carbonates are located in Lucaya Crater. Huygens Crater is 470 kilometers in diameter and is named after Christiaan Huygens, (14 April 1629 – 8 July 1695) who was a prominent Dutch mathematician and natural philosopher. He is known particularly as an astronomer, physicist, probabilist and horologist. This image shows the context for orbital observations of exposed rocks that had been buried an estimated 5 kilometers (3 miles) deep on Mars. It covers an area about 560 kilometers (350 miles) across, dominated by the Huygens crater, which is about the size of Wisconsin. The impact that excavated Huygens lifted material from far underground and piled some of it in the crater's rim. The minerals were identified by observations with the Compact Reconnaissance Imaging Spectrometer for Mars on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter.
Dike near Huygens Crater
Dikes near Huygens Crater, especially just to the east are a number of narrow ridges which appear to be the remnants of dikes, like the ones around Shiprock, New Mexico.
Dike in Shiprock, New Mexico
The dikes were once under the surface, but have now been eroded. Dikes are magma-filled cracks that often carry lava to the surface. Dikes by definition cut across rock layers. Some dikes on earth are associated with mineral deposits. Discovering dikes on Mars means that perhaps future colonists will be able to mine needed minerals on Mars, instead of transporting them all the way from the Earth.
The next feature we come to is Cankuzo Crater located at 52°E 19.5 S.
Location of Cankuzo Crater
Cankuzo Crater is 51 Kilometers in Diameter. It is named after a Burundi place name.
The next feature is Schaeberle Crater centered at 50°E 25°S.
Diverse Mineral Compositions within Schaeberle Crater
This image covers a well-preserved (relatively young) impact crater about 5 kilometers (3 miles) wide inside Schaeberle Crater. The enhanced-color sample shows that the north-facing slope (on the south side of the crater) has a blue-green color but the south-facing slope has a yellowish color. The blue-green (infrared-shifted) colors indicate minerals like olivine and pyroxene, common in lava or subsurface intrusions of magma. The yellowish color is typical of hydrous alteration or dust. This crater likely exposed diverse lithologies (rock types) that were present before the crater formed. Schaeberle Crater is 160 kilometers in diameter and was named after John Martin Schaeberle (January 10, 1853 – September 17, 1924) who was a German-American astronomer.
The next crater we come to is to the southeast of Schaeberle Crater close to the southern boundaries of the Iapygia Region. This is Niesten Crater centered at 58°E 28°S.
Niesten Crater
Niesten Crater is 115 kilometers in diameter and is named after Louis Niesten (1844 – 1920) who was a Belgian astronomer working at the Brussels Royal Observatory. In 1877 he observed Mars and created a detailed map of its surface features.
As we approach the southern boundary of the Iapygia Region we also come into contact with the northern rim of the Hellas Impact Basin which comes into the Iapygia Region. In the area from 58°E to about 76°E it enters the present region extending as far north 28.8 S. at one point. It varies but never goes further north than that and is bordered on the eastern end by Terby Crater.
Northern Rim of the Hellas Impact Basin
Going past the northern Rim of the Hellas Impact Basin we move east until we come to Terby Crater which is centered at 74°E 28°S.
Terby Crater
One of the most spectacular exposures of light-toned layers on Mars occurs in Terby Crater above, a large, ancient crater located along the northern rim of Hellas Basin in the Martian southern highlands. Over 2 km-thick (1.2 miles) sequences of light-toned layered deposits are exposed in benches (long, nearly planar surfaces dropping off steeply on one or both sides) that extend from the northern crater wall to the center of the crater. The layers within the benches in Terby are fine-grained, partially indurated (cemented), range in thickness from less than 1 meter up to about 10 meters and contain hydrated minerals such as phyllosilicates (clay-bearing minerals found on Earth that are associated with water-rich environments). Other craters around Hellas, such as Niesten and "SW" craters, have comparable layered sequences banked along their northern rims at similar elevations, suggesting a similar age and origin. Through the topographic (elevation), geomorphic (surface texture) and stratigraphic (layer sequence) analyses, scientists have studied the origin of the landforms in Terby and its long geologic history.
