Von Kármán is an

impact crater An impact crater is a depression (geology), depression in the surface of a solid astronomical body formed by the hypervelocity impact event, impact of a smaller object. In contrast to volcanic craters, which result from explosion or internal c ...

in the

Argyre quadrangle The Argyre quadrangle is one of a series of list of quadrangles on Mars, 30 quadrangle maps of Mars used by the United States Geological Survey (USGS) Astrogeology Research Program. The Argyre quadrangle (geography), quadrangle is also referred t ...

Mars Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun. It is also known as the "Red Planet", because of its orange-red appearance. Mars is a desert-like rocky planet with a tenuous carbon dioxide () atmosphere. At the average surface level the atmosph ...

, located at 64.6°S latitude and 58.5°W longitude. It is in diameter. It was named after Hungarian-American aeronautical engineer

Theodore von Kármán Theodore von Kármán ( , May 11, 1881May 6, 1963) was a Hungarian-American mathematician, aerospace engineer, and physicist who worked in aeronautics and astronautics. He was responsible for crucial advances in aerodynamics characterizing ...

. The crater contains a large field of dunes. Usually, the dunes are very dark because they contain the dark volcanic rock basalt. However, in the winter they are become covered with frost. The pictures below show the frost disappearing. Dark spots appear on dunes in the higher latitudes of Mars. Sometimes

geysers A geyser (, ) is a spring with an intermittent water discharge ejected turbulently and accompanied by steam. The formation of geysers is fairly rare and is caused by particular hydrogeological conditions that exist only in a few places on Ea ...

form near the spots. The dunes have two main features, dark dune spots and spider channels, that appear at the beginning of the Martian spring on fields covered with carbon dioxide (CO₂ or 'dry ice'), mainly at the ridges and slopes of the dunes. By the beginning of winter, they disappear. The dark spots are generally round; on the slopes they are usually elongated. In these spots mineral grains may be covered with a thin film of water that may affect chemical weathering of minerals and may help possible Martian organisms to survive. Studies have shown that thin films of water could exist on the Martian surface at certain times and in certain locations. In some areas, thin layers of liquid water could be present for 38 sols (Martian days) during warmer periods of the day. With the stronger sunshine of spring in certain regions, carbon dioxide gas jets shoot dark dust in the air. This dust increases the absorption of light and causes the temperature to rise to where water can exist for short periods.Kereszturi, A., Rivera-Valentin, E. 2012. "Locations of thin liquid water layers on present-day Mars". ''Icarus'': 221, 289–295.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Von Karman (Martian crater) Argyre quadrangle Impact craters on Mars

See also

References