Origin and nature of intercrater plains in northwestern rim of Hellas Basin
Abstract
The nature and origin of intercrater plains within the martian cratered highlands is a major unresolved and controversial issue that have been somewhat enigmatic, receiving little attention since the Mariner era [1,2,3,4,5]. Are flat-lying smooth plains sedimentary or volcanic or both ? Whether these plains are mainly constituted of volcanic material or sediments is a crucial difference for understanding the surface environment of the Noachian period. In order to answer to previous question, we focus our study on the NW rim of Hellas basin defining first the relative stratigraphy and absolute age, throughout crater counting method,of the different units by a precise mapping and correlating then these units with mineralogy and texture.
- Publication:
-
European Planetary Science Congress
- Pub Date:
- October 2015
- Bibcode:
- 2015EPSC...10..431S