Longboh and Mastung Craters: New Pieces in the Martian Geologic Puzzle
USGS Astrogeology Scientists have named two craters in Utopia Planitia to support mapping efforts in the Martian lowlands.
A new USGS SIM Series Geologic Map is being created to study this area due to its abundance of pitted cones. Current research interprets these cones as mud volcanoes. Scientists Holly Buban and Dr. Chris Okubo of the USGS Astrogeology Science Center have been making headway on this map since 2018 and will be submitting it for review by the end of 2022. Geologic mapping in this area can help scientists understand how and when these cones formed, as well as the role that subsurface water may have played in their formation.
A crucial aspect of the geologic mapping process is naming landforms and features with significance to not only the map, but also the surrounding area--a process known as nomenclature. Describing an area and its geology, as well as naming the geologic units identified in a map, is no easy feat, which is where specific feature names come into play. Without proper place and feature names, it’s easy to get lost when trying to find something you are looking for on a map!
The authors identified two unnamed craters in this region and recommended to the International Astronomical Union (IAU), a group responsible for the approval of feature names throughout our Solar System, that they be named. These two craters are the largest present in the map area and have been named Mastung and Longboh (Figure 1), after two villages in Pakistan and Indonesia, respectively.
Pakistani and Indonesian villages were chosen as the names because their home countries both contain mud volcanoes similar to the ones in Utopia Planitia,” said Buban, one of the authors who researches Martian volcanology.
Planetary scientists often use similar geologic features on Earth, called analogs, to better understand their counterparts on other planetary bodies. For more information on how planetary feature names are chosen, and the role of the IAU, visit the Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature.
Utopia Planitia, located in the low elevations of the Martian northern hemisphere, is a circular depression approximately 3,200 km in diameter (Figure 2). This basin covers an area that is almost twice the size of the Sahara Desert (3.6 million mi2) here on Earth. The Utopia basin is believed to have formed when an asteroid crashed into Mars’ northern hemisphere over 4 billion years ago. At some point after the impact, the basin was filled in by lava flows and sediment from lakes, channels, and possibly even an ocean. The potential for a large lake or ocean to have existed in this region makes the area especially interesting to researchers as they search for evidence of past water or current water-ice on Mars. These investigations help researchers understand whether the planet could have been supported life in the past- and the possibilities for supporting astronauts in the future.
The small cones of the Utopia region are similiar in size to a typical volcanic cinder cone on Earth, ranging in height from that of a medium house to an apartment building (Figure 3). Researchers have found that these cones could be mud volcanoes, which form when mud and sand are mixed with large quantities of water. This mud then erupts onto the surface, forming small conical hills similar to those in Utopia Planitia.
Although Buban and Dr. Okubo’s map will be completed soon, research continues in the Utopia basin. Recently, the Chinese Zhurong rover landed near the map area, and preliminary findings indicate that water was present more recently than previously thought (https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.abn8555).
We are excited to see what new discoveries will be made in the Utopia basin and we hope you are too! For updates on this map and other projects at the USGS Astrogeology Science Center, check out our social media pages below.
Twitter: @USGS_AstroGeo
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