Syrtis Major quadrangle

The name Syrtis Major is derived from the classical Roman name Syrtis maior for the Gulf of Sidra on the coast of Libya (classical Cyrenaica). It is near Cyrene which is the place where "Simon" who carried the cross of Jesus was from.{{Cite web|url=https://ferrelljenkins.blog/2011/03/30/libya-and-the-bible-%e2%80%94-more-than-you-think/|title=Libya and the Bible — more than you think|author=Andrew Petcher |date=March 30, 2011}}{{Citation|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3JNQAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA18|title=The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges|volume=59|year=1897}}{{Cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jVIOAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA286|title = A history of the holy Bible, corrected and improved|first1=G.|last1=Gleig|last2 = Stackhouse|first2 = Thomas|year = 1817}}

Syrtis Major is a distinctly dark region standing out against the lighter surrounding highlands, and was the first documented surface feature of another planet. It was discovered by Christiaan Huygens, who included it in a drawing of Mars in 1659. The feature was originally known as the Hourglass Sea but has been given different names by different cartographers. In 1840, Johann Heinrich von Mädler compiled a map of Mars from his observations and called the feature Atlantic Canale. In Richard Proctor's 1867 map it is called then Kaiser Sea (after Frederik Kaiser of the Leiden Observatory). Camille Flammarion called it the Mer du Sablier (French for "Hourglass Sea") when he revised Proctor's nomenclature in 1876. The name "Syrtis Major" was chosen by Giovanni Schiaparelli when he created a map based on observations made during Mars' close approach to Earth in 1877.{{cite book| title=Mapping Mars: Science, Imagination, and the Birth of a World| first=Oliver| last=Morton| publisher=Picador USA| location=New York| date=2002| isbn=0-312-24551-3| pages=[https://archive.org/details/mappingmarsscien00mort_0/page/14 14]–15| url-access=registration| url=https://archive.org/details/mappingmarsscien00mort_0}}{{cite web|url=http://www.uapress.arizona.edu/onlinebks/mars/chap04.htm|title=The Planet Mars: A History of Observation and Discovery - Chapter 4: Areographers|author=William Sheehan|access-date=2007-09-07|archive-date=2017-07-01|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170701062415/http://www.uapress.arizona.edu/onlinebks/MARS/CHAP04.HTM|url-status=dead}}

Syrtis Major is of great interest to geologists because several types of igneous rocks have been found there with orbiting spacecraft. Besides basalt, dacite and granite have been found there. Dacite originates under volcanoes in magma chambers. Dacites form at the top of the chamber, after heavy minerals (olivine and pyroxene) containing iron and magnesium have settled to the bottom. Granite is formed by an even more complex process.Christensen, P. 2005. "The Many Faces of Mars". Scientific American. July, 2005.

Some areas of Syrtis Major contain large amounts of the mineral olivine. Olivine turns into other minerals very rapidly in the presence of water, so a high abundance of olivine suggests that for a long time little water has been there.{{Cite web |url=https://themis.asu.edu/node/5396 |title=7. Olivine-rich rocks point to cold, dry martian past |publisher=Mars Space Flight Facility, Arizona State University |access-date=20 August 2024}}

