Patera Alba [1] or Mount Alba is a huge low volcano located in the northern part of the region of Farsida on the planet Mars . This is the largest volcano on Mars in terms of area: flows of rock erupted from it can be traced at a distance of at least 1350 km from its peak [2] . Although the volcano is comparable in size to the United States, its maximum height is only 6.8 km [3] . This is only one third of the height of Mount Olympus , the highest volcano on Mars [4] . The slopes of Patera Alba are very gentle. The average slope along the northern (the steepest) slope of the volcano is 0.5 °, which is more than 5 times less than the slope of the slopes of other large volcanoes of Farsida [3] [5] . From a long distance, Patera Alba resembles a huge, but only slightly raised scar on the surface of the planet [6] . This is a unique volcanic structure, analogues of which are neither on Earth nor on Mars [3] .
| Patera Alba | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Highest point | |
| Absolute height | 6.8 km m |
| Location | |
| Heavenly body | Mars |
In addition to its huge size and low relief, Patera Alba has a number of other distinctive features. The central part of the volcano is surrounded by an incomplete ring of faults ( grabens ) and cracks, called “Alba furrows” on the western slope of the volcano and “Tantalum furrows” [1] on the eastern slope. Also very well preserved are very long lava flows flowing from the volcano, which form a pattern emanating from the central area of the volcano. The large extent of some flows (more than 300 km) indicates that there was a lot of lava and that it was very fluid (low viscosity) [7] . Many streams have individual morphological features and consist of long winding ridges with torn central channels. The lowlands between the ranges (especially along the northern slope of the volcano) form a branching pattern of small ravines and canals, which, most likely, were formed by flowing water [8] .
Pater Alba contains the oldest volcanic deposits in the region of Farsida. Geological evidence indicates that the volcanic activity of this patera ended much earlier than that of Olympus and other Farsida volcanoes. The volcanic deposits of Patera Alba belong to the Hesperian to Amazonian eras [9] (from about 3,600 [10] to 3,200 million years ago [11] ).
See also
- Geography of Mars (areography)
- Geology of mars
- Volcanism on Mars
Notes
- ↑ 1 2 Nomenclature of the details of the relief of Mars, 1981 , On lists of names of the details of the relief of Mars, p. 51–70.
- ↑ Cattermole, 2001, p. 85.
- ↑ 1 2 3 Carr, 2006, p. 54.
- ↑ Plescia, JB (2004). Morphometric Properties of Martian Volcanoes. J. Geophys. Res. 109 (E03003), Tbl. 1, DOI : 10.1029 / 2002JE002031 .
- ↑ Boyce, 2008, p. 104.
- ↑ See: Carr, 2006, p. 54, Fig. 3.10 - Alba Patera profile obtained by MOLA in comparison with Mount Olympus.
- ↑ Greeley, R .; Spudis, P. (1981). Volcanism on Mars. Rev. Geophys. Space Phys., 19 (1), 13–41.
- ↑ Gulick, VC; Baker, VR (1990). Origin and Evolution of Valleys on Martian Volcanoes. J. Geophys. Res. 95 (B9), 14.325-14.344.
- ↑ Ivanov, MA; Head, JW (2006), Alba Patera, Mars: Topography, Structure, and Evolution of a Unique Late Hesperian-Early Amazonian Shield Volcano. J. Geophys. Res., 111, E09003, DOI : 10.1029 / 2005JE002469 .
- ↑ Werner, SC; Tanaka, KL; Skinner, JA (2011). Mars: The Evolutionary History of the Northern Lowlands Based on Crater Counting and Geologic Mapping. Planet Space Sci., In press, DOI : 10.1016 / j.pss.2011.03.03.022 .
- ↑ Hartmann, WK (2005). Martian Cratering 8: Isochron Refinement and the Chronology of Mars. Icarus, 174, p. 317, Tbl. 3. DOI : 10.1016 / j.icarus.2004.11.023 .
Literature
- Burba G. A. Nomenclature of the details of the relief of Mars / Otv. ed. K.P. Florensky and Yu. I. Efremov. - Moscow: Nauka, 1981. - 88 p.
- Boyce, Joseph, M. (2008). The Smithsonian Book of Mars; Konecky & Konecky: Old Saybrook, CT, ISBN 978-1-58834-074-0
- Carr, Michael, H. (2006). The Surface of Mars; Cambridge University Press: Cambridge, UK, ISBN 978-0-521-87201-0 .
- Cattermole, Peter, J. (2001). Mars: The Mystery Unfolds; Oxford University Press: Oxford, UK, ISBN 978-0-19-521726-1 .
- Frankel, Charles (2005). Worlds on Fire: Volcanoes on the Earth, the Moon, Mars, Venus and Io; Cambridge University Press: Cambridge, UK, ISBN 978-0-521-80393-9 .
- Hartmann, William, K. (2003). A Traveler's Guide to Mars: The Mysterious Landscapes of the Red Planet; Workman: New York, ISBN 0-7611-2606-6 .
- Morton, Oliver (2003). Mapping Mars: Science, Imagination, and the Birth of a World; Picador: New York, ISBN 0-312-42261-X .