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Mare, Maria

  • Living reference work entry
  • First Online:
Encyclopedia of Astrobiology

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Synonyms

Basaltic flood plains; Mare plains

Definition

Maria are medium- to large-size mostly circular flat-floored low-albedo plains on the Earth’s Moon and the Saturnian satellite Titan. On the Moon maria are formed by basaltic flood volcanism and are predominant on the lunar nearside. On Titan, maria are postulated to be filled with liquid hydrocarbon compounds, in particular methane and ethane.

Overview

The term mare originally referred to large-size low-albedo features on the Moon. Lunar mare are lava plains characterized by low-viscosity basaltic flood lava. The use of the term mare has been extended to other terrestrial bodies in the solar system, especially to Titan where maria are radar-dark features that are assumed to be large lakes of liquid hydrocarbon compounds.

On the Moon, the term mare basinrefers to an impact structure filled by flood lava. Although lunar maria and impact basins are spatially related, mare materials were emplaced later when compared to impact basins...

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References and Further Reading

  • Basaltic Volcanism Study Project (1981) Basaltic volcanism on the terrestrial planets. Pergamon, New York, p 1273

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  • Hartmann WK, Phillips RJ, Taylor GJ (eds) (1986) Origin of the moon. Lunar and Planetary Institute, Houston

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  • Heiken GH, Vaniman D, French BM (1991) Lunar sourcebook: a guide to the moon. Cambridge University Press, New York, xix + 736 p

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  • Jolliff BL, Wieczorek MA, Shearer CK, Neal CR (eds) (2006) New views of the moon. Rev Min Geochem 60, Min Soc Am and Geochem Soc

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  • Wilhelms DE (1987) The geologic history of the moon. USGS Prof. Paper 1348, 302 p

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Planetary Sciences and Remote Sensing, Institute of Geological Sciences, Free University of Berlin, Berlin, Germany

    Stephan van Gasselt

Authors
  1. Stephan van Gasselt
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Correspondence to Stephan van Gasselt .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Centro de Biología Molecular, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, Madrid, Spain

    Ricardo Amils

  2. Labo. d'Astrophysique de Bordeaux (LAB), Observatoire Aquitain des Sciences de l'Univers (OASU), Floirac CX, France

    Muriel Gargaud

  3. Centro de Astrobiología (CAB), Inst. Nacional de Técnica Aeroespacial, Torrejón de Ardoz, Madrid, Spain

    José Cernicharo Quintanilla

  4. Geophysical Lab., Carnegie Institution of Washington, Washington, District of Columbia, USA

    Henderson James Cleaves

  5. Astronomy Department, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, Massachusetts, USA

    William M. Irvine

  6. Dépt. Sc. de la Terre et de l’Atmosphère, Université du Québec, Montréal, Montreal, Québec, Canada

    Daniele Pinti

  7. Centre National d'Etudes Spatiale (CNES) DPI/E2U, Paris CX, France

    Michel Viso

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© 2014 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

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van Gasselt, S. (2014). Mare, Maria. In: Amils, R., et al. Encyclopedia of Astrobiology. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-27833-4_936-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-27833-4_936-3

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-642-27833-4

  • eBook Packages: Springer Reference Physics and AstronomyReference Module Physical and Materials ScienceReference Module Chemistry, Materials and Physics

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