Exploratour - Comparing the Surfaces of Earth and Mars

Examples of Craters

The table below compares craters on Earth and Mars.

Earth



These images show craters at different places on the Earth's surface. The left image shows two craters (forming the Clearwater Lakes) in Quebec, Canada (Click on image for full size version (315K GIF) Courtesy of NASA/LPI ). The right image shows the Barringer Meteor Crater in Arizona (Click on image for full size version (307K GIF), Courtesy of D. Roddy and LPI ).

Like other planets, the surface of the Earth has many craters. Barringer Meteor Crater (right image), located in Arizona, is 1.2 km across, and is 49,000 years old. The twin impact craters seen in the left image are Clearwater East and West craters, located in Quebec, Canada. They were formed at the same time by two separate but probably related meteorite impacts. Notice the erosion that has occurred on these older craters in the Canadian Shield, in comparison with the much younger Barringer crater. Clearwater Lake West (left-most crater) has a ring of islands in the middle (diameter of about 10 km) which are composed of impact melts. The central peak of the smaller Clearwater Lake East is submerged.

Mars



These images show examples of craters on the surface of Mars. The image at the left shows the Sinus Sabaus and Deucalionis Regio portion of Mars, and was obtained by Mariner 6 in 1969. (Click on image for full size version (282K GIF), Image courtesy of NASA). The image at the right shows an eroded crater and dune fields near the south pole of Mars. (Click on image for full size version (112K JPG), Image courtesy of NASA).

There are many craters on the surface of Mars. The image at the left (best seen at full size), taken by Mariner 6 in 1969, shows numerous craters in the Sinus Sabaus and Deucalionis Regio region of Mars. The crater at the lower right of this image is Flaugergues and the double crater to the lower left is Wislicenus. Notice that you can see craters within craters, overlapping craters, and craters with raised central peaks. The image at the right shows a crater and sand dunes near the south pole of Mars. Craters in this region of Mars are being erased by the action of sand on the Martian surface. There are even sand dunes within the crater.


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