Syrtis Major Planum
The selected landing site for the Mars 2020 mission that includes the rover Perseverance and the helicopter drone Ingenuity was Jezero crater (at 18°51′18″N 77°31′08″E / 18.855°N 77.519°E) within the region. The northeastern region of Syrtis Major Planum was also considered a potential landing site.
Geography and geology
Syrtis Major is centered near at 8°24′N 69°30′E / 8.4°N 69.5°E, extends some 1,500 km (930 mi) north from the planet's equator, and spans 1,000 km (620 mi) from west to east. It is in the Syrtis Major quadrangle. It encompasses a large slope from its western edge at Aeria dropping 4 km (2.5 mi) to its eastern edge at Isidis Planitia. Most of Syrtis Major has slopes of less than 1°, a much lower inclination than the slopes of the Tharsis shield volcanoes. It has a 350 km × 150 km north–south elongated central depression containing the calderas Nili Patera and Meroe Patera, which are about 2 km deep. The roughly 2300-meter high peak of Syrtis Major is located northwest of Nili Patera. The floors of the calderas are unique among large Martian volcanoes as they are not elevated relative to the terrain surrounding Syrtis Major. This may account for the high degree of magmatic evolution and hydrothermal activity seen in Nili Patera. The floor of Nili Patera is the less cratered, and therefore the younger, of the two. While most of the rock is basaltic, dacite has also been detected in Nili Patera. Satellite gravity field measurements show a positive gravity anomaly centered on the caldera complex, suggesting the presence of a 600 km × 300 km north–south elongated extinct magma chamber below, containing dense minerals (probably mainly pyroxene, with olivine also possible) that precipitated out of magma before eruptions. Crater counts date Syrtis Major to the early Hesperian epoch; it postdates formation of the adjacent Isidis impact basin.