Physics
Scientific paper
Dec 2010
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2010agufmdi43a1953s&link_type=abstract
American Geophysical Union, Fall Meeting 2010, abstract #DI43A-1953
Physics
[3672] Mineralogy And Petrology / Planetary Mineralogy And Petrology, [5430] Planetary Sciences: Solid Surface Planets / Interiors, [8147] Tectonophysics / Planetary Interiors, [8450] Volcanology / Planetary Volcanism
Scientific paper
The volcanic activity on the surface of Mars is directly related to its thermal evolution and to the melting potential of its mantle. The evolution and factors that affect the extent and concentration of a melt zone below the Martian surface are investigated using a 1D parameterized model that couples mantle convection with volatile cycling. Two hypotheses regarding the geologic evolution of the planet are examined: a brief stage of plate tectonics followed by stagnant lid convection for most of martian history or a continuous stagnant lid condition through its entire evolution. The rate of volatile degassing to the atmosphere by volcanic processes is scaled with the extent, depth and concentration of the melt in the potential melt zone. Water circulating back into the mantle is assumed to occur only in the plate tectonics stage through lithospheric recycling. The melt zone extent is controlled also by the parameterization chosen for the solidus and liquidus P-T dependence and thus by the assumed composition of the Martian mantle. The magmatic history is affected by the planetary cooling history and thus indirectly by the mantle viscosity. These factors constitute a complex feedback relationship. The results from numeric simulations show the melt zone evolution is controlled by the mantle temperature and by the bulk concentration of water in the mantle. The mantle temperature constrains the outgassing process from both directions. If the mantle is too hot, an extended melt zone is generated but the melt would be depleted in volatiles. On the other hand, cold mantle would produce a melt rich in volatiles but a shrunken melt zone. Another potentially important element is sodium, which also has a significant control on the solidus temperature. Sodium is moderately incompatible and thus migrates to the crust during volcanism. We are studying its effect on the magmatic history using a similar parameterized model. One important difference between water and sodium is that they have very different partition coefficients and thus the rate at which they migrate from the mantle to the crust is different. The thermal evolution scenarios obtained using different parameterizations and composition assumptions are presented and tested against the information regarding both ancient and recent volcanism on the planet.
Kiefer Walter Scott
Sandu Constantin
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