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Amazonian northern mid-latitude glaciation on Mars: A proposed climate scenario
Forget, F.; Montmessin, F.; Head, James W. +3 more
Recent geological observations in the northern mid-latitudes of Mars show evidence for past glacial activity during the late Amazonian, similar to the integrated glacial landsystems in the Dry Valleys of Antarctica. The large accumulation of ice (many hundreds of meters) required to create the observed glacial deposits points to significant atmosp…
The global martian volcanic evolutionary history
Werner, Stephanie C.
Viking mission image data revealed the total spatial extent of preserved volcanic surface on Mars. One of the dominating surface expressions is Olympus Mons and the surrounding volcanic province Tharsis. Earlier studies of the global volcanic sequence of events based on stratigraphic relationships and crater count statistics were limited to the im…
Discovery of jarosite within the Mawrth Vallis region of Mars: Implications for the geologic history of the region
Glotch, Timothy D.; Farrand, William H.; Swayze, Gregg A. +2 more
Analysis of visible to near infrared reflectance data from the MRO CRISM hyperspectral imager has revealed the presence of an ovoid-shaped landform, approximately 3 by 5 km in size, within the layered terrains surrounding the Mawrth Vallis outflow channel. This feature has spectral absorption features consistent with the presence of the ferric sul…
The volcanic history of central Elysium Planitia: Implications for martian magmatism
Mangold, N.; Pinet, P.; Baratoux, D. +3 more
Central Elysium Planitia (CEP) is located south of Elysium Mons. Back to the era of the Viking orbiters, clues accumulated in favor of recent volcanism in relation with ground water release and the formation of long sub-parallel fissures. Four aqueous flood channel systems emanate from linear fissures. Recent eruptions of low viscosity lavas origi…
The formation and evolution of youthful gullies on Mars: Gullies as the late-stage phase of Mars’ most recent ice age
Head, James W.; Dickson, James L.
Gullies are extremely young erosional/depositional systems on Mars that have been carved by an agent that was likely to have been comprised in part by liquid water [Malin, M.C., Edgett, K.S., 2000. Evidence for recent groundwater seepage and surface runoff on Mars. Science 288, 2330-2335; McEwen, A.S. et al., 2007. A closer look at water-related g…
Quantitative compositional analysis of martian mafic regions using the MEx/OMEGA reflectance data. 2. Petrological implications
Mangold, N.; Bibring, J. -P.; Gondet, B. +8 more
The primary objectives of this paper are to determine the modal mineralogy of selected low albedo terrains of different ages ranging from Noachian to Amazonian exposed on the surface of Mars. This analysis is conducted using the spectral modeling of the Observatoire pour la Minéralogie, l'Eau, les Glaces, et l'Activité (OMEGA) reflectance data. Re…
Solar infrared occultation observations by SPICAM experiment on Mars-Express: Simultaneous measurements of the vertical distributions of H 2O, CO 2 and aerosol
Reberac, A.; Montmessin, F.; Bertaux, J. -L. +4 more
The infrared AOTF spectrometer is a part of the SPICAM experiment onboard the Mars-Express ESA mission. The instrument has a capability of solar occultations and operates in the spectral range of 1-1.7 µm with a spectral resolution of ∼3.5 cm -1. We report results from 24 orbits obtained during MY28 at L 130°-160°, and the latitud…
Theoretical analysis of secondary cratering on Mars and an image-based study on the Cerberus Plains
Neukum, Gerhard; Werner, Stephanie C.; Ivanov, Boris A.
The issue of crater retention age estimates on planetary surfaces is discussed with an attempt to quantify the effect of overlapping primary and secondary impact crater populations in restricted crater diameter ranges. The approach to this problem is illustrated with a simple model production function where the secondary crater input is artificial…
Lineated valley fill (LVF) and lobate debris aprons (LDA) in the Deuteronilus Mensae northern dichotomy boundary region, Mars: Constraints on the extent, age and episodicity of Amazonian glacial events
Head, James W.; Marchant, David R.; Morgan, Gareth A.
In order to assess the nature, degradational processes and history of the dichotomy boundary on Mars, we conducted a detailed morphological analysis of a 70,000 km2 region of its northern portion (north-central Deuteronilus Mensae, south of Lyot, in the vicinity of Sinton Crater). This region is characterized by the distinctive sinuous …
Possible pingo fields in the Utopia basin, Mars: Geological and climatical implications
de Pablo, Miguel Ángel; Komatsu, Goro
The presence of pingos on Mars has been hypothesized since the period of the Viking mission. In fact, a diverse range of pingo-like features has been found at various martian sites including Elysium, Chryse and Utopia Planitiae in the northern lowlands. Due to the morphology and the geological setting, some of those features were interpreted in di…