Repeated Cycles of Flank Growth and Collapse on Olympus Mons, Mars: Comparisons to Hawaiian Volcanoes

Details Repeated Cycles of Flank Growth and Collapse on Olympus Mons, Mars: Comparisons to Hawaiian Volcanoes Repeated Cycles of Flank Growth and Collapse on Olympus Mons, Mars: Comparisons to Hawaiian Volcanoes

Dec 2004

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2004agufmos23b1318m&link_type=abstract

American Geophysical Union, Fall Meeting 2004, abstract #OS23B-1318

Other

8450 Planetary Volcanism (5480), 8149 Planetary Tectonics (5475), 5400 Planetology: Solid Surface Planets, 5757 Remote Sensing, 3045 Seafloor Morphology And Bottom Photography

Scientific paper

The origin of the rough-textured aureoles that surround the immense Olympus Mons volcano on Mars is controversial. We present data from the Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) mission to demonstrate that at least two of the aureole lobes are derived from the volcano's flanks in large, likely catastrophic, mass movement events, leaving behind headwalls that constitute the basal scarp. We have identified evidence linking blocky structures in the north and northeast aureole lobes to the surface of the Olympus Mons edifice, thereby favoring a mass-movement flank-failure origin for these structures. Specifically, parallel lineations on the upper surfaces of some aureole blocks resemble the leveed or channelized lava flows that are ubiquitous on the surface of the Olympus Mons edifice. Other lineations seen on aureole block surfaces may be the remnants of faults such as those seen at the margin of the Olympus Mons edifice, near the top of the basal scarp. We have determined a plausible pre-failure geometry for the edifice by matching the volume of a reconstructed edifice section to that of the North aureole lobe. A modest ( ˜60 km) northward expansion of the current edifice is sufficient to account for the volume of the landslide that formed the North lobe, demonstrating that repeated failure events of an edifice not greatly different in size or shape from the present one are capable of generating the observed aureole deposits. The Hawaiian Islands offer structural analogs to the Olympus Mons aureole deposits (Nuuanu slide), basal scarp faults (the Pali faults) and lower edifice benches (the Hilina slump). We suggest that a basal detachment enabled by high pore fluid pressure, as inferred for Hawaiian volcanoes, allowed flank failure and aureole emplacement at Olympus Mons. Evidence for analogous flank failure processes on Mars and Earth demonstrate that repeated failures and outward spreading are universal phenomena on volcanic constructs.

Affiliated with

Also associated with

No associations

Rating

Repeated Cycles of Flank Growth and Collapse on Olympus Mons, Mars: Comparisons to Hawaiian Volcanoes does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this scientific paper.

If you have personal experience with Repeated Cycles of Flank Growth and Collapse on Olympus Mons, Mars: Comparisons to Hawaiian Volcanoes, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Repeated Cycles of Flank Growth and Collapse on Olympus Mons, Mars: Comparisons to Hawaiian Volcanoes will most certainly appreciate the feedback.

Rate now

Comments { 0 }

Profile ID: LFWR-SCP-O-1456119