Flood Lavas and Mass Extinctions
NASA/JPL-Caltech/UArizona
Flood Lavas and Mass Extinctions
ESP_044671_2050  Science Theme: Landscape Evolution
This entire landscape is covered by lava flows. Almost all of vast Amazonis Planitia is covered by lava flows, an area comparable to that of the entire continental United States.

Amazonis Planitia is also one of the flattest places on Mars, because of the thick lava fill. Most of this lava was likely erupted in relatively short periods of time, perhaps thousands of years. Earth has also experienced relatively short-lived pulses with very high lava eruption rates, and these pulses precisely match the dates of four mass extinction events and a dozen or so smaller extinction peaks.

A mass extinction is when more than 75 percent of the species of life on the planet are completely killed off, never to return. On Earth, such high eruption rates release gases such as carbon dioxide that acidify the oceans, probably leading to the extinctions. The study of Mars and other worlds will help us to understand the processes causing high eruption rates.

Written by: Alfred McEwen (narration: Tre Gibbs)  (20 April 2016)
 
Acquisition date
06 February 2016

Local Mars time
15:01

Latitude (centered)
24.881°

Longitude (East)
193.342°

Spacecraft altitude
289.1 km (179.7 miles)

Original image scale range
58.2 cm/pixel (with 2 x 2 binning) so objects ~175 cm across are resolved

Map projected scale
50 cm/pixel and North is up

Map projection
Equirectangular

Emission angle
7.0°

Phase angle
47.6°

Solar incidence angle
41°, with the Sun about 49° above the horizon

Solar longitude
105.2°, Northern Summer

For non-map projected images
North azimuth:  97°
Sub-solar azimuth:  15.2°
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JP2 EXTRAS
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map-projected  (138MB)
non-map           (143MB)

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non-map           (138MB)

Merged IRB
map projected  (304MB)

Merged RGB
map-projected  (280MB)

RGB color
non map           (129MB)
BONUS
4K (TIFF)

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
B&W label
Color label
Merged IRB label
Merged RGB label
EDR products
HiView

NB
IRB: infrared-red-blue
RGB: red-green-blue
About color products (PDF)

Black & white is 5 km across; enhanced color about 1 km
For scale, use JPEG/JP2 black & white map-projected images

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All of the images produced by HiRISE and accessible on this site are within the public domain: there are no restrictions on their usage by anyone in the public, including news or science organizations. We do ask for a credit line where possible:
NASA/JPL-Caltech/UArizona

POSTSCRIPT
NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, Calif., manages the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate, Washington. The HiRISE camera was built by Ball Aerospace and Technology Corporation and is operated by the University of Arizona.