Gullies and debris-flows in Ladakh Himalaya, India: a potential Martian analogue

Abstract

We conducted comparative morphological analysis of gullies within two high-latitude Martian craters (Domoni and Maricourt) in the northern hemisphere of Mars with (1) the debris-flow gully systems in the Ladakh Himalaya and (2) Istok Crater in the southern mid-latitudes of Mars where water-bearing debris-flow deposits have been previously reported. Our findings suggest that the debris-flow landforms preserved on gully and alluvial fans in the Ladakh Himalaya are potential analogues for the deposits preserved over the equator-facing slopes of Domoni and Maricourt Craters. Further, we found that the morphological attributes of channels and deposits (including overlapping terminal lobes, levées, tongue-shaped/lobate deposits and broad/small depositional deposits) within both the study craters and Istok Crater are similar. As a result, the studied craters emerge as additional sites in which possible evidence of water-bearing debris-flows are preserved on Mars. By comparison to our Earth analogue, we further propose that episodic melting of snow accumulated within the sheltered alcoves is the most likely source of water for the formation of such gullies. Taken together, our findings suggest that debris-flow may not be a rare process in gully formation on Mars and evidence may be preserved in other unexplored areas.

Martian gullies: a comprehensive review of observations, mechanisms and insights from Earth analogues

“…They found that snowmelt as a water-source did not produce morphologies distinct from other water sources (perched aquifer, melting of ground ice). A similar conclusion was reached by Sinha et al (2018) who compared debris flows generated by snowmelt in the arid Himalaya to gullies with similar morphology on Mars. These studies imply that snowmelt is hard to distinguish from other near-surface sources of water by morphology alone and hence it would be difficult to detect its influence in the formation of martian gullies.…”

“…Many authors report both v-shaped incisions (e.g., Dickson and Head, 2009;Hobbs et al, 2013), and tributary organisation of channels/chutes (e.g., Malin and Edgett, 2000;Morgan et al, 2010). Terraced cutbacks and longitudinal bars ( Figure 5c) (Schon and Head, 2009) and more rarely levees ( Figure 5b) (Hugenholtz, 2008a;Johnsson et al, 2014;Lanza et al, 2010;Levy et al, 2010;Sinha et al, 2018) have also been reported as attributes of gully-channels. In systems with well-developed fans the chute and base of the alcove can become back-filled with sediment.…”

“…A distributary organisation of channels is associated with gully-deposits and metre-sized boulders can be common on their depositional surfaces (de Haas et al, 2015d;. Sometimes distinct depositional lobes are also observed with high relative relief (Johnsson et al, 2014;Lanza et al, 2010;Levy et al, 2010;Sinha et al, 2018) (Figure 6a). The surfaces of martian gully-fans can often be divided into segments with different ages, based on cross-cutting relationships and morphological differences between segments (de Haas et al, 2015d(de Haas et al, , 2013Johnsson et al, 2014;Schon et al, 2009a).…”

Spectroscopic Studies on the Puga Hot Spring Deposits, Ladakh, an Astrobiological Martian Analog Site in India

“…Some earlier studies have suggested that the Ladakh area could be regarded as a potential Martian analog locality from the viewpoint of geomorphology (e.g., Sinha et al., 2019) or astrobiology (e.g., Ghosh et al., 2012; Pandey et al., 2019). The results of this study demonstrate that the Puga geothermal area preserves an ensemble of hot springs associated with assemblages of hydrous sulfates, native sulfur and Na‐borates along with algal mats on a basement of granitic gneiss (the Puga gneiss).…”

Martian gullies and their Earth analogues: introduction

“…The Earth analogues presented at the workshop and included in this Special Publication include Antarctic water flows in Victoria Land (Hauber et al 2018) and the McMurdo Dry Valleys (Dickson et al 2017) and Himalayan debris flows generated by snowmelt (Sinha et al 2018). The Earth analogues discussed at the meeting, but not included in this book, were submarine landforms (Gales et al 2012), gullies in Meteor Crater, dune processes in Egypt and alluvial fans in Svalbard (Hauber et al 2011) (Fig.…”