Tartarus region

Origin of name:
The deepest part of the underworld. It is a deep, gloomy place, a pit, or an abyss used as a dungeon of torment and suffering that resides beneath the underworld.

A név eredete:
Tartarosz a halál utáni életben az örökös kín, a szenvedés és a bűnhődés helye – a kereszténységben a pokolnak felel meg. Lásd még: Elysium

Geologic description and interpretation:
Tartarus Colles cone groups, at the eastern edge of the Elysium rise, reveale a periglacial origin for these landforms. [1]

Two of the channels (Athabasca and Marte valles) experienced more than one flood. Emanation from volcanotectonic fissures instead of chaotic terrain distinguishes these Cerberus Plains channels from the larger, older circum-Chryse channels. Groundwater must have collected in a liquid state prior to flood onset to flow at the estimated discharge rates. Lack of large-scale subsidence near the channels' origination points along the Cerberus Fossae indicates that this groundwater was at least several kilometers deep.[1] The origin of Marte Vallis is obscure. It is at the outlet of an almost level plain on which water may have pooled. In addition, several branching valleys converge on the start of Marte Vallis. The most prominent of the branching valleys, the Rahway Vallis, can be traced almost to Grjota Vallis to the northwest and to the Cerberus Fossae to the west. They may be downstream manifestations of floods from these sources. The floods that cut Marte Vallis may have originated from extensions of the Cerberus Fossae now buried by later lavas under the Cerberus plains.[2] Channels originate at the Cerberus Fossae volcano-tectonic fissures. Neither magmatic melting of ground ice nor gravity-driven groundwater flow can produce a volumetric discharge at a rate commensurate with that estimated from the surface topography. Geomorphic evidence suggests floodwater ponded temporarily in Athabasca ValliS.[3]

Geológiai leírás és magyarázat:
A Tartarus Colles periglaciális felszínformákból áll. Völgyei vulkáni lávát és vízet is hordhattak magukban. A síkság maga az egyik legsíkabb terület a Marson.
Az Orcus Patera eredete máig vitatott: vagy egy elliptikus becsapódás nyoma, vagy vulkáni eredetű, vagy egy tektonikusan deformált normál kráter.

[1] Tribbett, Krystal; Dolores van der Kolk 2000: Orcus Patera, Mars Impact Crater, Volcanic Caldera, or Hybrid? Mars 2000: An Integrated Regional Geological Study on Mars June 7th - July 9th 2000 at the Geodynamics Branch, Goddard Space Flight Center http://denali.gsfc.nasa.gov/keck/group1.html

[2] Therkelsen, J. P.; Santiago, S. S.; Grosfils, E. B.; Sakimoto, S. E. H.; Mendelson, C. V.; Bleacher, J.2001: Eruption Constraints for a Young Channelized Lava Flow, Marte Vallis, Mars 32nd Annual Lunar and Planetary Science Conference, March 12-16, 2001, Houston, Texas, abstract no.1112 http://keck.wooster.edu/archives/symposium/01/ 14th%20Symposium%20Volumes/SDOC0625.pdf

[3] Schultz, P. H., Crawford, D. A., & Gault, D. E. 1990: Impact Generation of Orbiting Debris Around Mars. Abstracts of the Lunar and Planetary Science Conference, volume 21, page 1101, (1990) http://adsabs.harvard.edu/full/1990LPI....21.1101S

[1] Burr, Devon M.; Grier, Jennifer A.; McEwen, Alfred S.; Keszthelyi, Laszlo P. 2002: Repeated Aqueous Flooding from the Cerberus Fossae: Evidence for Very Recently Extant, Deep Groundwater on Mars. Icarus, Volume 159, Issue 1, p. 53-73. http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2002Icar..159...53B

[2] Carr, Michael H.: 2006 The Surface of Mars (Cambridge Univ. Press), Cambridge planetary science No. 5. . Burr et al. (2003a)

[3] Burr, Devon Marjorie 2003: Investigations into the Cerberus outflow channels, Mars Thesis (PhD). THE UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA, Source DAI-B 64/05, p. 2087, Nov 2003, 72 pages http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2003PhDT........12B

[1] de Pablo, Miguel Ángel; Goro Komatsu 2009: Possible pingo fields in the Utopia basin, Mars: Geological and climatical implications Icarus 199 (2009) 49–74 http://www.geo.umass.edu/courses/geo892/utopia%20pingos%20Feb%2012.pd