Columbus Crater is a crater in the Terra Sirenum of Mars, located at 29.8° south latitude and 166.1° west longitude. It is 119 km in diameter and was named after Christopher Columbus, Italian explorer (1451–1506). The discovery of sulfates and clay minerals in sediments within Columbus Crater are strong evidence that a lake once existed in the crater. Research with an orbiting near-infrared spectrometer, which reveals the types of minerals present based on the wavelengths of light they absorb, found evidence of layers of both clay and sulfates in Columbus crater.
Data from other instruments, such as THEMIS and CRISM, imply that chlorides are present here; the CRISM data reveal that iron/magnesium clays are also present.
December 20, 2021
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