page_title: Phaethontis quadrangle
section_title: Craters
hierarchical_section_title: Phaethontis quadrangle / Craters
caption_attribution_description: Українська: Кратер Коперник на Марсі. Мозаїка денних інфрачервоних знімків інструменту Thermal Emission Imaging System (THEMIS) на супутнику 2001 Mars Odyssey. Ширина знімку — 500 км. English: Crater Copernicus on Mars. A daytime infrared image mosaic from the Thermal Emission Imaging System (THEMIS) instrument of the 2001 Mars Odyssey spacecraft. Width of the image is 500 km.
context_page_description: The Phaethontis quadrangle is one of a series of 30 quadrangle maps of Mars used by the United States Geological Survey Astrogeology Research Program. The Phaethontis quadrangle is also referred to as MC-24.
  The name comes from Phaethon, the son of Helios.
  The Phaethontis quadrangle lies between 30° and 65 ° south latitude and 120° and 180 ° west longitude on Mars. This latitude range is where numerous gullies have been discovered. An old feature in this area, called Terra Sirenum lies in this quadrangle; Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter discovered iron/magnesium smectites there. Part of this quadrangle contains what is called the Electris deposits, a deposit that is 100–200 metres thick. It is light-toned and appears to be weak because of few boulders. Among a group of large craters is Mariner Crater, first observed by the Mariner IV spacecraft in the summer of 1965. It was named after that spacecraft. A low area in Terra Sirenum is believed to have once held a lake that eventually drained through Ma'adim Vallis. Russia's Mars 3 probe landed in the Phaethontis quadrangle at 44.9° S and 160.1° W in December 1971.
context_section_description: The density of impact craters is used to determine the surface ages of Mars and other solar system bodies.   The older the surface, the more craters present.  Crater shapes can reveal the presence of ground ice.
  The area around craters may be rich in minerals.  On Mars, heat from the impact melts ice in the ground.  Water from the melting ice dissolves minerals,   and then deposits them in cracks or faults that were produced with the impact. This process, called hydrothermal alteration,    is a major way in which ore deposits are produced.  The area around Martian craters may be rich in useful ores for the future colonization of Mars. 
  Studies on the earth have documented that cracks are produced and that secondary minerals veins are deposited in the cracks. Images from satellites orbiting Mars have detected cracks near impact craters.  Great amounts of heat are produced during impacts.  The area around a large impact may take hundreds of thousands of years to cool.
  Many craters once contained lakes.  Because some crater floors show deltas, we know that water had to be present for some time.  Dozens of deltas have been spotted on Mars.   Deltas form when sediment is washed in from a stream entering a quiet body of water.  It takes a bit of time to form a delta, so the presence of a delta is exciting; it means water was there for a time, maybe for many years.  Primitive organisms may have developed in such lakes; hence, some craters may be prime targets for the search for evidence of life on the Red Planet.
caption: Copernicus crater
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