Topography of the Deuteronilus contact on Mars: Evidence for an ancient water/mud ocean and long-wavelength topographic readjustments

Иванов, М. А.; Erkeling, G.; Hiesinger, H.; Bernhardt, H.; Reiss, D.

doi:10.1016/j.pss.2017.05.012

Cited by 37 publications

(58 citation statements)

References 97 publications

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“…A. Rodriguez et al, ; Webb, ). Ivanov et al () also date the Deuteronilus shoreline to 3.6 Ga, which is close to the model ages of several of the craters studied in this work (see Table S1 for crater age estimation). This supports putative post Noachian sedimentary deposits within the studied basins and the notion that there was a link between the ocean and a planet‐wide groundwater system as well.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 85%

“…The range of sustained water level variation that we estimated from several geological observations is of the same order of magnitude estimated by the model of Horvath and Andrews‐Hanna () for Gale crater. There is a notable consistency between the stationary water level at approximately −4,000 m in the basins analyzed and previous works that suggests the presence of a northern Late Hesperian ocean shoreline between 3,940 and −4,100 m (Costard et al, ; Ivanov et al, J. A. Rodriguez et al, ; Webb, ).…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 82%

“…A. Rodriguez et al, 2016Webb, 2004). Ivanov et al (2017) also date the Deuteronilus shoreline to 3.6 Ga, which is close to the model ages of several of the craters studied in this work (see Table S1 for crater age estimation).…”

Section: Groundwater or Precipitation Control?supporting

confidence: 85%

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Geological Evidence of Planet‐Wide Groundwater System on Mars

et al. 2019

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The scale of groundwater upwelling on Mars, as well as its relation to sedimentary systems, remains an ongoing debate. Several deep craters (basins) in the northern equatorial regions show compelling signs that large amounts of water once existed on Mars at a planet‐wide scale. The presence of water‐formed features, including fluvial Gilbert and sapping deltas fed by sapping valleys, constitute strong evidence of groundwater upwelling resulting in long term standing bodies of water inside the basins. Terrestrial field evidence shows that sapping valleys can occur in basalt bedrock and not only in unconsolidated sediments. A hypothesis that considers the elevation differences between the observed morphologies and the assumed basal groundwater level is presented and described as the “dike‐confined water” model, already present on Earth and introduced for the first time in the Martian geological literature. Only the deepest basins considered in this study, those with bases deeper than −4000 m in elevation below the Mars datum, intercepted the water‐saturated zone and exhibit evidence of groundwater fluctuations. The discovery of these groundwater discharge sites on a planet‐wide scale strongly suggests a link between the putative Martian ocean and various configurations of sedimentary deposits that were formed as a result of groundwater fluctuations during the Hesperian period. This newly recognized evidence of water‐formed features significantly increases the chance that biosignatures could be buried in the sediment. These deep basins (groundwater‐fed lakes) will be of interest to future exploration missions as they might provide evidence of geological conditions suitable for life.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 85%

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 82%

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Geological Evidence of Planet‐Wide Groundwater System on Mars

et al. 2019

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“…Low confidence: Bigger paleo-seas have been proposed. For example, the Northern Ocean hypothesis is that a >1.2 × 10 7 km 2 sea existed in the northern lowlands of Mars (Parker et al 1993, Clifford & Parker 2001, di Achille & Hynek 2010, Ivanov et al 2017, Citron et al 2018. Indeed, if Mars formed with surface H2O, that water must have drained into the northern lowlands, at least in the immediate aftermath of Hellas-sized impacts (Early Noachian).…”

