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The glacial and periglacial evolution of Coprates Chasma (Valles Marineris, Mars)
De Blasio, Fabio Vittorio; Crosta, Giovanni Battista; Fusetti, Davide +1 more
The search for past and present water on Mars, either as liquid or solid ice, with its important climatological and astrobiological consequences, has been bolstered by novel techniques, and from the release of recent imagery. Although ice is more frequently observed at higher latitudes, evidence of ice and water-related deposits and erosional feat…
Unravelling the geological and geomorphological evolution of the Terra Cimmeria-Nepenthes Mensae transitional zone, Mars
García-Arnay, Ángel; Gutiérrez, Francisco
The Terra Cimmeria-Nepenthes Mensae Transitional Zone comprises two highly contrasting geologic-geomorphic domains bounded by the dichotomy escarpment in the equatorial region of Mars. This research provides insight into the geological and geomorphological evolution of the poorly explored NW Terra Cimmeria and SE Nepenthes Mensae. A detailed study…
Morphology of the north-western wall of Eos Chaos, Valles Marineris: Evidence for glaciation during late Amazonian high obliquity
Rajesh, V. J.; Sajinkumar, K. S.; Kakkassery, Asif Iqbal
Glacial landforms have been reported from various regions on Mars; most notably from the mid-to-high latitude regions. We studied Eos Chaos, located towards the eastern boundary of Valles Marineris, for the possible glacial processes occurring in the low-latitude areas on Mars. A thorough investigation of the morphology of the north-western wall o…
Glacial landscape and paleoglaciation in Terra Sabaea: Evidence for a 3.6 Ga polythermal plateau ice cap
Costard, François; Bouley, Sylvain; Bouquety, Axel +2 more
In a previous study, we demonstrated with a comparative morphometrical analysis the first morphometric evidence of a glacial landscape composed of glacial cirques and glacial valleys in the south of Terra Sabaea at an elevation > 1000 m in two impact craters and one mountain. The purpose of this study is to use the same method to seek other geo…
Reconstructing paleolakes in Nepenthes Mensae, Mars, using the distribution of putative deltas, coastal-like features, and terrestrial analogs
García-Arnay, Ángel; Gutiérrez, Francisco
Nepenthes Mensae is an equatorial region situated north of the Martian dichotomy, northwest of Gale crater. It is characterized by a NW-SE-oriented belt of interconnected depressions, Late Noachian to Early Hesperian in age, with knobby terrains with residual relief. The highlands south of Nepenthes Mensae, Middle Noachian in age, correspond to th…
Morphological and morphometric analysis of a topographic depression near Huygens basin, Mars: Identification of a putative endorheic playa
Singh, Deepali; Singh, Priyadarshini; Roy, Nidhi +1 more
Inter-crater depressions on Mars, which may be host to candidate lakes, have not been explored in much detail. Even if a small percentage of these depressions were actually filled with water, it would mean that Mars was hydrologically more active than previously thought. The present study examined valley networks within the equatorial region of Ma…
Morphometric evidence of 3.6 Ga glacial valleys and glacial cirques in martian highlands: South of Terra Sabaea
Mercier, Denis; Costard, François; Bouley, Sylvain +2 more
The climate of early Mars remains unclear and the debate is topical. Recently, climatic models have suggested a cold climate during the Noachian/Early Hesperian on Mars, which goes against the wet and warm climate often put forward. The purpose of this study is to seek geomorphologic evidence of this early cold climate. To achieve this, a step-by-…
Glacial and gully erosion on Mars: A terrestrial perspective
Conway, Susan J.; Grindrod, Peter M.; Davis, Joel M. +3 more
The mid- to high latitudes of Mars host assemblages of landforms consistent with a receding glacial landscape on Earth. These landforms are postulated to have formed >5 Ma under a different climate regime when Mars' orbital obliquity was on average 10° higher than today. Here, we investigate the spatiotemporal relationship between gullies and g…
Ridge-like lava tube systems in southeast Tharsis, Mars
Huang, Jun; Xiao, Long; Zhao, Jiannan +2 more
Lava tubes are widely distributed in volcanic fields on a planetary surface and they are important means of lava transportation. We have identified 38 sinuous ridges with a lava-tube origin in southeast Tharsis. The lengths vary between 14 and 740 km, and most of them occur in areas with slopes < 0.3°. We analyzed their geomorphology in detail …
Debris flow recurrence periods and multi-temporal observations of colluvial fan evolution in central Spitsbergen (Svalbard)
Hiesinger, H.; Hauber, E.; Johnsson, A. +2 more
Fan-shaped accumulations of debris flow deposits are common landforms in polar regions such as Svalbard. Although depositional processes in these environments are of high interest to climate as well as Mars-analog research, several parameters, e.g., debris flow recurrence periods, remain poorly constrained. Here, we present an investigation based …