Badwater Crater Explained

Badwater Crater
Titlecolor:	FA8072
Coordinates:	-32.79°N 62.14°W
Globe:	Mars
Globe Type:	Planet
Diameter:	33.14km (20.59miles)
Depth:	8200meters
Quadrangle:	Hellas quadrangle (MC-28)

Badwater Crater is an impact crater located in Hellas Planitia and is situated within the low lying Plain of Peneus Palus on the southern hemisphere of Mars. It contains the lowest currently known point on the entire Planet, with an elevation of approximately ^[1] at 32.79° S, 62.14° E. Badwater has a diameter of approximately .^[2]

Badwater is a particularly interesting geological feature on Mars, not only because of its depth but also because it may be one of the only places on the entire planet where seasonal flows^{[3] [4]} of possible liquid water^[5] solutions of brine^[6] can exist near or potentially on its surface without being immediately vaporised. This has been observed as various dark streaks of what seems to be some type of hydrated salts^[7] discovered by the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter and the HiRISE camera onboard the MRO from NASA^{[8] [9]}

This could be potentially explained by the warmer months of the year in Mars's orbit on its equatorial plane^[10] being heated from the melting of the frozen carbon dioxide on its polar ice caps.^[11] This allows the atmosphere to temporarily become thicker than its average to a much greater atmospheric pressure of due to the atmosphere of Mars stacking upon itself from the immense depth of the hellas impact basin.^[12] This leads to an atmospheric pressure of approximately 1.5% that of the Earth.^{[13] [14]}

Name

Badwater Crater is named after Badwater, California in Badwater Basin, the lowest point in North America. The name for the crater was officially adopted by the IAU on the 11 April 2015.^{[2] [15]}

The name for the crater was specifically chosen since Badwater basin is incredibly salty with liquid water being more of an undrinkable brine not great for consumption. The same natural occurrence happens on Mars as its only remaining water content in this crater is incredibly high in its salt content therefore the IAU accepted the name as it suits its particular similarities with the crater.^{[16] [17]}

Notes and References

1. Book: 10.1017/9781139567428.033 . Coles . Kenneth S. . Kenneth L. . Tanaka . Philip R. . Christensen . Hellas (MC-28) . The Atlas of Mars: Mapping Its Geography and Geology . 222–227 . Cambridge . Cambridge University Press . 2019. 978-1-139-56742-8 .
2. Web site: MARS – Badwater . Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature . USGS.
3. Web site: 2001-01-05 . The Case of the Missing Mars Water . 2024-07-05 . https://web.archive.org/web/20090327234049/https://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2001/ast05jan_1.htm . 2009-03-27 . science.nasa.gov.
4. Web site: Charles Q. . Choi . 2010-06-22 . Flashback: Water on Mars Announced 10 Years Ago . 2024-07-05 . Space.com . en.
5. News: 2011-08-03 . NASA Finds Possible Signs of Flowing Water on Mars . 2024-07-05 . Voice of America . en.
6. NASA Mars Spacecraft Reveals a More Dynamic Red Planet . 2024-07-05 . NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) . en-US.
7. Ojha . Lujendra . Wilhelm . Mary Beth . Murchie . Scott L. . McEwen . Alfred S. . Wray . James J. . Hanley . Jennifer . Massé . Marion . Chojnacki . Matt . 2015-11-01 . Spectral evidence for hydrated salts in recurring slope lineae on Mars . Nature Geoscience . 8 . 11 . 829–832 . 10.1038/ngeo2546. 2015NatGe...8..829O .
8. News: Jacqueline . Housden . 2011-08-04 . Nasa Find Potential Signs Of Flowing Water On Mars . 2024-07-05 . HuffPost UK . en.
9. Web site: Leonard . David . 2015-09-23 . Mars' Mysterious Dark Streaks Spur Exploration Debate . 2024-07-05 . Space.com . en.
10. Wilson . Jack T. . Eke . Vincent R. . Massey . Richard J. . Elphic . Richard C. . Feldman . William C. . Maurice . Sylvestre . Teodoro . Luis F. A. . January 2018 . Equatorial locations of water on Mars: Improved resolution maps based on Mars Odyssey Neutron Spectrometer data . Icarus . 299 . 148–160 . 10.1016/j.icarus.2017.07.028. 1708.00518 . 2018Icar..299..148W .
11. Hess . S. L. . Henry . R. M. . Tillman . J. E. . 1979-06-01 . The seasonal variation of atmospheric pressure on Mars as affected by the south polar cap. . Journal of Geophysical Research . 84 . 2923–2927 . 10.1029/JB084iB06p02923 . 1979JGR....84.2923H . 0148-0227.
12. Web site: Nicole . Willett . Extremophiles . 2024-07-05 . Marspedia . en.
13. Franz . Heather B. . Trainer . Melissa G. . Malespin . Charles A. . Mahaffy . Paul R. . Atreya . Sushil K. . Becker . Richard H. . Benna . Mehdi . Conrad . Pamela G. . Eigenbrode . Jennifer L. . Freissinet . Caroline . Manning . Heidi L. K. . Prats . Benito D. . Raaen . Eric . Wong . Michael H. . 2017-04-01 . Initial SAM calibration gas experiments on Mars: Quadrupole mass spectrometer results and implications . Planetary and Space Science . 138 . 44–54 . 10.1016/j.pss.2017.01.014 . 2017P&SS..138...44F . 0032-0633.
14. Encyclopedia: Haberle . R. M. . SOLAR SYSTEM/SUN, ATMOSPHERES, EVOLUTION OF ATMOSPHERES Planetary Atmospheres: Mars . 2015-01-01 . Encyclopedia of Atmospheric Sciences . 2nd . 168–177 . North . Gerald R. . 2024-07-05 . Oxford . Academic Press . 10.1016/B978-0-12-382225-3.00312-1 . 978-0-12-382225-3 . Pyle . John . Zhang . Fuqing.
15. Web site: Astrogeology . USGS . 4 February 2024 . 26 January 2024 . https://web.archive.org/web/20240126021056/https://astrogeology.usgs.gov/news/nomenclature/names-approved-for-three-features-on-mars . dead .
16. Web site: Three newly named Mars features . Red Planet Report . 2015-04-17 . R. . Burnham .
17. Bernhardt . H. . Reiss . D. . Hiesinger . H. . Ivanov . M. A. . April 2016 . The honeycomb terrain on the Hellas basin floor, Mars: A case for salt or ice diapirism . Journal of Geophysical Research: Planets . en . 121 . 4 . 714–738 . 2016JGRE..121..714B . 10.1002/2016JE005007 . 2169-9097.