Section: Very High Confidencementioning

confidence: 99%

Geologic Constraints on Early Mars Climate

Kite

2019

Space Sci Rev

108

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Early Mars climate research has well-defined goals (Mars Exploration Program Analysis Group 2018). Achieving these goals requires geologists and climate modelers to coordinate. Coordination is easier if results are expressed in terms of well-defined parameters. Key parameters include the following quantitative geologic constraints.(1) Cumulative post-3.4 Ga precipitation-sourced water runoff in some places exceeded 1 km column. (2) There is no single Early Mars climate problem: the traces of ≥2 riverforming periods are seen. Relative to rivers that formed earlier in Mars history, rivers that formed later in Mars history are found preferentially at lower elevations, and show a stronger dependence on latitude. (3) The duration of the longest individual river-forming climate was >(10 2 -10 3 ) yr, based on paleolake hydrology. (4) Peak runoff production was >0.1 mm/hr. However, (5) peak runoff production was intermittent, sustained (in a given catchment) for only <10% of the duration of river-forming climates. (6) The cumulative number of wet years during the valley-network-forming period was >10 5 yr. (7) Post-Noachian light-toned, layered sedimentary rocks took >10 7 yr to accumulate. However, (8) an "average" place on Mars saw water for <10 7 yr after the Noachian, suggesting that the river-forming climates were interspersed with long globally-dry intervals. (9) Geologic proxies for Early Mars atmospheric pressure indicate pressure was not less than 0.012 bar but not much more than 1 bar. A truth table of these geologic constraints versus currently published climate models shows that the late persistence of river-forming climates, combined with the long duration of individual lake-forming climates, is a challenge for most models. Kraal, Erin R.; Asphaug, Erik; Moore, Jeffery M.; Howard, Alan; Bredt, Adam, 2008a, Catalogue of large alluvial fans in martian impact craters, Icarus, 194, 1, 101-110. Kraal, Erin R.; van Dijk, Maurits; Postma, George; Kleinhans, Maarten G., 2008b, Martian stepped-delta formation by rapid water release, Nature, 451, 7181, 973-976.Kurahashi-Nakamura, Takasumi; Tajika, Eiichi, 2006, Atmospheric collapse and transport of carbon dioxide into the subsurface on early Mars, Geophys. Res. Lett., 33, L18205.

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“…Initial identification of these hypothesized shorelines was based on the best available high‐resolution Viking images (~10 m per pixel) with most of the contacts mapped at comparatively lower resolutions (~50–200 m per pixel; Clifford & Parker, ; Parker et al, , ). Later interpolation of these contacts onto Mars Orbiter Laser Altimeter (MOLA) topographic data (Smith et al, ) shows vast ranges in elevations of ~2.5 km for the Arabia contact (Carr & Head, ) and ~0.6 km for the Deuteronilus contact (Carr & Head, ; Ivanov et al, ). Such wide ranges in elevation for suspected equipotential surfaces cast doubt on a paleoshoreline interpretation.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Quantitative High‐Resolution Reexamination of a Hypothesized Ocean Shoreline in Cydonia Mensae on Mars

2019

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Primary support for ancient Martian oceans has relied on qualitative interpretations of hypothesized shorelines on relatively low‐resolution images and data. We present a toolkit for quantitatively identifying paleoshorelines using topographic, morphological, and spectroscopic evaluations. In particular, we apply the validated topographic expression analysis of Hare et al. (2001, https://doi.org/10.1029/2001JB000344) for the first time beyond Earth, focusing on a test case of putative shoreline features along the Arabia level in northeast Cydonia Mensae, as first described by Clifford and Parker (2001, https://doi.org/10.1006/icar.2001.6671). Our results show these curvilinear features are inconsistent with a wave‐generated shoreline interpretation. The topographic expression analysis identifies a few potential shoreline terraces along the historically proposed contacts, but these tilt in different directions, do not follow an equipotential surface (even accounting for regional tilting), and are not laterally continuous. Lineaments appear blocky in nature at small scales, and they bifurcate, truncate, and merge along track. These features are more consistent with material boundaries for lithological units exposed along a degraded crater wall. These results do not preclude the existence of an ancient hemispheric ocean, but the geophysical and high‐resolution topographic data at this site do not support such an interpretation.

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Topography of the Deuteronilus contact on Mars: Evidence for an ancient water/mud ocean and long-wavelength topographic readjustments

Cited by 37 publications

References 97 publications

Geological Evidence of Planet‐Wide Groundwater System on Mars

Geological Evidence of Planet‐Wide Groundwater System on Mars

Geologic Constraints on Early Mars Climate

Quantitative High‐Resolution Reexamination of a Hypothesized Ocean Shoreline in Cydonia Mensae on Mars

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