Physics
Scientific paper
Mar 2005
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2005natur.434..352m&link_type=abstract
Nature, Volume 434, Issue 7031, pp. 352-356 (2005).
Physics
83
Scientific paper
It is thought that the Cerberus Fossae fissures on Mars were the source of both lava and water floods two to ten million years ago. Evidence for the resulting lava plains has been identified in eastern Elysium, but seas and lakes from these fissures and previous water flooding events were presumed to have evaporated and sublimed away. Here we present High Resolution Stereo Camera images from the European Space Agency Mars Express spacecraft that indicate that such lakes may still exist. We infer that the evidence is consistent with a frozen body of water, with surface pack-ice, around 5° north latitude and 150° east longitude in southern Elysium. The frozen lake measures about 800 × 900km in lateral extent and may be up to 45metres deep-similar in size and depth to the North Sea. From crater counts, we determined its age to be 5 +/- 2 million years old. If our interpretation is confirmed, this is a place that might preserve evidence of primitive life, if it has ever developed on Mars.
Foing Bernard H.
Gerhard Neukum
Hauber Ernst
Head James W.
HRSC Co-Investigator Team
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