.gif)
Bonneville (crater)
Encyclopedia
Bonneville is an impact crater
on Mars
. It is located within the much larger crater Gusev. Bonneville was visited by the Mars Exploration Rover Spirit
in 2004, during its exploration of the floor of Gusev. Bonneville is also the final resting place of Spirit's heat shield
, jettisoned during the landing procedure; the heat-shield could be seen glinting on the opposite wall when Spirit photographed the crater. The crater is 210 meters in diameter, 14 meters deep and its rim rises 6.4 meters above the surrounding terrain.
Bonneville is named after Benjamin Bonneville
and Lake Bonneville
, an ancient lake in Utah
.
It is likely that Bonneville is a secondary crater
, given its low depth to diameter ratio.
Impact crater
In the broadest sense, the term impact crater can be applied to any depression, natural or manmade, resulting from the high velocity impact of a projectile with a larger body...
on Mars
Mars
Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun in the Solar System. The planet is named after the Roman god of war, Mars. It is often described as the "Red Planet", as the iron oxide prevalent on its surface gives it a reddish appearance...
. It is located within the much larger crater Gusev. Bonneville was visited by the Mars Exploration Rover Spirit
Spirit rover
Spirit, MER-A , is a robotic rover on Mars, active from 2004 to 2010. It was one of two rovers of NASA's ongoing Mars Exploration Rover Mission. It landed successfully on Mars at 04:35 Ground UTC on January 4, 2004, three weeks before its twin, Opportunity , landed on the other side of the planet...
in 2004, during its exploration of the floor of Gusev. Bonneville is also the final resting place of Spirit's heat shield
Heat shield
A heat shield is designed to shield a substance from absorbing excessive heat from an outside source by either dissipating, reflecting or simply absorbing the heat...
, jettisoned during the landing procedure; the heat-shield could be seen glinting on the opposite wall when Spirit photographed the crater. The crater is 210 meters in diameter, 14 meters deep and its rim rises 6.4 meters above the surrounding terrain.
Bonneville is named after Benjamin Bonneville
Benjamin Bonneville
Benjamin Louis Eulalie de Bonneville was a French-born officer in the United States Army, fur trapper, and explorer in the American West...
and Lake Bonneville
Lake Bonneville
Lake Bonneville was a prehistoric pluvial lake that covered much of North America's Great Basin region. Most of the territory it covered was in present-day Utah, though parts of the lake extended into present-day Idaho and Nevada. Formed about 32,000 years ago, it existed until about 14,500 years...
, an ancient lake in Utah
Utah
Utah is a state in the Western United States. It was the 45th state to join the Union, on January 4, 1896. Approximately 80% of Utah's 2,763,885 people live along the Wasatch Front, centering on Salt Lake City. This leaves vast expanses of the state nearly uninhabited, making the population the...
.
Formation and geology
The strata into which Bonneville formed is thought to be loose debris, although some of the ejecta may have originated from more competent rocks. No underlying bedrock was exposed in the crater or the numerous craterlets in Bonneville's walls. The crater is relatively pristine and in particular has not been affected by water based erosion.It is likely that Bonneville is a secondary crater
Secondary crater
Secondary craters are impact craters formed by the ejecta that was thrown out of a larger crater. They sometimes form radial crater chains.-External links:*...
, given its low depth to diameter ratio.