MARSIS radar sounder evidence of buried basins in the northern lowlands of Mars

Thomas R. Watters (), Carl J. Leuschen, Jeffrey J. Plaut, Giovanni Picardi, Ali Safaeinili, Stephen M. Clifford, William M. Farrell, Anton B. Ivanov, Roger J. Phillips and Ellen R. Stofan
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Thomas R. Watters: Center for Earth and Planetary Studies, National Air and Space Museum, Smithsonian Institution
Carl J. Leuschen: The University of Kansas
Jeffrey J. Plaut: Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology
Giovanni Picardi: “La Sapienza” University of Rome
Ali Safaeinili: Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology
Stephen M. Clifford: Lunar and Planetary Institute
William M. Farrell: NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center
Anton B. Ivanov: Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology
Roger J. Phillips: Washington University
Ellen R. Stofan: Proxemy Research

Nature, 2006, vol. 444, issue 7121, 905-908

Abstract: Martian highs and lows Mars is a planet of two halves: the northern hemisphere is dominated by sparsely cratered lowlands, and the south by heavily cratered highlands. Many explanations have been offered for this dichotomy: new data from the MARSIS radar sounder on-board Mars Express should now help to filter out some of these by establishing the age of the northern lowland crust. Radar images reveal signs of ten buried impact basins in an area of the northern lowlands, most of them hidden from view on the surface. Taking these features into account, crater densities in the north and south become broadly comparable. If the northern lowland crust is at least as old as the oldest exposed highland crust, as these results suggest, the differences between the two hemispheres must have originated early on in the geological evolution of Mars.

Date: 2006
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DOI: 10.1038/nature05356

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