PIA20642: Flood Lavas and Mass Extinctions
 Target Name:  Mars
 Is a satellite of:  Sol (our sun)
 Mission:  Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO)
 Spacecraft:  Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO)
 Instrument:  HiRISE
 Product Size:  2880 x 1800 pixels (w x h)
 Produced By:  University of Arizona/HiRISE-LPL
 Other  
Information: 
Other products from ESP_044671_2050
 Full-Res TIFF:  PIA20642.tif (15.56 MB)
 Full-Res JPEG:  PIA20642.jpg (1.093 MB)

Click on the image above to download a moderately sized image in JPEG format (possibly reduced in size from original)

Original Caption Released with Image:

Click here for larger version of PIA20642
Map Projected Browse Image
Click on the image for larger version

This entire landscape is covered by lava flows. Almost all of vast Amazonis Planitia is covered by lava flows, an area comparable to that of the entire continental United States.

Amazonis Planitia is also one of the flattest places on Mars, because of the thick lava fill. Most of this lava was likely erupted in relatively short periods of time, perhaps thousands of years. Earth has also experienced relatively short-lived pulses with very high lava eruption rates, and these pulses precisely match the dates of four mass extinction events and a dozen or so smaller extinction peaks.

A mass extinction is when more than 75 percent of the species of life on the planet are completely killed off, never to return. On Earth, such high eruption rates release gases such as carbon dioxide that acidify the oceans, probably leading to the extinctions. The study of Mars and other worlds will help us to understand the processes causing high eruption rates.

The University of Arizona, Tucson, operates HiRISE, which was built by Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp., Boulder, Colo. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Project for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington.

Image Credit:
NASA/JPL-Caltech/Univ. of Arizona

Image Addition Date:
2016-04-21