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Rodriguez JAP, Baker VR, Liu T, Zarroca M, Travis B, Hui T, Komatsu G, Berman DC, Linares R, Sykes MV, Banks ME, Kargel JS. The 1997 Mars Pathfinder Spacecraft Landing Site: Spillover Deposits from an Early Mars Inland Sea. Sci Rep 2019; 9:4045. [PMID: 30837500 PMCID: PMC6401135 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-019-39632-1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/13/2018] [Accepted: 01/22/2019] [Indexed: 11/16/2022] Open
Abstract
The Martian outflow channels comprise some of the largest known channels in the Solar System. Remote-sensing investigations indicate that cataclysmic floods likely excavated the channels ~3.4 Ga. Previous studies show that, in the southern circum-Chryse region, their flooding pathways include hundreds of kilometers of channel floors with upward gradients. However, the impact of the reversed channel-floor topography on the cataclysmic floods remains uncertain. Here, we show that these channel floors occur within a vast basin, which separates the downstream reaches of numerous outflow channels from the northern plains. Consequently, floods propagating through these channels must have ponded, producing an inland sea, before reaching the northern plains as enormous spillover discharges. The resulting paleohydrological reconstruction reinterprets the 1997 Pathfinder landing site as part of a marine spillway, which connected the inland sea to a hypothesized northern plains ocean. Our flood simulation shows that the presence of the sea would have permitted the propagation of low-depth floods beyond the areas of reversed channel-floor topography. These results explain the formation at the landing site of possible fluvial features indicative of flow depths at least an order of magnitude lower than those apparent from the analyses of orbital remote-sensing observations.
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Affiliation(s)
- J A P Rodriguez
- Planetary Science Institute, 1700 East Fort Lowell Road, Suite 106, Tucson, AZ, 85719-2395, USA.
| | - V R Baker
- Department of Hydrology & Atmospheric Sciences, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, 85721, USA
| | - T Liu
- Department of Hydrology & Atmospheric Sciences, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, 85721, USA
| | - M Zarroca
- External Geodynamics and Hydrogeology Group, Department of Geology, Autonomous University of Barcelona, 08193 Bellaterra, Barcelona, Spain
| | - B Travis
- Planetary Science Institute, 1700 East Fort Lowell Road, Suite 106, Tucson, AZ, 85719-2395, USA
| | - T Hui
- Department of Hydrology & Atmospheric Sciences, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, 85721, USA
| | - G Komatsu
- International Research School of Planetary Sciences, Università D'Annunzio, Viale Pindaro 42, 65127, Pescara, Italy
| | - D C Berman
- Planetary Science Institute, 1700 East Fort Lowell Road, Suite 106, Tucson, AZ, 85719-2395, USA
| | - R Linares
- External Geodynamics and Hydrogeology Group, Department of Geology, Autonomous University of Barcelona, 08193 Bellaterra, Barcelona, Spain
| | - M V Sykes
- Planetary Science Institute, 1700 East Fort Lowell Road, Suite 106, Tucson, AZ, 85719-2395, USA
| | - M E Banks
- Planetary Science Institute, 1700 East Fort Lowell Road, Suite 106, Tucson, AZ, 85719-2395, USA
- NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Goddard, MD, 20771, USA
| | - J S Kargel
- Planetary Science Institute, 1700 East Fort Lowell Road, Suite 106, Tucson, AZ, 85719-2395, USA
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Stoker CR, Cabrol NA, Roush TR, Moersch J, Aubele J, Barlow N, Bettis EA, Bishop J, Chapman M, Clifford S, Cockell C, Crumpler L, Craddock R, De Hon R, Foster T, Gulick V, Grin E, Horton K, Hovde G, Johnson JR, Lee PC, Lemmon MT, Marshall J, Newsom HE, Ori GG, Reagan M, Rice JW, Ruff SW, Schreiner J, Sims M, Smith PH, Tanaka K, Thomas HJ, Thomas G, Yingst RA. The 1999 Marsokhod rover mission simulation at Silver Lake, California: Mission overview, data sets, and summary of results. ACTA ACUST UNITED AC 2001. [DOI: 10.1029/1999je001178] [Citation(s) in RCA: 27] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/09/2022]
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Ivanov MA, Head JW. Chryse Planitia, Mars: Topographic configuration, outflow channel continuity and sequence, and tests for hypothesized ancient bodies of water using Mars Orbiter Laser Altimeter (MOLA) data. ACTA ACUST UNITED AC 2001. [DOI: 10.1029/2000je001257] [Citation(s) in RCA: 73] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/09/2022]
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Golombek MP, Anderson RC, Barnes JR, Bell JF, Bridges NT, Britt DT, Brückner J, Cook RA, Crisp D, Crisp JA, Economou T, Folkner WM, Greeley R, Haberle RM, Hargraves RB, Harris JA, Haldemann AFC, Herkenhoff KE, Hviid SF, Jaumann R, Johnson JR, Kallemeyn PH, Keller HU, Kirk RL, Knudsen JM, Larsen S, Lemmon MT, Madsen MB, Magalhães JA, Maki JN, Malin MC, Manning RM, Matijevic J, McSween HY, Moore HJ, Murchie SL, Murphy JR, Parker TJ, Rieder R, Rivellini TP, Schofield JT, Seiff A, Singer RB, Smith PH, Soderblom LA, Spencer DA, Stoker CR, Sullivan R, Thomas N, Thurman SW, Tomasko MG, Vaughan RM, Wänke H, Ward AW, Wilson GR. Overview of the Mars Pathfinder Mission: Launch through landing, surface operations, data sets, and science results. ACTA ACUST UNITED AC 1999. [DOI: 10.1029/98je02554] [Citation(s) in RCA: 108] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/09/2022]
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