A global investigation of wrinkle ridge formation events; Implications towards the thermal evolution of Mars

Ruj, Trishit; Kawai, Kenji

doi:10.1016/j.icarus.2021.114625

Cited by 14 publications

(5 citation statements)

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“…However, Amazonian Tharsis‐related shortening structures appear largely limited to Alba Patera (Bouley et al., 2018), so Tharsis‐related re‐activation of the shortening structure in the study area is unlikely. Stresses related to the dichotomy boundary and the isostatic adjustment of the highlands and lowlands were proposed by Ruj and Kawai (2021) for the formation of Amazonian wrinkle ridges in Amenthes Planum, and Watters (1993) proposed that dichotomy‐related stresses produced dichotomy parallel shortening structures. Widespread exhumation of Noachian terrain has occurred across the dichotomy in western Arabia Terra (McNeil et al., 2022; Quantin‐Nataf et al., 2021), which may have contributed to Hesperian dichotomy‐related stresses.…”

Section: Interpretation and Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The shortening structure has a BCC model age of 1.1 ± 0.3 Ga for the southern scarp area (Figure 3a). As a record of the cessation of the most recent tectonic activity associated with the shortening structure (e.g., Ruj & Kawai, 2021), this reflects only Geophysical Research Letters 10.1029/2023GL107757 cessation of activity capable of "resetting" the crater count by erasing all impact craters on the scarp face. More recent tectonic activity of the scarp is supported by the presence of small grabens that occur parasitically on the large shortening structure, resembling equivalent examples that indicate recent tectonism on Mercury (Man et al, 2023).…”

Section: The Timing Of the Landslides And Tectonic Activitymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The unit age represents a maximum formation age, because a structure can be any age younger than the surface it deforms. Second, buffered crater counting (BCC; Kneissl et al., 2015) can be used to assign ages of structure populations (Ruj et al., 2019; Ruj & Kawai, 2021). However, this method is limited by the number of intersecting impact craters and the assumption that all structures within the population have the same age.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Repeated and Long‐Lasting Fault Activation on Amazonian Mars as Demonstrated by Tectonically Induced Landslides

Woodley,

Fawdon,

Balme

et al. 2024

Geophysical Research Letters

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We identify and analyze a large shortening structure (surface expression of a thrust fault) in western Arabia Terra, Mars, exhibiting recent, repeated, and long‐lasting tectonic activity. Where the fault system deforms Marsabit crater rim, four landslides with differing degradation states extend onto the crater floor. We propose these were triggered by episodic re‐activation of the thrust system. Using a morphological map and crater size frequency statistics we show that the fault system experienced at least four landslide‐inducing events during the Middle to Late Amazonian. We note that 1.4 km total displacement on the fault plane must have required many events to accumulate if motion was by brittle failure rather than continuous creep. The current understanding of tectonic activity and stress‐sources since 3.6 Ga, cannot account for these repeated and large Amazonian marsquakes—suggesting revaluation of sources of stress to account for a more active and complex Amazonian tectonic history.

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Section: Interpretation and Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: The Timing Of the Landslides And Tectonic Activitymentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Repeated and Long‐Lasting Fault Activation on Amazonian Mars as Demonstrated by Tectonically Induced Landslides

Woodley,

Fawdon,

Balme

et al. 2024

Geophysical Research Letters

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“…Becquerel and Danielson craters have observable faulting, albeit in the sedimentary rocks themselves, not the crater floors (Schmidt et al, 2021;Schmidt et al, 2022). Oyama has an obvious wrinkle ridge (deep thrust faults, Mueller and Golombek 2004;Ruj and Kawai 2021) visible from the surface adjacent to layered deposits and hydrated minerals (Loizeau et al, 2012;Loizeau et al, 2015;Schmidt et al, 2021) (Figure 2A). The Meridiani Planum groundwater work of Andrews-Hanna et al (2007) may indeed be influenced by tectonic faults, ring faults, and/or radial faults (Ormo et al, 2004;Essefi et al, 2014).…”

Section: Evaporitic Environments and Water Circulation In The Mars Eq...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Structural influences on groundwater circulation in the Makgadikgadi salt pans of Botswana? Implications for martian playa environments

Schmidt

Luzzi²,

Franchi³

et al. 2023

Front. Astron. Space Sci.

