Mount Arsia ( lat. Arsia Mons ) [1] [2] [3] - an extinct shield volcano on Mars , located in the province of Farsida . The southernmost of the three volcanoes in this area. The highest mountain in the solar system , Olympus , is located to the northwest. The volcano is named after the legendary Roman forest Arsia Silva.
| Mount Arsia | |
|---|---|
 Topographic map of Arsia | |
| Specifications | |
| Volcano shape | Shield volcano |
| Crater Diameter | 110 000 m |
| Last eruption | 1000 |
| Highest point | |
| Absolute height | 19 000 m |
| Location | |
| Heavenly body | Mars |
The diameter of Arsia is about 435 km, its height is almost 19 km (Olympus volcano is 2 km higher), which is more than 9 km higher than the surrounding plateau [4] . The caldera of the volcano is almost 110 km wide [5] . Atmospheric pressure at the top drops below 107 pascals [6] . After Olympus, this is the second highest volcano on the planet.
Every year at the beginning of the southern Martian winter, an interesting weather phenomenon is observed in Arsia. At this time, the sun's rays heat the slopes of the volcano, the air rises, carrying a small amount of dust. As a result, the rising air descends into the caldera of the volcano, and fine precipitation blown off the slopes of the volcano form a spinning cloud of dust, dense enough for observations from orbit. This phenomenon is observed annually only for a short period of time. A dust cloud over Arsia can rise for 15-30 km [7] .
Caldera Arsia was formed after the mountain collapsed as a result of the eruption of magma . There are other geological formations on the slopes of the volcano [8] .
Content
Possible Caves
In 2007, seven hypothetical cave entrances were recorded on the slopes of Arsia using satellite imagery [9] [10] . They got the unofficial names of Den, Chloe, Wendy, Annie, Abby, Nikki and Genie. They resemble "hatches" formed by the collapse of the cave arch.
- Dena ( )
- Chloe ( )
- Wendy ( )
- Annie ( )
- Abby and Nikki ( )
- Genie ( )
The difference in day and night temperatures in these rounded objects is only one third of the difference observed in the surrounding area. Although this value is more different than for large caves on Earth, it only confirms the presence of deep depressions. However, due to extreme heights, these objects can hardly serve as a refuge for any form of Martian life [11] .
A newer photograph of one of the objects shows how the sun illuminates the side wall, which suggests the presence of only a vertical hole, and not the entrance to a larger underground room [12] . Nevertheless, the darkness of the object suggests that its depth should be at least 78 meters.
See also
- Olympus (Mars)
- List of the highest peaks of the solar system
Notes
- ↑ Burba G.A. The nomenclature of the relief of Mars. - M .: Nauka , 1981 .-- 85 p. - 1000 copies.
- ↑ A map of Mars with a scale of 1:20,000,000 with names in Russian , compiled by MIIGAiK in 1982
- ↑ J. F. Rodionova, Yu. A. Ilyukhin “A new map of the relief of Mars”
- ↑ Catalog Page for PIA02337
- ↑ Catalog Page for PIA03948
- ↑ Martian Weather Observation (link unavailable) . Archived March 11, 2007. NASA MGS data 9.2 degrees S 238.2 degrees E 17757 meters 1.07 mbar
- ↑ Catalog Page for PIA04294
- ↑ Catalog Page for PIA03799
- ↑ Themis Observes Possible Cave Skylights on Mars . GE Cushing, TN Titus, JJ Wynne, PR Christensen. Lunar and Planetary Science XXXVIII (2007)
- ↑ Lakdawalla, Emily Windows onto the abyss: cave skylights on Mars (link not available) . The Planetary Society Weblog (May 23, 2007). Date of treatment May 26, 2007. Archived March 20, 2012.
- ↑ NASA Orbiter Finds Possible Cave Skylights on Mars . Jet Propulsion Laboratory . Date of treatment September 22, 2007. Archived March 20, 2012.
- ↑ Shiga, David . Strange Martian feature not a 'bottomless' cave after all , NewScientist.com news service (August 30, 2007).
Links
- About volcanism on Mars (English) (inaccessible link) . Archived June 3, 2004.
- Burba G. Eruptions of the worlds. Popular science article on planet volcanism