Sunday, December 18, 2011

Eberswalde Crater on Mars named after the City of Eberswalde in the German State of Brandenburg

The Eberswalde Crater on Mars is named after the German town with the same name (in accordance with the rules for planetary nomenclature of the International Astronomical Union), located about 50 km northeast of Berlin in the German Federal State (Bundesland) of  Brandenburg [1,2]. The 65-km-diameter crater (centered at 24.3°S, 33.5°W, just north of the Holden Crater) contains a distributary fan, which is supposed to be an ancient delta in which a river deposited sediments, now hardened to sandstone [3].  The delta structure is (so far) the most convincing sign that a Martian river once flowed into a standing body of water [4,5]: possible streambed features, which are now higher than the surrounding terrain due to sediment hardening and erosion resistance, are assumed to be remaining parts that formed when the Eberswalde streams carved new channels.   

The Eberswalde Crater and its interesting geology came into focus in 2003 during the Mars Global Surveyor exploration program [6]. Based on images taken during this remote expedition, Michael Malin and Kenneth Edgett of Malin Space Science Systems discovered the Eberswalde delta with a surface are of 115 km2 [7].

Keywords: astronomy, planetary science, areography, Martian topography, impact crater, Margaritifer Terra, history, terminology.

References and more to explore
[1] Ulf von Rauchhaupt: Der Neunte Kontinent - Die wissenschaftliche Eroberung des Mars. Fischer Taschenbuch Verlag, Frankfurt am Main, November 2010; pages 174 and 175.
[2] Mahalo > Eberswalde (crater): www.mahalo.com/eberswalde-crater/.
[3] David Pratt: Life on Mars: from microbes to monuments. December 2011 [davidpratt.info/mars-life.htm].
[4]  NASA Mars Science Laboratory > Possible MSL Landing Site: Eberwalde Crater: hmars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl/mission/timeline/prelaunch/landingsiteselection/eberswalde2/.
[5] M. Pondrelli, A. P. Rossi, L. Marianangeli, E. Hauber, K. Gewinner, A. Baliva and S. di Lorenzo: Evolution and depositional environments of the Eberswalde fan delta, Mars. Icarus October 2008, 197 (2), pp. 429-451.
doi: 10.1016/j.icarus.2008.05.018.
[6] NASA Solar System Exploration > Mars Global Surveyor: solarsystem.nasa.gov/missions/profile.cfm?MCode=MGS.
[7] slashtheseats.com/rrpedia/Eberswalde_%28crater%29.

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