Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • Feature
  • Published:

Did an impact blast away half of the martian crust?

The northern and southern hemispheres of Mars are topographically distinct. Crustal thickness analyses and numerical simulations suggest a giant impact just after the crust differentiated 4.4 billion years ago as a plausible cause for this dichotomy.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Rent or buy this article

Prices vary by article type

from$1.95

to$39.95

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Figure 1: Two halves of Mars.

J. ANDREWS-HANNA/NASA/MGS/MOLA

Figure 2: The two faces of the Moon.

NASA/JPL/USGS

Figure 3: A fresh crater on the primordial Mars.

References

  1. Andrews-Hanna, J. C., Zuber, M. T. & Banerdt, W. B. Nature 453, 1212–1215 (2008).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  2. Marinova, M. M., Aharonson, O. & Asphaug, E. Nature 453, 1216–1219 (2008).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  3. Nimmo, F., Hart, S. D., Korycansky, D. G. & Agnor, C. B. Nature 453, 1220–1223 (2008).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  4. Wilhelms, D. E. & Squyres, S. W. Nature 309, 138–140 (1984).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. Whitaker, E. A. in Multi-ring Basins (eds Schultz, P. H. & Merrill, R. B.) 105–111 (Pergamon, New York, 1981).

    Google Scholar 

  6. Chambers, J. E. Earth Planet. Sci. Lett. 223, 241–252 (2004).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  7. Strom, R. G., Malhotra, R., Ito, T., Yoshida, F. & Kring, D. A. Science 309, 1847–1850 (2005).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  8. Melosh, H. J. Impact Cratering: A Geologic Process (Oxford University Press, New York, 1989).

    Google Scholar 

  9. Melosh, H. J. & McKinnon, W. Geophys. Res. Lett. 5, 985–988 (1978).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  10. Collins, G. S. & Melosh, H. J. Lunar and Planetary Science Conference XXXV abstract no. 1375 (2004).

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Melosh, H. Did an impact blast away half of the martian crust?. Nature Geosci 1, 412–414 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1038/ngeo237

Download citation

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/ngeo237

This article is cited by

Search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing