The Unique Shape of Mars

Fig. 1 Obvious dichotomy between northern third and southern two thirds of Mars.

An article from the Lunar and Planetary Institute 1996 titled The Shape of Mars and the Topographic Signature of the Hemispheric Dichotomy reveals the unique shape that can only be explained by Cyclic Catastrophism. “The surface of Mars is distinctly different in the northern and southern hemispheres. The south is old and heavily cratered whereas the north is younger and lightly cratered.” The obvious hemispheric dichotomy is characterized by a geologic boundary that is expressed as knobby and fretted terrains and detached plateaus. “The formation of the dichotomy has been attributed to internal processes such as postaccretional core formation, among others. The lack of gravity anomalies along the boundary may indicate thick crust beneath the southern highlands and thinner crust beneath the northern highlands.” These result in the center of the reference ellipsoid (COF) being offset from Mars Center of Mass (COM) by 3081 +/- 60 meters along the Z axis and the south pole is 6 km farther from the COM than is the north pole.

The authors are amazed that “The obvious hemispheric dichotomy (Figure 1) characterized by a geologic boundary expressed as knobby and fretted terrains and detached plateaus.” does not show up in their improved macroscopic gravity and accurate symmetric figure measurements. One suggested solution, postaccretional core formation is closest to the truth, except that Mars has no core.

Cyclic Catastrophism explains why the planet is so close to a perfect shape. Mars was captured in a geostationary orbit for 14.4 years and then escaped for 15.6 years between 3687 and 687 BC. Each escape involved the ejection of its solid iron core which zoomed around the Earth and caught up to the gapeing shell and re-entered eight days later, while everyone on Earth watched. But at the conclusion of the 100th encounter the solid core was deflected by Venus and did not return to Mars, so Mars contracted with its molten interior in the last 2,500 years, forming the near-perfect shape of the planet which perfectly balanced the masses on the surface. Of course the solid iron core of Mars became the solid iron planet Mercury, with a smattering of sulfur from the mantle of Mars on its surface. All of the craters now on its surface were ejected from Mars back when it orbited the Earth.