Epilogue. Approaching Mars -- Mars as a heavenly warrior -- Mars, with its odd orbit, enters science -- Schiaparelli, Lowell, and the Martians -- The golden age of telescopic Mars -- Martian engineers or Martian Lichens -- Modern Mars -- Mars seen by mariners and Vikings -- A long interval and the return to Mars -- Mars in its orbit -- The rocks on the Martian surface -- The reddish color -- The final answer -- History and physiography of Mars -- An introduction to Mars -- Morphometry of Mars, in brief -- Early Mars -- The periods of Mars history -- Pre-Noachian -- Duration: 400 million years -- Hesperian -- Amazonian -- Martian dichotomy -- The surface of Mars -- Impact craters -- Impact craters as a planetary phenomenon -- Impact craters on Mars -- Meteorite craters on Earth -- Gigantic impact basins on Mars -- Regolith: the secondary product of impacts -- Fractures -- Fracture patterns on Mars -- Valles Marineris -- Catastrophic landslides -- The volcanoes of Mars -- Olympus mons and other huge volcanoes -- Distribution of Martian volcanoes -- Volcanism on Earth and Mars -- Ice, water -- Ice on Mars -- Arctic Mars -- Polar caps -- Glacial and periglacial morphologies -- Other indications of icy Mars -- Water and volcanoes -- Layered impact craters and landslides again: yet another clue to an Icy Mars? -- Watery Mars -- Outflow channels -- Lakes? -- Desiccation cracks -- Atmosphere, climate and life on Mars -- The atmosphere of Mars -- Composition -- The Martian winds -- Morphologies created by the wind -- Dust devils -- Present-day changes on Mars -- Mars climate and life -- A radical climate change -- Epilogue.
Summary:
This book introduces the reader to the wonders of Mars, covering all aspects from our past perceptions of the planet through to the latest knowledge on its history, its surface processes such as impact cratering, volcano formation, and glaciation, and its atmosphere and climate. In addition, a series of ten intriguing open issues are considered in a more advanced way. These include such thought-provoking questions as What turned off the planet's magnetic field?, Why are the northern and southern hemispheres so different?, What was the fate of the once abundant water?, and Is there, or was there, life on Mars? Numerous original figures, unavailable elsewhere, reproduce details of images from Viking, CTX, MOC, HiRISE, THEMIS, and HRSC.
This resource is supported by the Institute of Museum and Library Services under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act as administered by State Library of Iowa.