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Planetary science

Forming the martian great divide

Nature volume 453, pages 1191–1192 (2008)Cite this article

Early in its history, Mars suffered a convulsion that left a lasting geological and topographical scar. The latest work adds to evidence that the cause was external — a massive impact.

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Figure 1: The martian hemispheric dichotomy.

NASA

Figure 2: Crust with a difference.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Walter S. Kiefer is at the Lunar and Planetary Institute, 3600 Bay Area Boulevard, Houston, Texas 77058, USA. kiefer@lpi.usra.edu ,

    Walter S. Kiefer

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  1. Walter S. Kiefer
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Additional information

See Editorial, page 1143 . The researchers involved talk about this work and demonstrate the modelling behind it in this Nature video

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Kiefer, W. Forming the martian great divide. Nature 453, 1191–1192 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1038/4531191a

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