Schiaparelli impact basin on Mars, filled with deposits
Schiaparelli impact basin on Mars, filled with deposits
The rim of the 450-kilometre-wide Schiaparelli crater impact basin stands at only approximately two kilometres high. As a rule of thumb, the ratio of crater diameter to crater depth is around 10:1, meaning that after the impact of an asteroid up to 40 kilometres in size, Schiaparelli was initially a depression around four to five kilometres deep. Volcanic deposits, lake sediments and material carried in by the wind are likely to have filled the basin over the past three to four billion years. This can be seen, among other things, in the small craters within the crater floor, which are filled with deposits almost up to their rims. The crater rim itself is already heavily eroded.