A variety of important minerals have been discovered near Nili Fossae, a major trough system in Syrtis major. Besides a large exposure of olivine located in Nili Fossae. Other minerals found there include carbonates, aluminum smectite, iron/magnesium smectite, hydrated silica, kaolinite group minerals, and iron oxides.{{Cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7791060.stm|title=Nasa finds 'missing' Mars mineral|date=December 19, 2008|via=news.bbc.co.uk}}{{cite journal | doi=10.1029/2009JE003342 | title=A synthesis of Martian aqueous mineralogy after 1 Mars year of observations from the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter | date=2009 | last1=Murchie | first1=Scott L. | last2=Mustard | first2=John F. | last3=Ehlmann | first3=Bethany L. | last4=Milliken | first4=Ralph E. | last5=Bishop | first5=Janice L. | last6=McKeown | first6=Nancy K. | last7=Noe Dobrea | first7=Eldar Z. | last8=Seelos | first8=Frank P. | last9=Buczkowski | first9=Debra L. | last10=Wiseman | first10=Sandra M. | last11=Arvidson | first11=Raymond E. | last12=Wray | first12=James J. | last13=Swayze | first13=Gregg | last14=Clark | first14=Roger N. | last15=Des Marais | first15=David J. | last16=McEwen | first16=Alfred S. | last17=Bibring | first17=Jean-Pierre | journal=Journal of Geophysical Research: Planets | volume=114 | issue=E2 | bibcode=2009JGRE..114.0D06M }} In December 2008, NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter found that rocks at Nili Fossae contain carbonate minerals, a geologically significant discovery.{{Cite web|url=http://www.space.com/30746-mars-missing-atmosphere-lost-in-space.html|title=Mars' Missing Atmosphere Likely Lost in Space|website=Space.com|date=5 October 2015}}{{cite journal | doi=10.1130/G36983.1 | title=Carbon sequestration on Mars | date=2015 | last1=Edwards | first1=Christopher S. | last2=Ehlmann | first2=Bethany L. | journal=Geology | volume=43 | issue=10 | pages=863–866 | bibcode=2015Geo....43..863E | url=https://resolver.caltech.edu/CaltechAUTHORS:20150827-175842753 }} Later research published in October 2010, described a large deposit of carbonate rocks found inside Leighton Crater at a level that was once buried 4 miles (6 km) below the surface. Finding carbonates in an underground location strongly suggests that Mars was warmer and had more atmospheric carbon dioxide and ancient seas. Because the carbonates were near silicate minerals and clays hydrothermal systems like the deep sea vents on Earth may have been present.{{cite web |last= |title=Exposed Rocks Point to Water on Ancient Mars |work=Astrobiology Magazine |date=2010-10-13 |url=http://www.astrobio.net/pressrelease/3646/exposed-rocks-point-to-water-on-ancient-mars |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110629125815/http://www.astrobio.net/pressrelease/3646/exposed-rocks-point-to |archive-date=2011-06-29}}{{cite journal | doi=10.1016/j.epsl.2010.06.018 | title=Hydrothermal formation of Clay-Carbonate alteration assemblages in the Nili Fossae region of Mars | date=2010 | last1=Brown | first1=Adrian J. | last2=Hook | first2=Simon J. | last3=Baldridge | first3=Alice M. | last4=Crowley | first4=James K. | last5=Bridges | first5=Nathan T. | last6=Thomson | first6=Bradley J. | last7=Marion | first7=Giles M. | last8=De Souza Filho | first8=Carlos R. | last9=Bishop | first9=Janice L. | journal=Earth and Planetary Science Letters | volume=297 | issue=1–2 | pages=174–182 | arxiv=1402.1150 | bibcode=2010E&PSL.297..174B }}

Other minerals found by the MRO are aluminum smectite, iron/magnesium smectite, hydrated silica, kaolinite group minerals, iron oxides, and talc.

NASA scientists discovered that Nili Fossae is the source of plumes of methane, raising the question of whether this source originates from biological sources.[http://dsc.discovery.com/news/2009/01/15/mars-methane-life.html Mars Methane Found, Raising Possibility of Life]{{Cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7829315.stm|title=New light on Mars methane mystery|date=January 15, 2009|via=news.bbc.co.uk}}

Research published in the fall of 2010, describes the discovery of hydrated silica on the flanks of a volcanic cone. The deposit was from a steam fumarole or hot spring, and it represents a recent habitable microenvironment. The {{convert|100|m|ft|adj=mid|-high|sp=us}} cone rests on the floor of Nili Patera. Observations were obtained with NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter.{{Cite web|url=https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/silica-on-a-mars-volcano-tells-of-wet-and-cozy-past |title=Silica on Mars Volcano Tells of Wet and Cozy Past |publisher=JPL |date=31 October 2010 |access-date=20 August 2024}}

