McLaughlin (Martian crater) explained

Titlecolor:	FA8072
McLaughlin Crater^[1] ^[2]
Region:	Oxia Palus quadrangle
Coordinate Title:	Coordinates
Globe:	Mars
Coordinates:	21.9°N 337.63°W
Diameter:	90.92km (56.5miles)
Depth:	2.2km (01.4miles)
Eponym:	Dean B. McLaughlin, American astronomer (1901-1965). (IAU, 1973).

McLaughlin Crater is an old crater in the Oxia Palus quadrangle of Mars, located at . It is 90.92km (56.5miles) in diameter and 2.2km (01.4miles) deep. The crater was named after Dean B. McLaughlin, an American astronomer (1901-1965).^[3] The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter has found evidence that the water came from beneath the surface between 3.7 billion and 4 billion years ago and remained long enough to make carbonate-related clay minerals found in layers.^[4] McLaughlin Crater, one of the deepest craters on Mars, contains Mg-Fe clays and carbonates that probably formed in a groundwater-fed alkaline lake. This type of lake could have had a massive biosphere of microscopic organisms.^[5]

See also

• 2024 McLaughlin, minor planet
• Climate of Mars
• Impact crater
• List of craters on Mars
• McLaughlin (lunar crater)
• Water on Mars

Notes and References

1. Web site: IAU Staff . McLaughlin - Crater, Mars, 3782 . 17 November 2010. . 21 January 2013 .
2. Web site: Giant Mars Crater Shows Evidence of Ancient Lake . Choi . Charles Q. . 20 January 2013 . . 21 January 2013.
3. Web site: Home . planetarynames.wr.usgs.gov.
4. Web site: Martian Crater May Once Have Held Groundwater-Fed Lake. Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
5. Michalski, J., J. Cuadros, P. Niles, J. Parnell, A. Rogers, S. Wright. 2013. Groundwater activity on Mars and implications for a deep biosphere. Nature geoscience:6, 133–138.