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Across the surface of Mars, evidence of past lacustrine and evaporitic environments has been found within basins and craters, where often layered sedimentary deposits and hydrated minerals are observed. However, the intensity, duration, and precise phases of aqueous processes during their deposition remain unresolved mostly for our inability to model subsurface structures. Although several geological processes and locations on Earth have been previously proposed as examples to describe these deposits on Mars, we lack a strong visualization of what water activity might have looked like during evaporitic stages within basins and craters. Here we propose to investigate the shallow subsurface of the Makgadikgadi salt pans of Botswana as a potential analog for understanding groundwater upwelling on Mars. The pans are found within the Makgadikgadi Basin, a depression located at the southwestern end of a northeast-southwest set of graben linked with the East African Rift. The Makgadikgadi Pans are evaporitic environment rich in hydrated minerals and groundwater activity. The purpose of this work is to identify buried faults and areas of relative water saturation within the lacustrine sediment of the Makgadikgadi Basin by means of electrical resistivity surveys. This work represents the first electrical resistivity survey of the basin floor which provides a precursory investigation of the relationship between groundwater, faults, basement depth, and the lacustrine sediments. We present four electrical survey lines from different locations in the pans which reveal distinct sedimentary units. Several faults are inferred from the vertical displacement of these units and accompanying low resistivity where displacement is observed. These results provide a framework for visualizing the sedimentary sequences of infilled basins and craters on Mars, which can broaden the ongoing discussion of hydrogeological processes that were active in the planet’s past. We propose Meridiani Planum, as well as Oyama and Becquerel crater of Arabia Terra as locations to establish this framework. Since such processes are still ongoing in the Makgadikgadi Basin, imaging the subsurface of the pans helps explain the formation of layered and salty deposits on the surface of Mars, how they may have interacted with flowing water, and whether they might have hosted life.

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“…The driving mechanisms for the formation of wrinkle ridges on Mars have been attributed to volcanic loading (Phillips and Lambeck, 1980), cooling of the planet (Schubert et al, 1992;Nahm and Schultz, 2011;Andrews-Hanna, 2020), and backarc compression for the eastern Tharsis region (Yin, 2012a). Globally, crater dating shows that wrinkle ridges on Mars were formed in the Early Hesperian (3.7-3.4 Ga) (Ruj and Kawai, 2021).…”

Section: Regional Setting Of the Study Areamentioning

confidence: 99%

Formation and modification of wrinkle ridges in the central Tharsis region of Mars as constrained by detailed geomorphological mapping and landform analysis

Yin¹,

Wang²

2022

Preprint

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Wrinkle ridges are common landforms documented on all rocky planets and the Moon in the inner solar system. Despite the long research history, their formation mechanisms remain debated. A key unresolved issue is whether the wrinkle-ridge formation is related to igneous processes. This is because wrinkle ridges are mostly associated in space and possible with time to the occurrence of flood-basalt volcanism in all cases on the rocky bodies in the inner solar system.To address this issue, we conducted geomorphological mapping, topographic-data analysis, and detailed landform analysis of satellite images at the resolution of 25 cm/pixel to 6 m/pixel in the central Tharsis region of Mars. The main result of this work is in the form of (1) a regional geomorphological map at the resolution 6 m/pixel and (2) a local geomorphological map at the resolution of 50 cm/pixel. Our work suggests the following sequence of events in the study area:(1) the creation of a plateau region along the eastern margin of the Tharsis rise by horizontal shortening, (2) the coeval formation of a western volcanic plateau as the source of east-flowing lavas terminating in the east against the tectonically generated eastern plateau, (3) wrinkle-ridge formation by folding in recently emplaced warm and ductile volcanic-lava piles, (4) emplacement of an ice sheet over the Tharsis region that produced extensive boulder-bearing materials, striated surfaces, and boulder-bearing dendritic ridge networks possibly representing glacial eskers, and(5) deposition of locally highly concentrated glacial flours during deglaciation that resulted in the formation of mantled terrain. Our work supports the early suggestion that the Tharsis wrinkle ridges were created by horizontal shortening induced by crustal-scale tectonic processes. In detail, however, the occurrence of flow-front-like margins of many mapped wrinkle ridges suggests ductile folding, which we attribute to the thermally weakened lava piles emplaced during or immediately before the folding event. Post-folding glacial modification means that the present 3 wrinkle-ridge morphologies may differ significantly from the true fold shapes, which prevent their utilities for inverting subsurface thrust geometries. 5 existing fractures formed by earlier impact and tectonic processes. Strom (1972) further suggests that the secondary crenulated ridges are extrusive volcanic landforms emerging from tensile fractures along the ridge crests (also see Guest, 1971).Based on detailed mapping and satellite-image analysis, Bryan (1973) shows that his mapped lunar wrinkle ridges consistently cut across lava-flow-like landforms. This observation rules out the laccolith-dome model of Strom (1972) as a general cause of lunar wrinkle-ridge formation. Mapping by Howard and Muehlberger (1973) simultaneously reaches the same conclusion. The close association of the mapped lunar wrinkle ridges with ridge-bounding scarps leads Howard and Muehlberger (1973) to interpret the ridges and ridge-bounding scarps as folds and thrusts ab...

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A global investigation of wrinkle ridge formation events; Implications towards the thermal evolution of Mars

Cited by 14 publications

References 50 publications

Repeated and Long‐Lasting Fault Activation on Amazonian Mars as Demonstrated by Tectonically Induced Landslides

Repeated and Long‐Lasting Fault Activation on Amazonian Mars as Demonstrated by Tectonically Induced Landslides

Structural influences on groundwater circulation in the Makgadikgadi salt pans of Botswana? Implications for martian playa environments

Formation and modification of wrinkle ridges in the central Tharsis region of Mars as constrained by detailed geomorphological mapping and landform analysis

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