Suggest some ways in which the scarp around Olympus Mons might have formed. A peak ring crater (Clearwater West, Canada, 32 km diameter). The force of the impacts create circular structures with raised rimmed wall; spatters of mud and smaller circular secondary craters may be seen (Fig. Porphyritic texture is composed of crystals of two different sizes. Determine and record the diameter of Apollinaris Patera? The impact sprays material ejecta out in all directions. Mars has some of the largest volcanoes in the solar system, including Olympus Mons, a massive volcano many times larger than the Island of Hawaii. But no matter at what angle it makes contact, the enormous amount of kinetic energy the projectile carries immediately transfers to the target rock it hits, triggering powerful shock waves. Small craters often are simple bowl-shaped depressions. What are some of Earth's famous impact craters? 12 0 obj The Moon does not. Why does the Moon have so many craters while Earth has so few? Free essays, homework help, flashcards, research papers, book reports, term papers, history, science, politics The excavation stage ends on release from shock and when the displacements by excavation cavity formation and downwards/sideward compression reach an end. Craters produced by the collision of a meteorite with the Earth (or another planet or moon) are called impact craters. How big, e.g. This impact is thought to have triggered fires and tsunamis and created a cloud of dust and water vapor that enveloped the globe in a matter of days, resulting in fluctuating global climate changes. and J.A. Therefore, crisp craters with upraised rims and steep sides are young, while less distinct and eroded craters with partial rims are probably older. Ma'adim Vallis (labeled C) is the channel in the southeastern part of the image. Diameter 290 km. )y&bS_jW+|z6ADS FZM+q&+rVim#yHNO 8tU#T.f-[`of=XzuEvr+Ll[fXt 7; UGs@wc For very large impact craters, the excavation and modification stages are not as discrete as previously written. Image credit: NASA. The extreme environmental shifts caused a mass extinction of 75% of Earth's species, including the dinosaurs. Valley systems cut through many of the cratered terrains of Mars and have characteristics analogous to water-cut valleys on Earth. 14): The crater is not much larger than the projectile. The ejecta blanket has lobes, which may indicate wet material was ejected, suggesting that subsurface water or melted ice was mixed into the debris. u u u # ( u u u u u u u u u : HNRT 227 Laboratory Experiment #8 with Ms. Crowell FALL 2015 The Rocks of Earth and the Surface of Mars Purpose: To understand the rocks of terrestrial planets and how they are formed, and to interpret and analyze the surface of planets and what that teaches us about the conditions that exist today and may have existed eons ago. 22. There are some interesting erosional signs in this observation, which will make for a good comparison with other intracrater fans and fluvial sedimentary landforms. So far we have considered the impact of a solid object like a stony or iron meteorite. Geologic processes have not erased the craters with time. in Reuyl crater located along the dichotomy boundary (west of Apollinaris Mons ). Albite has a chemical composition of NaAlSi3O8, while anorthite's chemical compositon is CaAl2Si2O8. How the atoms and molecules are arranged and the strength of the bonding between the atoms result in different physical properties for different minerals. HYPERLINK "../Honors227/Images/10_2.jpg"Figure 2. Tycho meteorite crater on the Moon. But until NASA returns to the lunar landscape, researchers must rely on shockwave simulators, mathematical models and the well-worn geological formations on Earth to estimate how and when another impact event might occur. As mentioned above, the composition of most igneous rocks can be identified using this system, formally known as the Color Index. Justify your answer. Fig. Since tectonic plate movements has erased much of Earths crater record, the answers to the lingering questions about crater formation and timelines lie in the exquisitely preserved craters on the moon. The result is a "bubbly" appearance. What process do you think formed Reuyl crater (marked B on Figure 5)? HYPERLINK "../Honors227/Images/10_3.jpg"Figure 3. Clay and silt are less than 1/256 mm. For instance, the famous Chicxulub crater in Yucatan, Mexico, is thought to be the site of the meteor impact that instigated the K-T event, which wiped out