THE PLANET MARS IN COMPARISON TO EARTH, ESPECIALLY TECTONICALLY

Abstract

There is considerable similarity between the planet Mars and planet Earth. Both were formed about 4 billion
years ago out of the solar nebula that gave rise to the sun and planets. Mars, however, is much smaller than Earth, its
magnetic protection has been degraded, and accordingly also its atmosphere. The water on Mars, which once even
accumulated sufficiently to form oceans, has largely evaporated and disappeared. The crust and lithosphere of Mars are
of a unique configuration called a hemispheric dichotomy, which means that the crust is significantly thicker in the
southern hemisphere than in the northern hemisphere.