Antoniadi (Martian crater)

Antoniadi

Planet	Mars
Region	Syrtis Major Planum
Coordinates	21°30′N 299°12′W / 21.5°N 299.2°W / 21.5; -299.2Coordinates: 21°30′N 299°12′W / 21.5°N 299.2°W / 21.5; -299.2
Diameter	394.0
Eponym	Eugène Michel Antoniadi

Antoniadi is a crater on Syrtis Major Planum, Mars, located at 21.5° north latitude and 299.2° west longitude. It is 394 km long and was named after Eugène Michael Antoniadi, a Greek astronomer (1870-1944) who spent most of his life in France.^[1]

There is evidence that Antoniadi Crater once contained rivers and lakes.^[2] The picture below shows an inverted channel in Antoniadi, as seen by HiRISE. Inverted channels formed from accumulated sediments that were cemented by minerals. These channels eroded into the surface, then the whole area was covered over with sediments. When the sediments were later eroded away, the place where the river channel existed remained because the hardened material were resistant to erosion.^[3]

Inverted Relief

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 will be more resistant to erosion. An image below, taken with HiRISE of Antoniadi Crater shows sinuous ridges that are old channels that have become inverted.^[4]

Gallery

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  Inverted Stream Channels in Antoniadi Crater, as seen by HiRISE.

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Antoniadi (Martian crater).

• Sjogren, W. L.; Ritke, S. J., Mars - Gravity data analysis of the crater Antoniadi
• Antoniadi in Google Mars