Bedrock Diversity in Terby Crater
Terby was proposed as a potential landing site for the Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) mission because the thick sequence of layered deposits are consistent with deposition in a large ocean that once filled the Hellas, a 2,300 km wide (1,430 mi) impact basin. Life as we know it on Earth is intimately associated with water, and a deep, long-lived ocean would be a hospitable environment for life to form and be preserved on ancient Mars. More than likely the Hellas Basin at one time in history was a huge inland sea.
Layer Deposits in Terby Crater
Terby Crater is a large (approximately 165 kilometer), Noachian-aged crater located on the northern rim of the Hellas Impact Basin. Terby hosts a very impressive sequence of predominantly light-toned layered deposits, up to 2.5 kilometers thick that are banked along its northern rim and extend toward the center of the crater. The full image shows this stack of layered rocks as they are exposed westward facing scarp. The layered sequence consists of many beds that are repetitive, relatively horizontal and laterally continuous on a kilometer scale. Many beds are strongly jointed and fractured and exhibit evidence of small-scale wind scour. The light-toned layers are typically at least partially covered with dark mantling material that obscures the layers as well as debris and numerous, meter-scale boulders that have cascaded down slope. The processes responsible for formation of these layers remain a mystery, but could include deposition in water, by the wind, or even volcanic activity. Terby Crater is 174 kilometers in diameter. It is named after François J. Terby (1846 – 1911) who was a Belgian astronomer. He had a private observatory at Leuven, Belgium and was an early ardent advocate of the existence of Martian canals.
To the northeast of Terby Crater is Saheki Crater centered at 73°E 21.5 S.
Saheki Crater
Saheki Crater is a crater in the Iapygia Region of Mars. It is 85 km in diameter and was named after Tsuneo Saheki, a Japanese amateur astronomer (1916–1996). The image below of an alluvial fan in the crater was probably formed by running water.
Saheki Crater Alluvial Fan, as seen by HiRISE.
To the far northwest of Saheki Crater is Verlaine Crater at 64.5° E 11°S.
Central Structure of Verlaine Crater
Verlaine Crater is 43 kilometers in diameter and is named after a France place name.
The next feature we come to is to the northeast and is called the Oenotria Scopuli which is a scarp in an area called the Oenotria Plana that is in Tyrrhena Terra, the latter of which covers the eastern part of the Iapygia Region.
The Oenotria Scopuli
The Oenotria Scopuli is a long scarp that travels in a southeasterly direction from 63°E to 73°E by 9.5°S. at it’s farthest extent into the region. But there are more scarps in the region also called by this same name. A Scopuli or a Scopulus is a lobate or irregular scarp in planetary geology as defined by the IAU. So this area has many such scarps in it.
Fourier Crater is centered at 72.5°E 4.5°S.
Fourier Crater and Oenotria Scopuli
Fourier Crater is 118 kilometers in diameter and is named after Georges Fournier (November 21, 1881 – December 1, 1954) who was a French astronomer.
The next area of interest is a crater on the northern border Lipany Crater. It is located between 79-80° at 0° on the equator.
Lipany Crater
Lipany Crater is 50 kilometers in diameter and is named after a Slovakia place name.
Next there is the Zarqa Valles to the south of Lipany Crater going in a southwesterly direction. Located at about 78°E 2°S. It’s the remnants of a large sinuous group of channels that joined together near the equator and out flowed to the north.
Zarqa Valles
The Zarqa Valles is 490 kilometers long named after the Zarqa River which is the second largest tributary of the lower Jordan River in Israel.
The next large piece of land we come to next is the Oenotria Plana. It contains more Oenotria Scopuli or lobate scarps as seen in the map below:
Oenotria Plana and Vicinity
The Oenotria Plana covers and area of 925 kilometers. The Oenotrians ("tribe led by Oenotrus" or "people from the land of vines") were an ancient people of unknown origin who inhabited a territory from Paestum to southern Calabria in southern Italy. By the sixth century BC, the Oenotrians had been absorbed with other Italic tribes. Therefore the name of this region comes from classical history.
In the northeast corner of this region we come to the Libya Montes area.
