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Recognition of Sedimentary Rock Occurrences in Satellite and Aerial Images of Other Worlds—Insights from Mars. REMOTE SENSING 2021. [DOI: 10.3390/rs13214296] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/31/2022]
Abstract
Sedimentary rocks provide records of past surface and subsurface processes and environments. The first step in the study of the sedimentary rock record of another world is to learn to recognize their occurrences in images from instruments aboard orbiting, flyby, or aerial platforms. For two decades, Mars has been known to have sedimentary rocks; however, planet-wide identification is incomplete. Global coverage at 0.25–6 m/pixel, and observations from the Curiosity rover in Gale crater, expand the ability to recognize Martian sedimentary rocks. No longer limited to cases that are light-toned, lightly cratered, and stratified—or mimic original depositional setting (e.g., lithified deltas)—Martian sedimentary rocks include dark-toned examples, as well as rocks that are erosion-resistant enough to retain small craters as well as do lava flows. Breakdown of conglomerates, breccias, and even some mudstones, can produce a pebbly regolith that imparts a “smooth” appearance in satellite and aerial images. Context is important; sedimentary rocks remain challenging to distinguish from primary igneous rocks in some cases. Detection of ultramafic, mafic, or andesitic compositions do not dictate that a rock is igneous, and clast genesis should be considered separately from the depositional record. Mars likely has much more sedimentary rock than previously recognized.
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Abstract
Both the northern and southern arms of Kasei Valles are occupied by platy-ridged flood lavas. We have mapped these flows and examined their morphology to better understand their emplacement. The lavas were emplaced as high-flux, turbulent flows (exceeding 106 m3 s-1). Lava in southern Kasei Valles can be traced back up onto the Tharsis rise, which is also the likely source of lavas in the northern arm. These eruptions were similar to, but somewhat smaller than, the Athabasca Valles flood lava in Elysium Planitia, with estimated volumes of >1200 km3 here and 5000 km3 in Athabasca Valles. The flood lavas in both Kasei and Athabasca Valles have evidence for distal inflation as well as widespread drainage or volume loss in medial areas; this may be an important characteristic of many large, recent Martian eruptions. Despite their great size and flux, the Kasei Valles flood lavas are only a late modification to the valley system capable of only modest local erosion. The more vigorous Athabasca Valles lava may have been capable of somewhat more erosion in its smaller valley system.
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Affiliation(s)
- Colin M. Dundas
- U.S. Geological Survey, Astrogeology Science Center, 2255 N. Gemini Dr., Flagstaff, AZ 86001, USA
| | - Glen E. Cushing
- U.S. Geological Survey, Astrogeology Science Center, 2255 N. Gemini Dr., Flagstaff, AZ 86001, USA
| | - Laszlo P. Keszthelyi
- U.S. Geological Survey, Astrogeology Science Center, 2255 N. Gemini Dr., Flagstaff, AZ 86001, USA
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Cohen BE, Mark DF, Cassata WS, Lee MR, Tomkinson T, Smith CL. Taking the pulse of Mars via dating of a plume-fed volcano. Nat Commun 2017; 8:640. [PMID: 28974682 PMCID: PMC5626741 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-017-00513-8] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/10/2017] [Accepted: 07/04/2017] [Indexed: 11/09/2022] Open
Abstract
Mars hosts the solar system’s largest volcanoes. Although their size and impact crater density indicate continued activity over billions of years, their formation rates are poorly understood. Here we quantify the growth rate of a Martian volcano by 40Ar/39Ar and cosmogenic exposure dating of six nakhlites, meteorites that were ejected from Mars by a single impact event at 10.7 ± 0.8 Ma (2σ). We find that the nakhlites sample a layered volcanic sequence with at least four discrete eruptive events spanning 93 ± 12 Ma (1416 ± 7 Ma to 1322 ± 10 Ma (2σ)). A non-radiogenic trapped 40Ar/36Ar value of 1511 ± 74 (2σ) provides a precise and robust constraint for the mid-Amazonian Martian atmosphere. Our data show that the nakhlite-source volcano grew at a rate of ca. 0.4–0.7 m Ma−1—three orders of magnitude slower than comparable volcanoes on Earth, and necessitating that Mars was far more volcanically active earlier in its history. Mars hosts the solar system’s largest volcanoes, but their formation rates remain poorly constrained. Here, the authors have measured the crystallization and ejection ages of meteorites from a Martian volcano and find that its growth rate was much slower than analogous volcanoes on Earth.
