Discovery of columnar jointing on Mars
- M.P. Milazzo1,*,
- L.P. Keszthelyi1,
- W.L. Jaeger1,
- M. Rosiek1,
- S. Mattson2,
- C. Verba1,
- R.A. Beyer3,4,
- P.E. Geissler1,
- A.S. McEwen2 and
- the HiRISE Team†
- 1Astrogeology Team, U.S. Geological Survey, Flagstaff, Arizona 86001, USA
- 2Department of Planetary Sciences, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona 85721, USA
- 3Carl Sagan Center at the SETI (Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence) Institute, 515 North Whisman Road, Mountain View, California 94043, USA
- 4National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Ames Research Center, Moffet Field, California 94035, USA
- *E-mail: moses{at}usgs.gov.
Abstract
We report on the discovery of columnar jointing in Marte Valles, Mars. These columnar lavas were discovered in the wall of a pristine, 16-km-diameter impact crater and exhibit the features of terrestrial columnar basalts. There are discontinuous outcrops along the entire crater wall, suggesting that the columnar rocks covered a surface area of at least 200 km2, assuming that the rocks obliterated by the impact event were similarly jointed. We also see columns in the walls of other fresh craters in the nearby volcanic plains of Elysium Planitia–Amazonis Planitia, which include Marte Vallis, and in a well-preserved crater in northeast Hellas.
Footnotes
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↵†High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment, on the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter.
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- Received 22 May 2008.
- Revision received 10 October 2008.
- Accepted 10 October 2008.
- © 2009 Geological Society of America
