HELLAS

CRATER
INTRODUCTION
• It is the largest visible crater in the Solar System
• Thought to have formed during Late Heavy Bombardment (4.1 to 3.8 Ga)
• Crustal magnetic field is absent, indicating that the internal dynamo stopped during Early Noachian
period (Acuña et al., 1999)
• It is centered at 42.4°S 70.5°E, in the Noachis and Hellas quadrangle.
• It was named after the classical name for Greece, by Schiaparelli.
• Has a diameter of 2300 km, with a depth of about 7152 m below the standard topographic datum of
Mars.
• The altitude difference between the rim and the bottom is 9000 m.
• Atmospheric pressure at the bottom is 12.4 mbars (during northern summers), which is 103% higher
than that at the surface.
Image credits : Planetary Science Institute
TERBY CRATER
• It has a diameter of about 174 km, displays a flat interior in central and
southern parts.
• It stands at -4500m and covers surface area of ~17,500 sq. km.
• Southern impact rim is cut by 50 km diameter complex crater with a central
peak.
• Materials were deposited inside and later on, were eroded to expose
individual layers.
• Large fan deposits with many layers containing Mg-Fe phyllosilicates
indicate formation during Noachian period.
• During Hesperian, erosion was prominent and created 3 mesas and closed
depressions.
• Followed by late fluvial episode, which formed small fluvial valleys and alluvial
fans.
• Lastly, aeolian processes and cold conditions prevailed in the crater (Ansan et al.,
2011)
• Potential reference geological cross-section for Martian stratigraphy.
• Closed depressions (Dw and Dc) have a depth of ~ 500 m
• Mesas M1 and M2 are disconnected while M3 is connected to inner flat area.
• Mesas have a maximum relief of 3 km above bottom of the closed depression
(Dw)
• Thermal Infrared data from THEMIS and TES, show that the interior is covered
by low inertia mantle (Intermediate gray tones)
• The sides of the mesas show bright color (Indurated rock) due to ability to keep
daytime heat (Ansan et al., 2011)
 TR – Terby
crater Rim
M1, M2, M3 –
Mesas
Dw – closed W
shaped
depression
Dc – closed
oval depression
Fw – viscous
flow feature
V – fluvial
valley

Image credits :
Ansan et al.,
2011

Thermal Infrared Data from THEMIS and TES

• Glacial viscous flows (fw) in the North-west of the crater.
• Possible eskers on the floor of closed depressions (Wilson et al., 2007)
• High resolution images from MOC and THEMIS has revealed 2 km deep troughs carved
into layered deposits.
• Layered sequences as sedimentary deposits, materials deposited from a fluid or moving
medium.
• Can be fluvial or lacustrine deposits, aeolian loess and sand dunes, glacial tills and
pyroclastic deposits (c.f Reading, 1996)
• Vertical sequence is light toned layered deposits overlain by light toned thick-bedded
units, unconformably overlain by medium to dark toned mesa sediments.
• Bulk of layered deposits should be fine grained and moderately cemented (c.f Malin and
Edgett, 2000)
• High Resolution Images from MOC and THEMIS
reveal many geomorphic features including 2 km
deep, N trending troughs carved into Layered
deposits, Ramps that extend across Layered
deposits, Fan deposits (FD), Channels, Avalanche
deposits, Grooved terrain, Viscous flow features

• Varying geomorphic processes were in action,

possibly as a response to changes in climate
throughout the Martian history.