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Affiliation(s)
- Benjamin E Cohen
- Isotope Geoscience Unit, Scottish Universities Environmental Research Centre (SUERC), Rankine Avenue, East Kilbride, G75 0QF, UK. .,School of Geographical and Earth Sciences, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, G12 8QQ, UK.
| | - Darren F Mark
- Isotope Geoscience Unit, Scottish Universities Environmental Research Centre (SUERC), Rankine Avenue, East Kilbride, G75 0QF, UK.,Department of Earth & Environmental Science, University of St Andrews, St Andrews, KY16 9AJ, UK
| | - William S Cassata
- Nuclear & Chemical Sciences Division, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, 7000 East Avenue (L-231), Livermore, CA, 94550, USA
| | - Martin R Lee
- School of Geographical and Earth Sciences, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, G12 8QQ, UK
| | - Tim Tomkinson
- Isotope Geoscience Unit, Scottish Universities Environmental Research Centre (SUERC), Rankine Avenue, East Kilbride, G75 0QF, UK
| | - Caroline L Smith
- Department of Earth Sciences, The Natural History Museum, London, SW7 5BD, UK
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Platz T, Byrne PK, Massironi M, Hiesinger H. Volcanism and tectonism across the inner solar system: an overview. ACTA ACUST UNITED AC 2014. [DOI: 10.1144/sp401.22] [Citation(s) in RCA: 41] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/04/2022]
Abstract
AbstractVolcanism and tectonism are the dominant endogenic means by which planetary surfaces change. This book, in general, and this overview, in particular, aim to encompass the broad range in character of volcanism, tectonism, faulting and associated interactions observed on planetary bodies across the inner solar system – a region that includes Mercury, Venus, Earth, the Moon, Mars and asteroids. The diversity and breadth of landforms produced by volcanic and tectonic processes are enormous, and vary across the inventory of inner solar system bodies. As a result, the selection of prevailing landforms and their underlying formational processes that are described and highlighted in this review are but a primer to the expansive field of planetary volcanism and tectonism. In addition to this extended introductory contribution, this Special Publication features 21 dedicated research articles about volcanic and tectonic processes manifest across the inner solar system. Those articles are summarized at the end of this review.
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Affiliation(s)
- T. Platz
- Planetary Science Institute, 1700 East Fort Lowell Road, Tucson, AZ 85719-2395, USA
- Freie Universität Berlin, Institute of Geological Sciences, Planetary Sciences & Remote Sensing, Malteserstrasse 74-100, 12249 Berlin, Germany
| | - P. K. Byrne
- Lunar and Planetary Institute, Universities Space Research Association, 3600 Bay Area Boulevard, Houston, TX 77058, USA
- Department of Terrestrial Magnetism, Carnegie Institution of Washington, 5241 Broad Branch Road NW, Washington, DC 20015-1305, USA
| | - M. Massironi
- Dipartimento di Geoscienze, Universita' degli Studi di Padova, via G. Gradenigo 6, 35131 Padova, Italy
| | - H. Hiesinger
- Institut für Planetologie, Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität Münster, Wilhelm-Klemm-Strasse 10, 48149 Münster, Germany
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Stillman DE, Grimm RE. Radar penetrates only the youngest geological units on Mars. ACTA ACUST UNITED AC 2011. [DOI: 10.1029/2010je003661] [Citation(s) in RCA: 30] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/09/2022]
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Karunatillake S, Wray JJ, Squyres SW, Taylor GJ, Gasnault O, McLennan SM, Boynton W, El Maarry MR, Dohm JM. Chemically striking regions on Mars and Stealth revisited. ACTA ACUST UNITED AC 2009. [DOI: 10.1029/2008je003303] [Citation(s) in RCA: 39] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/09/2022]
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Leverington DW. Reconciling channel formation processes with the nature of elevated outflow systems at Ophir and Aurorae Plana, Mars. ACTA ACUST UNITED AC 2009. [DOI: 10.1029/2009je003398] [Citation(s) in RCA: 27] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/09/2022]
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