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Scientific Investigations Map 3297

Prepared for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Geologic Map of Tooting Crater, Amazonis Planitia Region of Mars

By Peter J. Mouginis-Mark

SIM 3297 map sheet: Right-Click to Download or Save As (134 MB)Abstract

Tooting crater has a diameter of 27.2 km, and formed on virtually flat lava flows within Amazonis Planitia ~1,300 km west of the summit of Olympus Mons volcano, where there appear to have been no other major topographic features prior to the impact. The crater formed in an area ~185 x 135 km that is at an elevation between −3,870 m and −3,874 m relative to the Mars Orbiter Laser Altimeter (MOLA) Mars datum. This fortuitous situation (for example, a bland, horizontal target) allows the geometry of the crater and the thickness of the ejecta blanket to be accurately determined by subtracting the appropriate elevation of the surrounding landscape (−3,872 m) from the individual MOLA measurements across the crater. Thus, for the first time, it is possible to determine the radial decrease of ejecta thickness as a function of distance away from the rim crest. On the basis of the four discrete ejecta layers surrounding the crater cavity, Tooting crater is classified as a Multiple-Layered Ejecta (MLE) crater. By virtue of the asymmetric distribution of secondary craters and the greater thickness of ejecta to the northeast, Morris and others (2010) proposed that Tooting crater formed by an oblique impact from the southwest. The maximum range of blocks that produced identifiable secondary craters is ~500 km (~36.0 crater radii) from the northeast rim crest. In contrast, secondary craters are only identifiable ~215 km (15.8 radii) to the southeast and 225 km (16.5 radii) to the west.

First posted April 29, 2015

For additional information, contact:
Astrogeology Research Program staff
Astrogeology Science Center
U.S. Geological Survey
2255 N. Gemini Dr.
Flagstaff, AZ 86001
http://astrogeology.usgs.gov/

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Suggested citation:

Mouginis-Mark, P.J., 2015, Geologic map of Tooting crater, Amazonis Planitia region of Mars: U.S. Geological Survey Scientific Investigations Map 3297, pamphlet 4 p., scale 1:200,000, https://dx.doi.org/10.3133/sim3297.

ISSN 2329-1311 (print)

ISSN 2329-132X (online)



Contents of Pamphlet

Introduction

Origin of Crater Name

Data

Topography

Ejecta Facies

Inferred Sequence of Events During Crater Formation

Acknowledgments

References


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