Week 8 - Studying the Topography of Earth, the Moon, and Mars
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Dec 6, 2023
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Studying the Topography of the Earth, Moon, and Mars
In this lab we are going to look at topographic maps of the Earth, Moon, and Mars.
These
topographic maps show us the elevation at every location on these two planets and the Moon.
Earth
First look at the topographic map of the Earth.
1)
What color (or colors) match up with the highest elevations?
Explain how you know.
Red – the areas in the Western United States with the Rocky Mountains are red.
2)
What color (or colors) match up with the lowest elevations?
Don’t forget the oceans here!
Explain how you know.
Blue --- ocean floors have the lowest elevation and they are blue!
3)
Look at the United States.
a)
Describe how the elevation is similar (or different) when you compare the eastern part
of the United States to the western part.
Western part of the US has more mountains and higher elevation than the eastern
part.
b)
What other continent that seems to have similar elevation differences from east to
west as the United States?
Explain.
South America seems to have the same pattern as the United States with mountains
along the west coast.
4)
Find the Himalayan mountains – this is where Mt. Everest is located.
The Himalayan
mountains are right on the boundary between the Indo-Australian plate and the Eurasian plate.
a)
How do scientists think the mountains formed?
Collision between the two plates
b)
India, which is just below the Himalayan mountains, was an island 60 million years
ago.
What does that say about the age of the Himalayan mountains?
Explain.
The Himalayan mountains could not have existed 60 million years ago since the
Indian plate had not yet collided with the Eurasian plate.
5)
Let’s look at the oceans.
a)
Are the oceans all the same depth?
Explain how you know.
No – some are darker blue than others.
b)
Where (i.e. just around continents or in the middle of oceans) are the oceans normally
the deepest?
Deepest spots are normally in the middle of the oceans.
c)
In the middle of the Atlantic Ocean the North American and Eurasian plates are
colliding.
Even though all the land is underwater, explain any evidence you see
on the topographic map of their collision.
There is a ridge of slightly higher elevation in the middle of the Atlantic
Ocean.
These are formed by the interaction of the two plates.
6)
Your friend says that Antarctica (located at the very bottom of the map) must be very low
elevation since it is all made of ice.
Based on the topographic map, do you think your friend is
correct?
Explain.
My friend is not correct.
Antarctica is mostly red in the map, which means a
high elevation.
Moon
Now look at the topographic map for the Moon.
This map is a little different because it breaks
up the Moon into two parts – the near side which faces us and the far side which faces away from
us.
1)
Look at the scale at the bottom of the map.
a)
What color are the high elevation areas?
Is this the same as for the Earth’s map?
Red – same as for Earth’s map.
b)
What color are the low elevation areas?
Is this the same as for the Earth’s map?
Blue – same as for Earth’s map.
2)
Do the near and far side of the Moon look the same?
If not, describe any differences that
you see between the near side and the far side of the Moon.
No – the near side has more low elevation and less mountains.
3)
The round blue areas that you see are called the maria.
a)
Which side of the Moon has the most maria?
Near side
b)
Where do you find more craters – the maria or the other part of the moon called the
lunar highlands?
The Lunar Highlands – there is a large difference!
c)
All of the Moon landings have been on the maria.
Using your answer to the previous
question, explain why this is probably a safe choice.
Fewer craters means that it is safer to land there!
d)
From what you have learned in lecture, describe how maria were formed.
Maria formed from large asteroid impacts which created giant craters that
filled with lava.
Eventually that lava hardened, forming the maria.
e)
Most of the maria have a round shape – based on how maria were formed, explain
why it makes sense that maria are mostly round.
Craters are mostly round and maria formed from craters.
f)
Both the near side and the far side have had craters hit them.
Many impacts on the
near side formed maria, but most impacts on the far side simply formed large
craters.
Explain why this might be the case.
Hint:
Use the elevations to help
you.
The elevation is lower on the near side which means that it is easier for a
crater that forms to get into the lava beneath the surface and form a maria.
Mars
Finally, look at the topographic map for Mars.
1)
Look at the scale at the bottom of the map.
a)
What color are the high elevation areas?
Is this the same as for the Earth’s map?
White --- similar (red is still high elevation like on Earth’s map, but white is
even higher!)
b)
What color are the low elevation areas?
Is this the same as for the Earth’s map?
Blue – same as the Earth’s map
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2)
Let’s look at differences between various areas of Mars.
a)
Describe any major differences that you see between the northern part of Mars and the
southern part.
Hint:
There are 2 major differences.
Northern part is lower elevation and has fewer craters.
b)
What feature on the Earth does the northern part of Mars seem to resemble (at least as
far as elevation goes)?
Explain.
Oceans because they are regions of lower elevation.
c)
Scientists believe that the northern part of Mars was once an ocean of water.
Explain
how the 2 major differences you found in part a) would support this conclusion.
Lower elevation -> could have been filled with water previously;
also if they
were filled with water then that would prevent craters from forming, which
would explain why there are less craters in the northern part.
3)
Let’s look at a few interesting features on Mars.
a)
What are the 4 white circles found between 150
o
and 120
o
longitude and 5
o
S to 30
o
N
latitude?
Explain your answer.
Mountains since they have very high elevation.
b)
How are these 4 mountains on Mars different than the Himalayan mountains on
Earth?
Instead of being part of a large region of high elevation, they are distinct tall
mountains.
c)
Based on your answer to the previous question, do you think the 4 mountains on Mars
formed from plate collisions like the Himalayan mountains did?
Explain.
No – because if they formed from collisions then you would see the whole
region having mountains and not see noticeable gaps between the mountains.
d)
Finally, what kind of feature is the large blue circle in the bottom right of the map?
Estimate how many meters deep this feature is.
Crater --- based on the picture it is likely 6,000 to 8,000 meters deep!