Professor of Mathematics

Paata Ivanisvili

pivanisv@uci.edu · x.com/PI010101

Department of Mathematics, University of California, Irvine

Paata Ivanisvili

← Possible new impact sites on Mars

Candidate 14: Arabia Terra, north-west of Dawes crater

Promising · roughly 45%

Two CTX close-ups of the same 1.2 by 1.2 km of dusty plains north-west of Dawes crater, crossed by faint dark tracks, from October 2023 and July 2025. A large diffuse dark oval near the arrow is present only in 2025.
The same 1.2 × 1.2 km in October 2023 and July 2025, under the same sun. NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS.

What changed. A large, diffuse dark oval about 250 × 150 m appeared on these dusty plains within a window of about ten months, between August 2024 and July 2025.

Why it may be a new impact. It may be the blast zone of a new impact, and three recorded new impacts lie within 31 km.

Location
3.306° S, 33.715° E
Absent
ten images from 26 February 2010 to 20 August 2024
Present
6 July 2025
Size
Large, diffuse dark oval about 250 × 150 m
Confidence
Promising; roughly 45% that it is a new impact.
Caveat
Dust devils are active here and could also scour such a patch, so it is rated promising. It lies outside every footprint of the high-resolution HiRISE camera. Like every candidate here, it is unconfirmed: see the caveat.
Eleven CTX images of the same 2 by 2 km patch, from 2010 to 2025. The first ten, up to August 2024, show nothing at the arrow; the last, from July 2025, shows a dark oval.
All eleven CTX images of the same 2 × 2 km patch, 2010 to 2025. NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS.
A 12 by 12 km CTX view from July 2025 of Arabia Terra, with a dashed box around the 2 by 2 km patch and an arrow at the spot.
A 12 × 12 km view. NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS.

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