Narrow ridges occur in some places on Mars. They may be formed by different means, but some are probably caused by molten rock moving underground, cooling into hard rock, then being exposed by the erosion of softer, surrounding materials. Such a feature is termed a dike. They are common on Earth—some famous ones are Shiprock, New Mexico;{{Cite web|url=http://www.msss.com/mars_images/moc/2005/10/13/|title = Mars Global Surveyor MOC2-1249 Release}} around Spanish Peaks, Colorado;{{Cite book |isbn = 0-87842-105-X|title = Roadside Geology of Colorado|last1 = Chronic|first1 = Halka|date = January 1980| publisher=Mountain Press Publishing Company }}{{Cite book |isbn = 0-7167-2438-3|title = Petrology, Second Edition: Igneous, Sedimentary, and Metamorphic|last1 = Blatt|first1 = Harvey|last2 = Tracy|first2 = Robert|date = 1995-12-15}} and the "Iron Dike" in Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado.{{Cite book|isbn = 0-8403-4619-0|title = Geology of National Parks|last1 = Harris|first1 = Ann G.|last2 = Tuttle|first2 = Esther|year = 1990| publisher=Kendall/Hunt Publishing Company }}

The discovery on Mars of dikes that were formed from molten rock is highly significant because dikes indicate the existence of intrusive igneous activity. On the Earth such activity is associated with precious metals like gold, silver, and tellurium.{{Cite web |url=http://ccvgoldmining.com/Geology/geology.html |title=Geology of the Cripple Creek Mining District |access-date=2010-11-13 |archive-date=2011-05-16 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110516160553/http://ccvgoldmining.com/Geology/geology.html |url-status=dead }} Dikes and other intrusive structures are common in the Cripple Creek Mining District of Colorado; the Battle Mountain-Eureka area in north-central Nevada, famous for gold and molybdenum deposits;{{Cite web |url=https://portergeo.com.au/database/mineinfo.asp?mineid=mn1127 |title=PorterGeo Database - Ore Deposit Description |publisher=PorterGeo |access-date=20 August 2024}} and around the Franklin dike swarm in Canada.

Mapping the presence of dikes allows us to understand how magma (molten rock under the ground) travels and where it could have interacted with surrounding rock, thus producing valuable ores. Deposits of important minerals are also made by dikes and other igneous intrusions heating water which then dissolves minerals that are deposited in cracks in nearby rock.Namowitz, S. and D. Stone. 1975. Earth Science-The World We Live In. American Book Company. Ny, NY One would expect a great deal of intrusive igneous activity to occur on Mars because it is believed there is more igneous activity under the ground than on top, and Mars has many huge volcanoes.Crisp, J. 1984. "Rates of magma emplacement and volcanic output". J. Volcanlo. Geotherm. Res: 20. 177-211.

{{Main|Linear ridge networks}}

File:Huo Hsing Vallis in Syrtis Major.JPG in Syrtis Major, as seen by THEMIS. Straight ridges may be dikes in which liquid rock once flowed.]]

Some crater floors in the Syrtis Major area show elongated ridges in a lattice-like pattern.Kerber, L., et al.

