Rust colored hue

                Surface is completely dry

                Broad plains, shallow craters, enormous volcanoes and vast canyons

Concentration of water is 30 times lower than Earths 

Winds on mars explain why the surface is eroded 

No evidence for plate tectonics

   Vastitas Borealis (northern vastness, or northern lowlands) broad northern plain

                Southern highlands heavily crater and hilly plains in south

                -significant difference in heights between the two, possibly from early tectonic activity or from powerful early impact

Between two hemispheres Valles Marineris; vast canyon runs parallel to the Martian equator 1/5 of Mars circumference

                Scientists believe Valles Marineris is a large cracked that formed when the planet cooled

-Northern hemisphere due to lack of craters must have had holes eradicated by either tectonic activity or powerful early impact

Most volcanoes in Northern Hemisphere

                Largest volcano Olympus Mons (big as state of Missouri) rises 26km

                Allowed to get so big because of little tectonic movement (allows one hot spot to keep pumping up lava)

                Has collapsed to form volcanic crater called caldera

`No evidence of plate tectonics today on Mars

                Indicates that more of Mars interior is cooled solid rock than that of Earths’

                Supported by lack of global magnetic field

Sun creates tiny tides on Mars

                Creates friction in planet’s interior, which provides enough heat to keep some of interior molten

Mar’s atmosphere .6

 95% of atmosphere is carbon dioxide

Other 5 % consists of nitrogen, argon, trace amts of oxygen

Atmosphere is red due to wind-storms and dust that is iron oxide (rust) 

                Lower average density than other terrestrial planets (lower percentage of iron)

Polar icecaps shrink in summer and spring months

                Amounts of rust varies with seasons, winter drags dust particles to ground as the ice freezes making atmosphere clearer; summer releases rust as icecaps melt

Dried up riverbeds, lake, and river deltas

                -Water thought to have come from ice-rich bodies that struck the surface, releasing water into atmosphere

                -Volcanic activity might periodically bring water and lava to the surface; indicates that liquid water may exist under surface

                -But can’t keep water because

                1. If the pressure is low, molecules escape very easily into atmosphere (vaporize)

                -SNC meteorites found on Earth contain water-soaked clay  believed to have come from Mars

                -Mars has frozen poles (90% water ice, 10% dry ice)

                -Clusters of cones which are created when lava flows over water-rich terrain

-Detected methane in Mar’s atmosphere (given off from life forms)

-Martian Meteorites have shown microscopic features that could be fossils

-About 40km thick under northern lowlands

-70km thick under southern highlands

-Between crust does not line up with boundary between high and low terrain (? )

-Part of core is molten

Two tiny moons, phobos (fear) and Deimos (panic)

-Phobos rises to the west and goes across sky in 5 ½ hours; heavily cratered (potato-shaped)

-Deimos rises to the east takes 3 days to go across horizon; less cratered (football-shaped)

-Both are captured plantesimals

Gravity of Moon pulls on Earth

Force on near side stronger than far side

Net result is to pull object apart

Difference in forces on far and near side = tidal force

Causes bulge in water on Earth

Earth also slightly distorted