the dinosaurs in a mass extinction that affected much of life on Earth. The two most notable are obsidian and dunite. What process do you think formed Reuyl crater (marked B on Figure 11.5)? Complex craters are large craters with complicated features. Determination of the actual chemical composition and crytalline structure of a mineral is difficult without the proper equipment. You will have to calculate an approximate image scale from the height of the peak in the foreground.) d. Maadim Vallis is the channel in the southeast part of the photograph, marked C. Which of the four processes do you think formed Maadim Vallis? Non-foliated textures have minerals that are not aligned. Meteor Crater is 1.2km wide and 175m deep. Scientists describe other types of craters as well: How are large craters different than small ones? The crater was created instantly when a 50m, 150,000-ton meteor slammed into the desert about 50,000 years ago. Galileo Image (PIA00405), produced by the United States Geological Survey, courtesy of NASA. Felsic compositions are rich in silica (SiO2). 12. <> 3), and the central mound in the craters shown in Fig. Scientists also think that faster cooling, like when lava is exposed to water, may also help with the formation of these columns. How can you tell? But Earth has several things the moon doesnt an atmosphere and liquid water that cause erosion. Fortunately, these two aspects determine a mineral's physical properties. I noticed the young crater has an odd shape, non-circular, almost diamond-shaped. Are the craters you observe older or younger than the valleys? What influences the size and shape of a crater? Sometimes the force of the impact is great enough to melt some of the local rock. Early in the formation of our solar system (before 3.9 billion years ago) there was lots of large debris striking the surfaces of the young planets and moons; these older impact basins are larger than the more recent craters. Determination of this information is not easily accomplished in this lab. Where were really going to get the answers the gold standards of answers is when we go back to the moon, Kring said. Erosion is the dominant geologic process acting on Mars today. endobj The image shows ring-like structures that extend to about 280 kilometers (175 miles) from the center. Mafic compositions are poor in silica, but rich in iron (Fe) and magnesium (Mg). endobj Dunite is composed almost entirely of the mineral olivine which usually contains both iron and magnesium. These processes expose old, long-buried materials, making them accessible to probes and . These are not commonly tested for in an introductory lab. The larger size gives the foliation a slighly shiny appearance. This crater is about 20 kilometers (12 miles) across and has a large central peak and terraces around its rim. Meteorite impact spallation: from mega- to micro-scale, The suevite layer outcrop near Fuentes Calientes, Rubielos de la Crida impact basin (Spain), Selection of other publications of interest, New article on the geology of the Iberian System, Understanding the Impact Cratering Process: a Simple Approach, Making impacts: experimental hypervelocity crater generation, Earth Impact Database - Database of Earth Impact Structures - Meteorite Craters, Impact structure and meteorite crater glossary. However, there are exceptions. Hesperia Planum, showing bright windstreaks associated with some of the craters. Peak ring crater Rachmaninoff on Mercury. }v)He|/7rw9>{W9qM~Zs.|9q7_9'o2p3kie V;\UXF}w1l`p!U,9#H{wx 0 ~ endstream endobj 103 0 obj 294 endobj 67 0 obj << /Type /Page /Parent 59 0 R /Resources 68 0 R /Contents [ 75 0 R 77 0 R 79 0 R 86 0 R 88 0 R 93 0 R 96 0 R 99 0 R ] /MediaBox [ 0 0 612 792 ] /CropBox [ 0 0 612 792 ] /Rotate 0 >> endobj 68 0 obj << /ProcSet [ /PDF /Text /ImageB ] /Font << /F2 85 0 R /F3 71 0 R /F4 91 0 R /F9 69 0 R /F12 83 0 R >> /XObject << /Im9 95 0 R >> /ExtGState << /GS1 98 0 R /GS14 101 0 R >> >> endobj 69 0 obj << /Type /Font /Subtype /Type1 /Name /F9 /FirstChar 32 /LastChar 255 /Widths [ 343 384 500 686 686 975 848 250 352 352 483 686 343 392 343 579 686 686 686 686 686 689 686 686 686 686 343 343 686 686 686 595 740 781 677 660 752 550 542 842 803 324 489 758 495 983 881 887 661 887 680 616 533 778 761 1117 789 714 707 350 579 350 686 500 402 682 682 483 682 610 388 677 661 302 302 688 302 989 661 662 682 682 453 513 360 659 623 996 712 654 559 352 579 352 686 343 781 781 660 550 881 887 778 682 682 682 682 682 682 483 610 610 610 610 