2017. Polygonal ridge networks on Mars: Diversity of morphologies and the special case of the Eastern Medusae Fossae Formation. Icarus. Volume 281. Pages 200-219 Such patterns are typical of faults and breccia dikes formed as a result of an impact. Some have suggested that these linear ridge networks are dikes made up of molten rock; others have advanced the idea that other fluids such as water were involved.Saper, L., J. Mustard. 2013. "Extensive linear ridge networks in Nili Fossae and Nilosyrtis, Mars: implications for fluid flow in the ancient crust". Geophysical Research Letters: 40, 245-249. The ridges are found where there has been enhanced erosion. Pictures below show examples of these dikes. Water may flow along faults. The water often carries minerals that serve to cement rock materials thus making them harder. Later when the whole area undergoes erosion the dikes will remain as ridges because they are more resistant to erosion.{{Cite web|url=https://hirise.lpl.arizona.edu/PSP_008189_2080|title=HiRISE | Ridges in Huo Hsing Vallis (PSP_008189_2080)|website=hirise.lpl.arizona.edu}} This discovery may be of great importance for future colonization of Mars because these types of faults and breccia dikes on earth are associated with key mineral resources.{{Cite web |url=http://news.discovery.com/space/mars-prospecting-ores-gold.html |title=Mining Mars? Where's the Ore? : Discovery News |access-date=2010-06-11 |archive-date=2012-10-22 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121022144808/http://news.discovery.com/space/mars-prospecting-ores-gold.html |url-status=dead }}West, M. and J. Clarke. 2010. Potential Martian Resources: Mechanisms and Terrestrial Analogues: 58. 574-582 It has been estimated that 25% of the Earth's impacts are connected to mineral production.Mory, H.J. et al. 2000. "Woodleigh Carnarvon Basin, Western Australia: a new 120 km diameter impact structure". Earth and Planetary Science Letters: 177. 119-128 The largest gold deposit on Earth is the Vredefort 300 km diameter impact structure in South Africa.Evens, K et al. 2005. The Sedimentary Record of Meteorite Impacts: An SEPM Research Conference. The Sedimentary Record: 3. 4-8. Perhaps, when people live on Mars these kinds of areas will be mined as they are on earth.Head, J. and J. Mustard. 2006. "Breccia Dikes and Crater-Related Faults in Impact Craters on Mars: Erosion and Exposure on the Floor of a 75-km Diameter Crater at the Dichotomy Boundary". In Special Issue on Role of Volatiles and Atmospheres on Martian Impact Craters Meteoritics & Planetary Science.

Many areas of Mars change their shape and/or coloration. For many years, astronomers observing regular changes on Mars when the seasons changed, thought that what they saw was evidence of vegetation growing. After close-up inspection with a number of spacecraft, other causes were discovered. Basically, the changes are caused by the effects of the wind blowing dust around. Sometimes, fine bright dust settles on the dark basalt rock making the surface appear lighter, at other times the light-toned dust will be blown away; thus making the surface darken—just as if vegetation were growing. Mars has frequent regional or global dust storms that coat the surface with fine bright dust. In the THEMIS image below, white streaks are seen downwind of craters. The streaks are not too bright; they appear bright because of contrast with the dark volcanic rock basalt which makes up the surface.{{Cite web|url=http://themis.asu.edu/zoom-20020606a|title=Syrtis Major | Mars Odyssey Mission THEMIS|website=themis.asu.edu}}

File:Inverted Channel 012435.jpg

Some places on Mars show inverted relief. In these locations, a stream bed may be a raised feature, instead of a valley. The inverted former stream channels may be caused by the deposition of large rocks or due to cementation. In either case erosion would erode the surrounding land and leave the old channel as a raised ridge because the ridge would be more resistant to erosion. Images below, taken with HiRISE show sinuous ridges that are old channels that have become inverted.{{Cite web |url=http://hiroc.lpl.arizona.edu/images/PSP/diafotizo.php?ID=PSP_002279_1735 |title=HiRISE | Sinuous Ridges Near Aeolis Mensae |access-date=2009-03-19 |archive-date=2016-03-05 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160305025124/http://hiroc.lpl.arizona.edu/images/PSP/diafotizo.php?ID=PSP_002279_1735 |url-status=dead }}

For several years, researchers have found methane in the atmosphere of Mars. After study, it was determined to be coming from a point in Syrtis Major, located at 10° N and 50° E.{{Cite web|url=http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/mars-methane-gas-disappears-quickly-100920.html|title = Mystery on Mars: Why Methane Fades Away So Fast|website = Space.com|date = 20 September 2010}}

A recent study indicates that to match the observations of methane, there must be something that quickly destroys the gas, otherwise it would be spread all through the atmosphere instead of being concentrated in one location. There may be something in the soil that oxidizes the gas before it has a chance to spread. If this is so, that same chemical would destroy organic compounds, thus life would be very difficult on Mars.{{Cite web |url=https://sci.esa.int/s/AqBLmnw |title=Reconciling Methane Variations on Mars |publisher=European Space Agency |date=6 August 2009 |access-date=20 August 2024}}

