Access
To read this story in full you will need to login or make a payment (see right).
Letter
Nature 453, 1212-1215 (26 June 2008) | doi:10.1038/nature07011; Received 20 December 2007; Accepted 4 April 2008
Open Innovation Challenges
-
Protect Enzyme from In Planta Degradation
A proposal for stable expression of an enzyme in corn seed is desired.
-
Efficient Chromosome Doubling: Plant Cell Division
The Seeker is looking for an efficient chromosome doubling method in plants and in particular, metho...
nature jobs
Sr. Biostatistician
- Scripps Research Institute
- La Jolla, CA
Bioresearch Manager
- Philip Morris International (PMI)
- Singapore
The Borealis basin and the origin of the martian crustal dichotomy
Jeffrey C. Andrews-Hanna1, Maria T. Zuber1 & W. Bruce Banerdt2
- Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139, USA
- Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California 91109, USA
Correspondence to: Jeffrey C. Andrews-Hanna1 Correspondence and requests for materials should be addressed to J.C.A.-H. (Email: jhanna@mit.edu).
Abstract
The most prominent feature on the surface of Mars is the near-hemispheric dichotomy between the southern highlands and northern lowlands. The root of this dichotomy is a change in crustal thickness along an apparently irregular boundary, which can be traced around the planet, except where it is presumably buried beneath the Tharsis volcanic rise1, 2. The isostatic compensation of these distinct provinces2, 3 and the ancient population of impact craters buried beneath the young lowlands surface4 suggest that the dichotomy is one of the most ancient features on the planet3. However, the origin of this dichotomy has remained uncertain, with little evidence to distinguish between the suggested causes: a giant impact5, 6 or mantle convection/overturn7, 8, 9. Here we use the gravity10 and topography11 of Mars to constrain the location of the dichotomy boundary beneath Tharsis, taking advantage of the different modes of compensation for Tharsis and the dichotomy to separate their effects. We find that the dichotomy boundary along its entire path around the planet is accurately fitted by an ellipse measuring approximately 10,600 by 8,500 km, centred at 67° N, 208° E. We suggest that the elliptical nature of the crustal dichotomy is most simply explained by a giant impact, representing the largest such structure thus far identified in the Solar System.
- Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139, USA
- Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California 91109, USA
Correspondence to: Jeffrey C. Andrews-Hanna1 Correspondence and requests for materials should be addressed to J.C.A.-H. (Email: jhanna@mit.edu).
To read this story in full you will need to login or make a payment (see right).
MORE ARTICLES LIKE THIS
These links to content published by NPG are automatically generated.
NEWS AND VIEWS
Planetary science Forming the martian great divideNature News and Views (26 Jun 2008)
Planetary science An older face for MarsNature News and Views (04 Jul 2002)
See all 15 matches for News And ViewsRESEARCH
Supplementary Information, Table S1Nature Geoscience Letter (01 Jan 2009)
The martian hemispheric dichotomy may be due to a giant impactNature Letters to Editor (10 May 1984)
See all 41 matches for Research