The Libya Montes
The Libya Montes are a highland terrain on Mars up-lifted by the giant impact that created the Isidis basin to the north. During 1999, this region became one of the top two that were being considered for the canceled Mars Surveyor 2001 Lander. The Isidis basin is very ancient. Thus, the Libya Montes that form the southern Isidis basin rim contain some of the oldest rocks available at the Martian surface, and a landing in this region might potentially provide information about conditions on early Mars. After they formed by the Isidis impact, the Libya Montes were subsequently modified by a large variety of processes, including fluvial activity, wind erosion and impact cratering. In particular, precipitation induced surface runoff and groundwater seepage resulted in the formation of fluvial landforms, i.e., dense valley networks, broad and elongated valleys, delta deposits, alluvial fans, open-basin paleolakes and coastlines. Crater size - frequency distribution measurements ("crater counting") revealed that the majority of valleys was formed early in Martian history (more than 3.7 billion years ago, Late Noachian). However, recent studies show that the formation of valleys continued throughout the Middle Ages of Mars (Hesperian period) and stopped 3.1 billion years ago in the Late Hesperian. This region we have visited earlier in the region to the north. It contains the Crown Face of Mars which is considered an example of pareidolia.
Oblique Impact Exposing Bedrock within a Libya Montes Massif HiRISE DTM at 82°E 4°S.
Right in the middle of the Region of the Oenotria Plana and Oenotria Scopuli is the Crater Jarry-Desloges centered at 83.5°E 9.5°W.
Jarry-Desloges Crater
Jarry-Desloges Crater is 92 kilometers in diameter and is named after René Jarry-Desloges (February 1, 1868 – June 1, 1951) who was a French amateur astronomer who worked at his own observatory.
Just to the east of the latter crater is Brialt Crater on the eastern border at 10°S
.
Briault Crater
Individual small dune forms are located on the floor of Briault Crater. Briault Crater is 96 kilometers in diameter and is named P. Briault who was a French astronomer.
Individual dunes on the floor of Briault Crater
The Tyrrhena Terra area covers the eastern part of the Iapygia Region on Mars starting at about 65°E to 90°E or the eastern border of the Iapygia Region. Tyrrhena Terra is a large area on Mars, centered south of the Martian equator and immediately northeast of the Hellas Impact Basin. Its coordinates are 14.8°S 90°E. , and it covers 2300 km at its broadest extent. It was named for a classic albedo feature of the planet. Tyrrhena Terra is typical of the southern Martian Terrae, with heavily cratered highlands and other rugged terrain.
Tyrrhena Terra in the Iapygia Region
A distance to the south is the Vichada Valles at about 89°E 19°S.
Vichada Valles
Valley networks, concentrations of dendritic channels that often suggest widespread pluvial and fluvial activity, have been cited as indicators that the climate of Mars differed significantly in the past from the present hyper arid cold desert conditions. Some researchers suggest that the change in climate was abrupt, while others favor a much more gradual transition. Thus, the precise timing of valley network formation is critical to understanding the climate history on Mars. They examined thirty valley network-incised regions on Mars, including both cratered upland valley networks and those outside the uplands, and apply a buffered crater counting technique to directly constrain when valley network formation occurred. The crater populations that are used derive using this approach allow assessment of the timing of the last activity in a valley network independent of the mapping of specific geological units. From these measurements scientists find that valley networks cluster into two subdivisions in terms characteristics and age: (1) valley network activity in the cratered highlands had an average cessation age at the Noachian–Hesperian boundary and all valleys that they crater counted are Early Hesperian or older. No evidence is found for valley networks in the cratered uplands of Late Hesperian or Amazonian age. The timing of the cessation of cratered upland valley network activity at the Noachian–Hesperian boundary also corresponds to a decline in the intensity of large crater formation and degradation and to the apparent end of phyllosilicate-type weathering. (2) A few valley network-incised regions formed outside of the cratered uplands on volcanic edifices. Vichada Valles is 430 kilometers in length and is named after the Vichada River which is a black water river in the country of Colombia, South America.
Directly to the west is Millochau Crater. It is centered at 85°E 21°S.
Layered bedrock on the floor of Millochau Crater
Millochau Crater is 115 kilometers in diameter and is named after Gaston Millochau (born 1866, date of death unknown) who was a French astronomer. From 1899 until 1903 he observed Mars at the Meudon Observatory and reported some details visible on its surface. In contrast to other observers at that time he did not see any canal-like features.
To the southeast along the border we come to Isil Crater centered at 88°E 27.5°S.
Flow on Floor of Isil Crater
Isil Crater is 82 kilometers in diameter and is named after a Spanish place name.
Just to the southeast of Isil Crater is Kasabi Crater centered at 89°E 27°S.
Kasabi Crater
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