Photo: This south-facing panorama combining images from the Curiosity rover's two Mastcam cameras shows various geologic textures on Mount Sharp. Three years after landing on Mars, the mission is studying this layered mountain for evidence of changes in Martian environmental conditions, from an ancient time when conditions were favorable for microbial life to the much drier presence. Ripples of gravel and sand fill the foreground, typical of the terrain Curiosity traversed to reach Mount Sharp from its landing site. The midfield outcroppings are of two types: smooth, dust-covered bedrock that forms the base of the mountain and sandstone ridges that lose rock as they erode. The rounded knolls in the distance contain sulfate minerals, perhaps indicating a change in water availability during their formation. Some of the higher level overlay patterns of Mount Sharp in the background are tilted at different angles than the others, evidence of complicated relationships yet to be deciphered. The scene runs from southeast on the left to southwest on the right. The images were taken on April 10 and 11, 2015, the 952nd and 953rd sols after the rover landed on Mars on August 6, 2012. The images in the central part of the panorama are from the Mastcam's right eye camera, which is equipped with a 100 mm telephoto lens. The images used in the outer portions, including the farthest parts of the mountain, were taken with the Mastcam's left eye camera, using a wider-angle 34-millimeter lens. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS.
Naming convention and Martian planetary nomenclature
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Naming convention for Martian features
| Feature type | Naming convention |
|---|---|
| Large craters | Deceased scientists who have contributed to the study of Mars; writers and others who have contributed to the lore of Mars |
| Small craters | Villages of the world with a population of less than 100,000 |
| Large valles | Name for Mars/star in various languages |
| Small valles | Classical or modern names of rivers |
| Other features | Nearest albedo formation on maps by Giovanni Schiaparelli or Eugene Antoniadi. When probes landed on Mars, rocks, dunes and hollows were often given informal names. Some of them quite light: features have been named after ice creams (like Cookies and Cream); cartoon characters (like Sponge Bob and Patrick) or music groups from the 1970s (like ABBA and the Bee Gees). |
| Déimos | Authors who have written about the satellites of Mars. There are in 2013 only two named formations on Deimos: the Swift and Voltaire craters |
| Phobos | Scientists involved in the discovery, dynamics, or properties of the satellites of Mars, or characters and places from Jonathan Swift's Gulliver's Travels |
List of descriptive terms used in planetary nomenclature
limited to the topographic formations present on Mars
| Name (singular, plural) | Simplified description |
|---|---|
| Albedo Feature | A region with a marked albedo contrast to neighboring regions. (see definition) |
| Catena, catenae | Chain of craters |
| Cavus, cavi | Irregular depressions with steep edges, often in rows or clusters |
| Chaos, chaoses | Chaotic area of land consisting of irregular blocks |
| Chasma, chasmata | Deep, elongated depression with steep sides |
| Collis, colles | Group of small hills or slight elevations |
| Crater, craters | Circular depression a priori created by a cosmic impact. This term is implicit |
| Dorsum, dorsa | Ride or ridge that may be sinuous, e.g. Dorsum Buckland |
| Fluctus, fluctūs | Land covered by a lava or cryolave flow |
| Fossa, fossae | Long, narrow, shallow depression |
| Labes, labēs | Landslide |
| Labyrinthus, labyrinthi | Complex network of intersecting valleys or ripples |
| Lacus, lacūs | "Lake" or small plain. Used on the Moon and Titan. On Mars no "lacus" type, all areas named "lacus" are albedo features |
| Landing site | Formation on or near a landing site for exploration missions |
| Lingula, lingulae | Extension of a plateau with lobed or tongue-shaped boundaries |
| Macula, maculae | Dark spot that can be irregular |
| Mensa, mensae | Flat prominence with edges consisting of cliffs, i.e. a mesa |
| Mons, montes | Mountain or group of mountains |
| Palus, paludes | Small plain. Used on the Moon and on Mars |
| Patera, paterae | Irregular or complex crater, with scalloped edges, usually corresponding to the caldera (see definition) of a volcano, but may also result from various endogenous and exogenous geological phenomena |
| Planitia, planitiae | Low plain generally corresponding to an impact basin |
| Planum, plana | Plateau or elevated plain, most often of volcanic or cryovolcanic origin |
| Regio, regiones | Large area with differences in reflectivity or color from adjacent areas, or simply a homogeneous or remarkable geographic unit |
| Rupes, rupēs | Linear scarp or the face of a relatively straight cliff, as opposed to scopulus |
| Scopulus, scopuli | Lobed or irregular scarp |
| Serpens, serpents | Traits with a sinuous tendency succeeding each other with positive height or negative height in relation to the territory of their surrounding environment |
| Sinus, sinūs | "Bay"; small plain on Moon or Mars, e.g. Sinus Meridiani; On Titan, bay within bodies of liquid |
| Sulcus, sulci | More or less parallel furrows or ripples |
| Terra, terrae | Topographic unit identified with a "continent" or geologically ancient (Noachian terrain) on Mars |
| Tholus, tholi | Small mountain or hill in the shape of a dome, generally corresponding to the cone of a stratovolcano |
| Unda, undae | Field of dunes |
| Vallis, valles | Valley or set of valleys, example: Valles Marineris |
| Vastitas, vastitates | Extent devoid of any significant relief extending over an area greater than that of a possible impact basin. The only known formation of this type in the solar system is Vastitas Borealis on Mars |
Documentary sources, articles, databases:
Wikipedia |
USGS |
IAU |
Nasa |
MSSS
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