A New Study on Mars’ Surface Reveals a Potentially Catastrophic Impact from an Extraterrestrial Object.
According to Universe Today, a research team from the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (JHU APL) has conducted an in-depth study of the Corinto impact crater located in the Elysium Planitia region near the Martian equator.
Corinto Crater on Mars – (Image: NASA).
This crater is relatively young at 2.34 million years old by the standards of the Red Planet, which is home to numerous impact craters of various sizes.
Its dimensions are also moderate: 14 km in diameter and 1 km deep.
The reason Corinto is particularly interesting is that sophisticated images from NASA’s spacecraft reveal that it possesses a system of “rays” extending from the crater rim, indicating that material was ejected from this crater.
Additionally, the interior of the crater is filled with pockmarks. This is evidence that it likely contained ice before being struck by an impactor—possibly an asteroid.
Calculations suggest that the impact angle was approximately 30-45 degrees and was powerful enough to release countless fragments.
Remarkably, both modeling analyses and direct traces collected from the Martian surface indicate that this powerful impact created up to 2 billion secondary craters.
Mars Continuously Bombarded by Meteorite Impacts and Secondary Craters – (Graphic).
Secondary craters are formed when hot debris ejected from the initial impact falls onto nearby areas—also with significant force—creating smaller craters.
The enormous number of secondary craters, which includes many large ones, is attributed to the size of the “fragments” ejected from Corinto, which can reach up to 10 m. Some secondary craters are located as far as 1.8 km from the original crater.
The Martian surface is not affected by continuous, intense climatic phenomena or rich ecosystems like Earth, which allows it to preserve the marks of impacts almost intact for millions, even billions of years.
This inadvertently shows us how an extraterrestrial impactor could cause such a significant effect. Earth might also have similar impact systems, hidden beneath layers of sediment.
The study was recently presented at the 55th Annual Lunar and Planetary Science Conference in Texas, USA.