302 302 302 302 661 662 662 662 662 662 659 659 659 659 686 400 686 686 686 686 686 651 800 800 940 402 604 0 1026 887 0 686 0 0 686 659 0 0 0 0 0 409 410 0 940 662 595 384 686 0 686 0 0 603 603 1000 343 781 781 887 1140 1022 500 1000 628 628 372 372 686 0 654 714 194 686 354 354 679 690 686 343 338 594 1460 781 550 781 550 550 324 324 324 324 887 887 0 887 778 778 778 302 590 549 603 539 402 457 380 539 350 590 ] /Encoding /MacRomanEncoding /BaseFont /Futura-Bold /FontDescriptor 73 0 R >> endobj 70 0 obj << /Filter /FlateDecode /Length 21345 /Length1 28684 >> stream It was named after British astronomer Axel Firsoff, and the name was approved in 2010.. Parts of the crater display many layers, as do some of the other craters in the region. 8. Hence in an impact process much more damage is in general done by the rarefaction waves and not by the compressive shock waves, and many peculiar structural features that are observed in impact structures and that may appear puzzling to geologists are the result of strong tensile forces acting on all scales (for more information see the term spallation in the SEARCH function of our website). This lab is an adaptation of an adaptation by Richard Harwood based upon the original NASA resource: A Teacher's Guide with Activities in Physical and Earth Sciences for Planetary Geology,: National Aeronautics and Space Administration, 1998, EG-1998-03-109, p. 238. Which of the four geologic processes might be responsible for the formation of Ius Chasma? | The first is called erosion. (Viking image 645A57) 6. This was obviously not the case, and so most of the Moon craters could not be meteoritic. <> Some of this tiny debris makes it to Earth's surface and is mixed with soil and ocean sediment. Justify your answer. Much of Earth's surface is recycled through plate tectonic activity (and erosion), so Earth also has few craters. Image: Google Earth. Compare Apollinaris Patera (marked A on Figure 5) to Olympus Mons (Figure 1). Keep track of the craters you measured. 19. Although craters look like imprints of a giant fist smashing the ground inward, impact shock waves have the opposite effect, which planetary scientists divide into three phases. The large number of craters in this region indicates that this part of the Moon is quite ancient. 14. Hailstones and even raindrops may produce on harder ground small craters as well (Fig. <> Sometimes, impact structures are distinguished from impact craters by their weak morphological signature compared with a true crater. Obsidian is volcanic glass which erupts as a lava flow. The term transient crater means the cratering process continues after the excavation flow comes to rest. Simple Craters . The Chicxulub crater in the Yucatan peninsula, Mexico, is not visible at the surface of the seafloor. Sediment is deposited in a number of environments of deposition, by both moving air and moving water. Copernicus is a large crater (93 kilometers or 60 miles wide) on the Moon. And of course there's the lake itself. As a result, there are only around 160 known impact craters in existence today (though there are surely more that havent been discovered). Privacy Policy| <> Limestone may or may not contain fossils. Justify your answer. How does the mass of the projectile affect the cratering process? Justify your answer. If the crater turns out to be gravity-dominated, this lends evidence to the theory that the comet's nucleus consists of porous, pristine, unprocessed material, and that the comet formed . Such outbursts can be violent enough that once the eruption is . Chemical sedimentary rocks are identified by identifying the mineral from which they are composed. Shock waves behave like other waves: they can interfere and they may be reflected and refracted. This of course is primarily a matter of energy related with the projectiles mass (and therefore density) and impact velocity, and, subordinately, also a matter of the target lithology. Mars, like the Earth, has seasons. Ma'adim Vallis is the channel in the southeast part of the photograph, marked C. Which of the four processes do you think formed Ma'adim Vallis? Simple craters are small bowl-shaped, smooth-walled craters (the maximum size limit depends on the planet). Degraded craters -- Craters that have become eroded due to weathering, lava flows, impacting, or downslope movement of material. The crater is 2 kilometers (about 1 mile) wide. 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what process do you think formed reuyl crater