Image credits : Wilson et al., 2007

Portion of THEMIS day infrared mosaic (diagonal grays are data gaps) THEMIS image with resolution of 17 m per
pixel and in the visible wavelength range
Image credits : Planetary Science Institute
OMEGA DATA
• Visible and Near Infrared (VNIR) hyperspectral imager
• 3 overlapping detectors (from 0.35 to 1 μm, from 0.9 to 2.7 μm, and from 2.5 to
5.1 μm) (c.f Bibring et al., 2004)
• 0.9 to 2.7 μm detector was used for the data.
• Data processing took into account the solar spectrum, Modular transfer function of
each spectral element and absorption due to atmosphere.
• Apparent I/F reflectance (the flux received by the detector from the surface of Mars
divided by the solar flux at the martian distance) to detect minerals by studying
absorption bands.
• Determination of minerals and groups of minerals located within the top hundreds of
micrometers of the surface.
MINERALS PRESENT
• Olivine – absorption due to iron between  0.8 and 1.5 μm typical of olivine.
Deep and broad absorption due to high iron content olivine or large particle
size.
• Pyroxene – 2 absorption bands at 1.0 and 2.2 μm. For a high calcium pyroxene
(HCP), the centers are at ∼1.05 and ∼2.30 μm, and for low calcium pyroxene
(LCP) at ∼0.9 and ∼1.8 μm. 
• Hydrated minerals – Narrow absorption band at 1.93 μm. It’s due to a
combination of the H–O–H bend, ν2 at ∼6.1 μm, and a symmetric OH stretch,
ν3 at ∼2.9 μm. Narrow absorption at 2.30 μm, either Fe-OH (at 2.29 μm) or
Mg-OH (>2.32 μm), or to a mixing of the two (c.f Clark et al., 1990; Poulet et
al., 2005) – Nontronite or/and Saponite
(a) Mosaic of day-time IR THEMIS image. THEMIS images have a resolution of ∼100 m pixel−1
(c) Detailed view on the mesa M1, showing the mineral families detected in the orbit #232
overlapping the IR night-time THEMIS images.
(d) Albedo reflectance at 1 μm of the OMEGA orbit #232 (sun illumination from NE).
(e) Mineral families detected in the OMEGA orbit #232 superimposed on the HRSC image.
(f) Albedo reflectance at 1 μm of the OMEGA orbit #4199 (sun illumination from NW). (g)
Mineral families detected in the OMEGA orbit #4199 superimposed on the HRSC image.

