HiRISE imaging of impact megabreccia and sub-meter aqueous strata in Holden Crater, Mars
Abstract
High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) images ofHolden crater, Mars, resolve impact megabreccia unconformablyoverlain by sediments deposited during two Noachian-age phasesof aqueous activity. A lighter-toned lower unit exhibiting phyllosilicateswas deposited in a long-lived, quiescent distal alluvial orlacustrine setting. An overlying darker-toned and often blockyupper unit drapes the sequence and was emplaced during laterhigh-magnitude flooding as an impounded Uzboi Vallis lake overtoppedthe crater rim. The stratigraphy provides the first geologiccontext for phyllosilicate deposition during persistent wetand perhaps habitable conditions on early Mars.
- Publication:
-
Geology
- Pub Date:
- March 2008
- DOI:
- 10.1130/G24340A.1
- Bibcode:
- 2008Geo....36..195G