Martian outflow channels : How did their source aquifers form, and why did they drain so rapidly?
Rodriguez, J. Alexis P. (NASA Ames Research Center)
Kargel, Jeffrey S. (University of Arizona. Department of Hydrology & Water Resources)
Baker, Victor R. (University of Arizona. Department of Hydrology & Water Resources)
Gulick, Virginia C. (SETI Institute)
Berman, Daniel (Planetary Science Institute)
Fairén, Alberto G. (Cornell University. Department of Astronomy)
Linares, Rogelio (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Departament de Geologia)
Zarroca Bonet, Mario (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Departament de Geologia)
Yan, Jianguo (Wuhan University. State Key Laboratory of Information Engineering in Surveying)
Miyamoto, Hideaki (University of Tokyo)
Glines, Natalie (SETI Institute)

Date:	2015
Abstract:	Catastrophic floods generated ~3. 2 Ga by rapid groundwater evacuation scoured the Solar System's most voluminous channels, the southern circum-Chryse outflow channels. Based on Viking Orbiter data analysis, it was hypothesized that these outflows emanated from a global Hesperian cryosphere-confined aquifer that was infused by south polar meltwater infiltration into the planet's upper crust. In this model, the outflow channels formed along zones of superlithostatic pressure generated by pronounced elevation differences around the Highland-Lowland Dichotomy Boundary. However, the restricted geographic location of the channels indicates that these conditions were not uniform Boundary. Furthermore, some outflow channel sources are too high to have been fed by south polar basal melting. Using more recent mission data, we argue that during the Late Noachian fluvial and glacial sediments were deposited into a clastic wedge within a paleo-basin located in the southern circum-Chryse region, which was then completely submerged under a primordial northern plains ocean. Subsequent Late Hesperian outflow channels were sourced from within these geologic materials and formed by gigantic groundwater outbursts driven by an elevated hydraulic head from the Valles Marineris region. Thus, our findings link the formation of the southern circum-Chryse outflow channels to ancient marine, glacial, and fluvial erosion and sedimentation.
Grants:	European Commission 307496
Rights:	Aquest document està subjecte a una llicència d'ús Creative Commons. Es permet la reproducció total o parcial, la distribució, la comunicació pública de l'obra i la creació d'obres derivades, fins i tot amb finalitats comercials, sempre i quan es reconegui l'autoria de l'obra original.
Language:	Anglès
Document:	Article ; recerca ; Versió publicada
Published in:	Scientific reports, Vol. 5 (September 2015) , art. 13404, ISSN 2045-2322

DOI: 10.1038/srep13404
PMID: 26346067

9 p, 2.8 MB

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