(a) characteristic OMEGA spectra of each mineral family are presented and compared
to mineral laboratory spectra (dashed line) 
OUTFLOW CHANNELS
• Dao Vallis, Niger Vallis, Harmakhis Vallis (From end of Reull Vallis)
• Dao Vallis runs SW from slopes of Hadriacus Mons, merges with Niger Vallis and
runs for 1200 km.
• Hadriaca and Tyrrhena Patera are the only large volcanoes in the southern hemisphere.
• Low relief, areally extensive and having calderas and radial ridges, channels on their
flanks
• Hypothesis – Hadriaca started as explosive eruptive volcano with ash and later
changed to hydro-magmatic style eruption
• By supply of groundwater to produce pyroclastic flows which carved channels into
earlier volcanic ash
Image: Color-coded elevation draped over perspective shaded-relief imagery from the Mars Channel and mesa surfaces along the
Orbiter Laser Altimeter  flanks of Hadriaca Patera 
Location: Southern highlands northeast of the Hellas impact structure; view is to the Image: Portion of THEMIS visible
northeast  spectrum image V17097003 . Along the
Scale: Diameter of Hadriaca is approximately 77 kilometers; Vertical exaggeration is 10 X southern flanks of Hadriaca Patera 
Image credits : PSI
Image: Color-coded elevation draped over perspective shaded-relief imagery from Image: Portion of THEMIS visible spectrum image
the Mars Orbiter Laser Altimeter  V26032003 
Location: Southern highlands near Hesperia Planum northeast of the Hellas Location: Along the northern flank of Tyrrhena Patera 
impact structure; view is to the west  Scale: Image width (excluding black no-data areas) is
Scale: Area encompassing Tyrrhena is > 300 kilometers; Vertical exaggeration is approximately 20.8 kilometers
10 X
Image credits : PSI
CANYON SYSTEM
• Dao (and its tributary, Niger Vallis; ~1200 km long) and Harmakhis Vallis
(~800 km long) extend through the cratered highlands toward Hellas Planitia. 
• Research by PSI Planetary scientists David Crown and Leslie Bleamaster
suggest that the canyons formed by collapse of plateau materials (not by
catastrophic floods)
• Evidence = canyon floors do not have scour marks, mega-ripples, or the other
features typically associated with a fluvial-eroded channel
• Characterized by steep-walled depressions along the adjacent sides, zones of
subsided plains, fractures parallel to the canyon margins, pit chains, and
collapsed debris masses
Image: Portion of HRSC nadir image Fractures and collapse blocks along the margins of Pit chains and collapsed plains in and around
H0528_0000_ND4  Dao Vallis  Niger Vallis 
Location: Southern highlands northeast of Image: Portion of THEMIS daytime IR image Image: Portion of THEMIS daytime IR image
the Hellas impact structure  I01870002  I01433002 
HONEYCOMB TERRAIN
• Closely packed, elliptical or polygonal, relatively shallow, rimmed pits (c.f Moore and
Wilhelms, 2001)
• “Mega-cells” are 5-10 km wide (c.f El Maarry et al., 2012)
• They are exclusively present in the NW portion of Hellas Planitia.
• Formed by salt or ice diapirism and not because of igneous diapirism or being periglacial
landforms (Bernhardt et al., 2016)
• Honeycomb size diapirs could be formed by ~2km thick salt layer, which might be
derived from highlands N of Hellas Planitia – area of abundant snowfall and chloride
signatures.
• Nearby volcanic activity caused probably salty meltwater runoff and would have enabled
evaporite deposition in Hellas basin
 (A) – Honeycomb terrain (NW Region of Hellas
Planitia
Physiographic setting of the honeycomb, banded, and reticulate terrains within
the Hellas basin. White arrows and black boxes indicate the locations of
subsequent figures. (a) Color-coded MOLA DEM with superposed extents of
dark mantle material, as well as the banded, honeycomb, and reticulate terrains
within the western Hellas basin as mapped by Bernhardt et al. [2016]. The black
asterisk marks the deepest location on Mars (8204 m) on the floor of Badwater
crater. A photogeological map of the northern portion of this scene is shown in
Figure 10a. (b) Context in (a) showing the entire Hellas basin. Black arrows
indicate the main wind direction according to the circulation model by Howard
et al. [2012].
Image credits : Bernhardt et al., 2016
• Honeycomb terrain is along the southern edge of Peneus Palus, which is a part of ~500
km wide, crescent shaped depression previously called Hellas Planitia Trough (HPT) (c.f
Howard et al., 2012)
• Average elevation is ~1000 m lower than the remainder of Hellas Planitia (-7500m)
• Very low crater density indicates Amazonian age for the surface (c.f Tanaka et al., 2014)
• Lies at lower elevation than surrounding wrinkle-ridged plains (AMA is 3.8 Ga) (c.f
Bernhardt et al., 2016)
• Pre-Noachian unit which was covered and then exhumed by winds (Bernhardt et al.,
2016)
• Estimates suggest that a ~1km depression like HPT could be carved out within 50 to few
100 Ma (c.f Bernhardt et al., 2016)
• Implied by model predicted katabatic winds persistently moving clockwise through the
Hellas basin (c.f Howard et al., 2012)
BANDED AND RETICULATE TERRAIN
• Banded terrain extends into the central “Alpheus Colles” plateau.
• Hummocky interior formation with AMA of ~3.7 Ga (Bernhardt et al.,
2016)
• No past standing body of water or ice has been detected and identified
with the interior formation.
• Occurs with Reticulate terrain in the western edge of the basin.
• ~200 m high and 2.5 km wide ridges which form a quasi-rectangular
pattern (c.f Moore and Wilhelms, 2007)
HONEYCOMB TERRAIN
• Area of ~36,000 sq km and average elevation in SE and NW are -7000
and -7500 m
• Unit greatly dips to NE at ~0.15°.
• Regular and dense assemblage of cell like depressions which never
occur solitary.
• Depressions are mostly elliptical, 170m deep and upto ~14km long
and ~6km wide.
• In the west, outlines are curved to bean or kidney shaped due to
coverage by dark mantling material and banded terrain
Different areas from SW to NE in the Honeycomb terrain, downwind direction according to wind circulation model by
Howard et al., 2012
REFERENCES
• Acuña, M.H., Connerney, J.E.P., Ness, N.F., Lin, R.P., Mitchell, D., Carlson, C.W., McFadden,
J., Anderson, K.A., Rème, H., Mazelle, C., Vignes, D., Wasilewski, P., Cloutier, P., Global Distribution of
Crustal Magnetization Discovered by the Mars Global Surveyor MAG/ER Experiment (1999), Science, 284
(5415), 790-793
• Ansan, V., Loizeau, D., Mangold, N., Carter, J., Poulet, F., Dromart, G., Lucas, A., Bibring, J.P., Gendrin, A.,
Gondet, B., Langevin, Y., Masson, Ph., Murchie, S., Mustard, J.F., Neukum, G., Stratigraphy, mineralogy, and
origin of layered deposits inside Terby crater, Mars (2011), Icarus, 211 (1), 273-304
• Wilson, S.A., Howard, A.D., Moore, J.M., Grant, J.A., Geomorphic and stratigraphic analysis of Crater Terby
and layered deposits north of Hellas basin, Mars (2007), J. Geophys. Res., 112 (E8)
• Planetary Science Institute website : https://www.psi.edu/epo/explorecraters/hellastour.htm
• Bernhardt, H., D. Reiss, H. Hiesinger, and M. A. Ivanov (2016), The honeycomb terrain on the Hellas basin
floor, Mars: A case for salt or ice diapirism, J. Geophys. Res. Planets, 121, 714–738, doi:10.1002/
2016JE005007.