Eberswalde crater

Location	Margaritifer Terra, 24°S, 33°W
Diameter	65.3 km
Depth	approx 800 m
Discoverer	Michael Malin and Ken Edgett
Naming	Eberswalde, Brandenburg, Germany

Eberswalde crater, formerly known as Holden NE crater, is a partially buried impact crater in Margaritifer Terra, Mars. The 65.3 km diameter crater, centered at 24°S, 33°W, is named after the German town of the same name, in accordance with the International Astronomical Union's rules for planetary nomenclature.^[1] It is a proposed landing site for the future Mars rover, Mars Science Laboratory.^[2] Eberswalde is a major town and the administrative seat of the district Barnim in the German Federal State (Bundesland) of Brandenburg, about 50 km northeast of Berlin. ...   (Lower Sorbian: Bramborska; Upper Sorbian: Braniborska) is one of Germanys sixteen Bundesländer (federal states). ... Holden (crater) can refer to any of the following: Holden crater on the Moon. ... Tycho crater on Earths moon. ... Note: This article contains special characters. ... Eberswalde is a major town and the administrative seat of the district Barnim in the German Federal State (Bundesland) of Brandenburg, about 50 km northeast of Berlin. ... Logo of the IAU The International Astronomical Union (French: Union astronomique internationale) unites national astronomical societies from around the world. ... Planetary nomenclature, like terrestrial nomenclature, is used to uniquely identify a feature on the surface of a planet or natural satellite so that the feature can be easily located, described, and discussed. ... Conceptual drawing of the Mars Science Laboratory in operation on Mars Schematic diagram of the planned rover components The Mars Science Laboratory (or MSL for short) is a NASA rover scheduled to launch in December 2009 and perform a precision landing on Mars in October 2010. ...

Landforms in the crater provide strong evidence of the prior existence of flowing water on Mars.

Eberswalde Delta

The delta, seen by MGS

The crater contains a fossilized and exhumed delta which was formed by the flow of a liquid, most likely water. The series of valleys leading into the delta "drain" an area of approximately 4000 km². The surface area of the delta is 115 km², measuring 13 km by 11 km. The delta was discovered by Michael Malin and Kenneth Edgett of Malin Space Science Systems through imagery taken by the Mars Global Surveyor in 2003. An ammonite fossil Eocene fossil fish of the genus Knightia Petrified wood fossil formed through permineralization. ... Delta may refer to: Look up delta in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... A drainage basin is the area within the drainage basin divide (yellow outline), and drains the surface runoff and river discharge (blue lines) of a contiguous area. ... Malin Space Science Systems is a San Diego, California company that designs, develops, and operates instruments to fly on unmanned spacecraft. ... Artists conception of Mars Global Surveyor (NASA) The Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) is a US spacecraft developed by NASA and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory and launched November 1996. ...

The delta also provides unambiguous evidence that some Martian sedimentary rocks have been deposited in a liquid. The meandering of the channels provides evidence to support this. Additional sediments were deposited on top of the delta, burying it. The deposits in the channels formed sedimentary rock. As the surrounding softer sediments were eroded away, the delta was exhumed, but inverted.^[3][4]

Based on an estimate by Moore et. al in 2003 of flow volume to the crater at 700 m³/s, it is estimated that it would take twenty years to completely fill the crater, ignoring evaporation and infiltration. However, this is unlikely because it is hypothesized that the delta was not formed in a permanent lake but rather a series of short lacustrine episodes on the order of years. This suggests that the Martian climate at the time of formation.^[5][6] This article or section is in need of attention from an expert on the subject. ... See: espionage, urban exploration, entryism, heating, ventilation, and air conditioning. ...

External links

• HiRISE image of Eberswalde Delta (warning: large images)
• MSSS page about the discovery

See also

• Mars Science Laboratory
• Geography of Mars
• River delta - the terrestrial equivalent

Conceptual drawing of the Mars Science Laboratory in operation on Mars Schematic diagram of the planned rover components The Mars Science Laboratory (or MSL for short) is a NASA rover scheduled to launch in December 2009 and perform a precision landing on Mars in October 2010. ... Topographic map of Mars, courtesy NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, from Mars Global Surveyor laser altimeter research led by Maria Zuber and David Smith. ... Nile River delta, as seen from Earth orbit. ...

References