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Vastitas Borealis (Latin for 'northern waste') [1] is the largest lowland region of Mars. It is in the northerly latitudes of the planet and encircles the northern polar region . [ 2 ] Vastitas Borealis is often simply referred to as the northern plains , northern lowlands or the North polar erg [ 3 ] of Mars.
The North Polar Basin, more commonly known as the Borealis Basin, is a large basin in the northern hemisphere of Mars that covers 40% of the planet. [1] [2] Some scientists have postulated that the basin formed during the impact of a single, large body roughly 2% of the mass of Mars, having a diameter of about 1,900 km (1,200 miles) early in the history of Mars, around 4.5 billion years ago.
Given the proposal of a vast primordial ocean on Mars, the fate of the water requires explanation. As the Martian climate cooled, the surface of the ocean would have frozen. One hypothesis states that part of the ocean remains in a frozen state buried beneath a thin layer of rock, debris, and dust on the flat northern plain Vastitas Borealis. [61]
Planum Boreum (Latin: "the northern plain") is the northern polar plain on Mars.It extends northward from roughly 80°N and is centered at Surrounding the high polar plain is a flat and featureless lowland plain called Vastitas Borealis which extends for approximately 1500 kilometers southwards, dominating the northern hemisphere.
Green Valley is a region on Mars within Vastitas Borealis that was chosen as the landing site of NASA's Phoenix lander. It is located at 68.35 degrees north, 233 degrees east. The valley is about 50 kilometres wide, but only about 250 metres deep; either it was filled in, or was never any deeper than that.
[3] [12] [26] Currently, the stratigraphic boundary of the Hesperian with the younger Amazonian System is defined as the base of the Vastitas Borealis Formation [27] (pictured right). The Vastitas Borealis is a vast, low-lying plain that covers much of the northern hemisphere of Mars. It is generally interpreted to consist of reworked sediments ...
The Phoenix lander landed on Vastitas Borealis within the Mare Boreum quadrangle at 68.218830° N and 234.250778° E on May 25, 2008. [8] The probe collected and analyzed soil samples in an effort to detect water and determine how hospitable the planet might once have been for life to grow.
The northern and western areas of the quadrangle lie in the northern lowland plains of Mars and cover portions of Amazonis Planitia (in the south), Arcadia Planitia (west central) and Vastitas Borealis (in the north). The large crater Milankovič (118.4 km in diameter) is located in the north central portion of the quadrangle at 54.7° N, 213.3 ...