There is enormous evidence that water once flowed in river valleys on Mars.{{cite journal |last1=Baker |first1=V. |first2=Christopher W. |last2=Hamilton |first3=Devon M. |last3=Burr |display-authors=1 |year=2015 |title=Fluvial geomorphology on Earth-like planetary surfaces: a review |journal=Geomorphology |volume=245 |issue= |pages=149–182 |doi=10.1016/j.geomorph.2015.05.002 |pmid=29176917 |pmc=5701759 |bibcode=2015Geomo.245..149B }}{{cite book |last=Carr |first=M. |year=1996 |title=Water on Mars |publisher=Oxford Univ. Press |isbn=0-19-509938-9 }} Images of curved channels have been seen in images from Mars spacecraft dating back to the early 1970s with the Mariner 9 orbiter.{{cite book |last=Baker |first=V. |year=1982 |title=The Channels of Mars |publisher=Univ. of Tex. Press |location=Austin, TX |isbn=0-292-71068-2 }}{{cite journal |last1=Baker |first1=V. |first2=R. |last2=Strom |first3=V. |last3=Gulick |first4=J. |last4=Kargel |first5=G. |last5=Komatsu |first6=V. |last6=Kale |display-authors=1 |year=1991 |title=Ancient oceans, ice sheets and the hydrological cycle on Mars |journal=Nature |volume=352 |issue= 6336|pages=589–594 |doi=10.1038/352589a0 |bibcode=1991Natur.352..589B |s2cid=4321529 }}{{cite journal |last=Carr |first=M. |year=1979 |title=Formation of Martian flood features by release of water from confined aquifers |journal=J. Geophys. Res. |volume=84 |issue= |pages=2995–3007 |doi=10.1029/JB084iB06p02995 |bibcode=1979JGR....84.2995C }}{{cite journal |last=Komar |first=P. |year=1979 |title=Comparisons of the hydraulics of water flows in Martian outflow channels with flows of similar scale on Earth |journal=Icarus |volume=37 |issue=1 |pages=156–181 |doi=10.1016/0019-1035(79)90123-4 |bibcode=1979Icar...37..156K }} Indeed, a study published in June 2017, calculated that the volume of water needed to carve all the channels on Mars was even larger than the proposed ocean that the planet may have had. Water was probably recycled many times from the ocean to rainfall around Mars.{{Cite web |first=Keith |last=Cowing |url=https://spaceref.com/science-and-exploration/how-much-water-was-needed-to-carve-valleys-on-mars/ |title=How Much Water Was Needed to Carve Valleys on Mars? |publisher=SpaceRef |date=5 June 2017 |access-date=20 August 2024}}{{cite journal |last1=Luo |first1=W. |first2=Xuezhi |last2=Cang |first3=Alan D. |last3=Howard |display-authors=1 |year=2017 |title=New Martian valley network volume estimate consistent with ancient ocean and warm and wet climate |journal=Nature Communications |volume=8 |at=Article number: 15766 |doi=10.1038/ncomms15766 |pmid=28580943 |pmc=5465386 |bibcode=2017NatCo...815766L |doi-access=free }}

{{Main|Valley networks (Mars)}}

{{Main|Outflow channels}}

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• {{annotated link|Flammarion (Martian crater)}}
• {{annotated link|Geology of Mars}}
• {{annotated link|Groundwater on Mars}}
• {{annotated link|HiWish program}}
• {{annotated link|Hydrothermal circulation}}
• {{annotated link|Igneous differentiation}}
• {{annotated link|Lakes on Mars}}
• {{annotated link|List of quadrangles on Mars}}
• {{annotated link|MOC Public Targeting Program}}
• {{annotated link|Ore genesis}}
• {{annotated link|Ore resources on Mars}}
• {{annotated link|Outflow channels}}
• {{annotated link|Valley network (Mars)}}
• {{annotated link|Vallis (planetary geology)|Vallis}}
• {{annotated link|Water on Mars}}

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{{Mars quadrangle layout}}

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Category:Mars