Oudemans (crater)

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Oudemans
Coordinates	10.0° S, 91.9° W
Diameter	124.0 km
Eponym	Jean A. Oudemans
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Oudemans Crater on Mars is named after Jean A. Oudemans (December 16, 1827 – December 14, 1906), a Dutch astronomer.

It is located at 10.0 deg S, 92.1 deg W. This location puts it near the intersection of Noctis Labyrinthus and the Ius Chasma of the Valles Marineris rift system. It is approximately 90 km wide, indicating it was caused by a meteorite 4.5 km in diameter. Nick Hoffman proposes that this might be the trigger that caused the formation of the flow deposits on the east end of the Valles Marineris System. He proposes that the impact heated up subsurface carbon dioxide permafrost causing explosive decompression that flooded down the Valles Marineris into the Northern Plains of Mars.^[1]

The central uplift of Oudemans crater exposes layered rock that may be sedimentary.^[2] Layered rock exposed in the central uplifts are common in terrestrial impact structures, and there is abundant layering exposed in the nearby Valles Marineris canyon system suggesting that layered deposits extend throughout the region.

Oudemans' layers are from as deep or deeper than those exposed in Valles Marineris. A comparison of the layers in Valles Marineris and in the Oudemans central uplift may prove that they are similar rock types that share the same origin. Three other craters in the area, Martin (21.2°S, 290.7°E), Mazamba (27.3°S, 290.2°E) and a yet unnamed crater (28.4°S, 305°E) also possess finely layered materials in their central uplift features. The preservation of the layering and geographical occurrence of these four craters suggests that they could be ash layers deposited from numerous episodes from the Tharsis volcanoes. Voluminous volcanic episodes could have produced large volumes of layered rock that could have been rapidly buried and protected from cratering.^[2]

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