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Nicholson is a crater on Mars centered at 0.1° N and 164.5° W. It is 62 miles wide (100 km), and located in the Memnonia quadrangle. Nicholson is a good marker for the equator as it sits almost directly on the martian equator. It is named after Seth Barnes Nicholson, an American astronomer. Nicholson is notable for its central peak, which rises in a high mound 3.5 km above the crater floor. This rounded peak is riddled with channels, which may have been eroded by wind or even water. Wikinicholson.jpg|Western side of Nicholson crater showing part of central mound, as seen by CTX camera (on Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter). Impact craters generally have a rim with ejecta around them, in contrast volcanic craters usually do not have a rim or ejecta deposits. As craters get larger (greater than 10 km in diameter) they usually have a central peak.〔http://www.lpi.usra.edu/publications/slidesets/stones/〕 The peak is caused by a rebound of the crater floor following the impact. If one measures the diameter of a crater, the original depth can be estimated with various ratios. Because of this relationship, researchers have found that many Martian craters contain a great deal of material; much of it is believed to be ice deposited when the climate was different.〔Garvin, J., et al. 2002. Global geometric properities of martian impact craters. Lunar Planet Sci. 33. Abstract @1255.〕 Sometimes craters expose layers that were buried. Rocks from deep underground are tossed onto the surface. Hence, craters can show us what lies deep under the surface. ==Why are Craters important?== The density of impact craters is used to determine the surface ages of Mars and other solar system bodies.〔 The older the surface, the more craters present. Crater shapes can reveal the presence of ground ice. The area around craters may be rich in minerals. On Mars, heat from the impact melts ice in the ground. Water from the melting ice dissolves minerals, and then deposits them in cracks or faults that were produced with the impact. This process, called hydrothermal alteration, is a major way in which ore deposits are produced. The area around Martian craters may be rich in useful ores for the future colonization of Mars.〔http://www.indiana.edu/~sierra/papers/2003/Patterson.html.〕 Studies on the earth have documented that cracks are produced and that secondary minerals veins are deposited in the cracks.〔Osinski, G, J. Spray, and P. Lee. 2001. Impact-induced hydrothermal activity within the Haughton impact structure, arctic Canada: Generation of a transient, warm, wet oasis. Meteoritics & Planetary Science: 36. 731-745〕〔http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/arizona/maps/2005/00000040/00000012/art00007〕〔Pirajno, F. 2000. Ore Deposits and Mantle Plumes. Kluwer Academic Publishers. Dordrecht, The Netherlands〕 Images from satellites orbiting Mars have detected cracks near impact craters.〔Head, J. and J. Mustard. 2006. Breccia Dikes and Crater-Related Faults in Impact Craters on Mars: Erosion and Exposure on the Floor of a 75-km Diameter Crater at the Dichotomy Boundary. Special Issue on Role of Volatiles and Atmospheres on Martian Impact Craters Meteoritics & Planetary Science〕 Great amounts of heat are produced during impacts. The area around a large impact may take hundreds of thousands of years to cool.〔name="news.discovery.com"〕〔Segura, T, O. Toon, A. Colaprete, K. Zahnle. 2001. Effects of Large Impacts on Mars: Implications for River Formation. American Astronomical Society, DPS meeting#33, #19.08〕〔Segura, T, O. Toon, A. Colaprete, K. Zahnle. 2002. Environmental Effects of Large Impacts on Mars. Science: 298, 1977-1980.〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Nicholson (Martian crater)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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