Volcanism on the Red Planet: Mars

Greeley, R.; Bridges, N. T.; Crown, D. A.; Crumpler, L. S.; Fagents, S. A.; Mouginis-Mark, P. J.; Zimbelman, J. R.

doi:10.1007/978-1-4615-4151-6_4

Cited by 27 publications

(18 citation statements)

References 107 publications

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“…This distribution reflects the split between ancient southern highlands and younger northern lowlands. Although there is good evidence of explosive volcanism in the southern hemisphere, which may itself be an indication of larger-scale magma-water interactions (Reimers & Komar 1979;Greeley & Spudis 1981;Mouginis-Mark et al 1982, 1992Scott 1982;Greeley & Crown 1990;Crown & Greeley 1993;Robinson et al 1993;Greeley et al 2000), it is the widespread presence of lava flows and effusive plains in the northern hemisphere (Greeley & Spudis 1981;Scott 1982), together with the greater atmospheric pressures at lower altitudes promoting ground ice retention (Fanale et al 1986;Mellon & Jakosky 1995), that would commonly create conditions favourable for cone-forming events. Furthermore, given the relative youth of these plains, cones are more likely to exist in a state of preservation adequate for detection in spacecraft imagery.…”

Section: Viking Observationsmentioning

confidence: 96%

“…This, together with the larger cone diameters, suggests that energetic explosions were responsible for forming the martian constructs. This is likely to be related in large part to the low atmospheric pressure and gravity conditions, which act to promote explosive eruptions in the martian environment (Wilson & Head 1983, 1994Fagents & Wilson 1996;Greeley et al 2000), rather than being indicative of optimal lavawater interactions, as discussed further below.…”

Section: Moc Observationsmentioning

confidence: 96%

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Rootless cones on Mars: a consequence of lava-ground ice interaction

Fagents

Lanagan

Greeley

2002

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Fields of small cratered cones on Mars are interpreted to have formed by rootless eruptions due to explosive interaction of lava with ground ice contained within the regolith beneath the flow. Melting and vaporization of the ice, and subsequent explosive expansion of the vapour, act to excavate the lava and construct a rootless cone around the explosion site. Similar features are found in Iceland, where flowing lavas encountered water-saturated substrates. The martian cones have basal diameters of c. 30-1000m and are located predominantly in the northern volcanic plains. High-resolution Mars Orbiter Camera images offer significant improvements over Viking data for interpretation of cone origins. A new model of the dynamics of cone formation indicates that very modest amounts of water ice are required to initiate and sustain the explosive interactions that produced the observed features. This is consistent with the likely low availability of water ice in the martian regolith. The scarcity of impact craters on many of the host lava flows indicates very young ages, suggesting that ground ice was present as recently as <10-100Ma, and may persist today. Rootless cones therefore act as a spatial and temporal probe of the distribution of ground ice on Mars, which is of key significance in understanding the evolution of the martian climate. The location of water in liquid or solid form is of great importance to future robotic and human exploration strategies, and to the search for extraterrestrial life.

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Section: Viking Observationsmentioning

confidence: 96%

Section: Moc Observationsmentioning

confidence: 96%

Rootless cones on Mars: a consequence of lava-ground ice interaction

Fagents

Lanagan

Greeley

2002

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“…General overviews of the volcanology of Mars include Greeley and Spudis (1981), Mouginis-Mark et al (1992a), and Greeley et al (1999). Hodges and Moore (1994) describe the morphology of each volcano and examples of volcanic plains; Crumpler et al (1996) provided an excellent overview of the geologic characteristics and implications of martian calderas.…”

Section: Previous Workmentioning

confidence: 99%

Geology of the Uranius Group Volcanic Constructs: Uranius Patera, Ceraunius Tholus, and Uranius Tholus

Plescia¹

2000

Icarus

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“…Images revealed shield and dome volcanoes of the Tharsis and Elysium regions, extensive lava plains, and numerous other features of volcanic origin, including low-profile contructs, called patera, characterized by central craters and radial channels. Subsequently, data from the Viking Orbiters (Carr et al, 1977b) allowed mapping and characterization of the extent, timing, and styles of volcanism on Mars (Figure 1; Greeley andSpudis, 1978, 1981;Mouginis-Mark et al, 1992;Greeley et al, 2000). High resolution images (Malin et al, 1998) (Figure 1), information on surface compositions (McSween et al, 1998), and topographic data (Smith et al, 1998(Smith et al, , 1999a from the Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) permit comparison of Martian volcanism with theoretical analysis of the ascent and eruption of magma on Mars (e.g., Wilson and Head, 1994).…”

Section: Volcanismmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Volcanism has dominated much of the history of Mars. Nearly half of its surface has materials inferred to be of volcanic origin (Greeley and Spudis, 1978;Mouginis-Mark et al, 1992;Greeley et al, 2000). These materials form either central volcanoes, such as the shields in the Tharsis region, or vast plateaus formed by the eruption of flood lava flows.…”

Section: Volcanismmentioning

confidence: 99%

Geological Processes and Evolution

Head

Greeley

Golombek

et al. 2001

Space Sciences Series of ISSI

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Abstract. Geological mapping and establishment of stratigraphic relationships provides an overview of geological processes operating on Mars and how they have varied in time and space. Impact craters and basins shaped the crust in earliest history and as their importance declined, evidence of extensive regional volcanism emerged during the Late Noachian. Regional volcanism characterized the Early Hesperian and subsequent to that time, volcanism was largely centered at Tharsis and Elysium, continuing until the recent geological past. The Tharsis region appears to have been largely constructed by the Late Noachian, and represents a series of tectonic and volcanic centers. Globally distributed structural features representing contraction characterize the middle Hesperian. Water-related processes involve the formation of valley networks in the Late Noachian and into the Hesperian, an ice sheet at the south pole in the middle Hesperian, and outflow channels and possible standing bodies of water in the northern lowlands in the Late Hesperian and into the Amazonian. A significant part of the present water budget occurs in the present geologically young polar layered terrains. In order to establish more firmly rates of processes, we stress the need to improve the calibration of the absolute timescale, which today is based on crater count systems with substantial uncertainties, along with a sampling of rocks of unknown provenance. Sample return from carefully chosen stratigraphic units could calibrate the existing timescale and vastly improve our knowledge of Martian evolution.

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Volcanism on the Red Planet: Mars

Cited by 27 publications

References 107 publications

Rootless cones on Mars: a consequence of lava-ground ice interaction

Rootless cones on Mars: a consequence of lava-ground ice interaction

Geology of the Uranius Group Volcanic Constructs: Uranius Patera, Ceraunius Tholus, and Uranius Tholus

Geological Processes and Evolution

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