Melt and collapse of buried water ice: An alternative hypothesis for the formation of chaotic terrains on Mars

Zegers, Tanja; Oosthoek, J. H. P.; Rossi, Angelo Pio; Blom, Jan Kees; Schumacher, Sandra

doi:10.1016/j.epsl.2010.06.049

Cited by 49 publications

(58 citation statements)

References 45 publications

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“…1f). This channel is likely formed by a lake overflow event, although the exact source of water is still discussed (Zegers et al, 2010;Roda et al, submitted for publication). Catastrophic crater-lake drainage events have occurred on Earth (Waythomas et al, 1996) in the past and show a similar morphology.…”

Section: Valley Examplesmentioning

confidence: 96%

Valley formation by groundwater seepage, pressurized groundwater outbursts and crater-lake overflow in flume experiments with implications for Mars

Marra

Braat

Baar

et al. 2014

Icarus

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Section: Valley Examplesmentioning

confidence: 96%

Valley formation by groundwater seepage, pressurized groundwater outbursts and crater-lake overflow in flume experiments with implications for Mars

Marra

Braat

Baar

et al. 2014

Icarus

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“…Collapse constitutes the last phase of the buried subice lake scenario. When we combine this conclusion with the positive tests of earlier phases of the scenario (Roda et al, 2013(Roda et al, , 2014(Roda et al, , 2016Zegers et al, 2010), we conclude that the buried subice lake scenario can be a viable scenario to explain the formation of Martian chaotic terrains.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The ice layer would have become too thin to support the loads of the sediment on top, and a bottom load from the volume decrease from the phase change from ice to water (Roda et al, 2013). Thermomechanical modeling of buried ice layers confirms that stable melting of the ice layer is possible for a broad range of Martian physical conditions (Roda et al, 2013;Zegers et al, 2010) and proceeds until the ice-water system is no more able to support the load of the infill layer which starts to collapse (Roda et al, 2013). The last step of the scenario (and the one that we investigate in this paper) would have been that failure and collapse of the ice would have caused the catastrophic expulsion of water from the lake into large surface channels and the chaotic terrain sediment morphology (Roda et al, 2013(Roda et al, , 2014(Roda et al, , 2016Zegers et al, 2010).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 97%

“…Low surface temperatures turned the lake into ice, which then got covered by infill sediments. The planetary heat flux together with the thermal insulation of sediments would have slowly melted the ice from below, and would have created a lake beneath the ice (Zegers et al, 2010). The ice layer would have become too thin to support the loads of the sediment on top, and a bottom load from the volume decrease from the phase change from ice to water (Roda et al, 2013).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…However, we also test the option of less infill within the craters by modeling half the thickness of the overburden layer (0.5, 0.75, 1.125, and 1.5 km, respectively). A lower infill thickness than this is unlikely because of the low thermal insulation produced by sediments, that would preclude the ice melting from below (Roda et al, 2013;Schumacher & Zegers, 2011;Zegers et al, 2010). Since the relationship between collapse and diameter of chaotic terrains, we can observe on Mars refers to minimum values of collapse, we test the impact of higher collapsing depth on the resulting morphology.…”

Section: 1002/2017gc006933mentioning

confidence: 99%

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Morphological expressions of crater infill collapse: model simulations of Chaotic Terrains on Mars

Roda¹,

Govers²,

Westerweel³

et al. 2017

Preprint

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Martian chaotic terrains are characterized by deeply depressed intensively fractured areas that contain a large number of low-strain tilted blocks. Stronger deformation (e.g., higher number of fractures) is generally observed in the rims when compared to the middle regions of the terrains. The distribution and number of fractures and tilted blocks are correlated with the size of the chaotic terrains. Smaller chaotic terrains are characterized by few fractures between undeformed blocks. Larger terrains show an elevated number of fractures uniformly distributed with single blocks. We investigate whether this surface morphology may be a consequence of the collapse of the infill of a crater. We perform numerical simulations with the Discrete Element Method and we evaluate the distribution of fractures within the crater and the influence of the crater size, infill thickness, and collapsing depth on the final morphology. The comparison between model predictions and the morphology of the Martian chaotic terrains shows strong statistical similarities in terms of both number of fractures and correlation between fractures and crater diameters. No or very weak correlation is observed between fractures and the infill thickness or collapsing depth. The strong correspondence between model results and observations suggests that the collapse of an infill layer within a crater is a viable mechanism for the peculiar morphology of the Martian chaotic terrains.

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Stratigraphy and mineralogy of Candor Mensa, West Candor Chasma, Mars: Insights into the geologic history of Valles Marineris

Fueten

Flahaut

Stesky³

et al. 2014

J. Geophys. Res. Planets

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Candor Mensa, an interior layered deposit (ILD) in Valles Marineris, Mars, consists of two stratigraphically distinct units, the lower of which comprises the bulk of the mensa. This lower unit is approximately 5 km thick and composed of parallel layers, 4 to 14 m in thickness and associated with monohydrated sulfates. The lower unit is disconformably overlain by an upper unit composed of thinner (< 3 m) layers with diagnostic polyhydrated sulfate signatures. The original extent of proto-Candor Mensa and its lower unit included neighboring Baetis Mensa. We suggest that the source material for both units is airborne dust or ash but that the depositional environment for the units differs. First, the lower unit was deposited during the subsidence of an enclosed water-filled basin. This basin/lake could have been frozen periodically, with freeze-thaw episodes possibly linked to Martian obliquity cycles. Erosion, including the potential action of glaciers, was able to remove large volumes of material out of the basin during the tectonism that produced the current geometry of Valles Marineris. Deposition of the upper unit postdates this event and took place in the absence of standing water at high elevation. Groundwater or snowmelt may have provided the water required for sulfate formation and deposit induration. We conclude that the major break in sedimentation recorded by this ILD deposit coincides with linking of ancestral basins into the current geometry of Valles Marineris chasmata and that it was possible to form hydrated minerals after this event.

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Melt and collapse of buried water ice: An alternative hypothesis for the formation of chaotic terrains on Mars

Cited by 49 publications

References 45 publications

Valley formation by groundwater seepage, pressurized groundwater outbursts and crater-lake overflow in flume experiments with implications for Mars

Valley formation by groundwater seepage, pressurized groundwater outbursts and crater-lake overflow in flume experiments with implications for Mars

Morphological expressions of crater infill collapse: model simulations of Chaotic Terrains on Mars

Stratigraphy and mineralogy of Candor Mensa, West Candor Chasma, Mars: Insights into the geologic history of Valles Marineris

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