Physics
Scientific paper
Aug 2003
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2003jgre..108.5082w&link_type=abstract
Journal of Geophysical Research, Volume 108, Issue E8, pp. 1-1, CiteID 5082, DOI 10.1029/2002JE001927
Physics
15
Planetology: Solar System Objects: Mars, Volcanology: Eruption Mechanisms, Volcanology: Magma Migration, Volcanology: Ash Deposits, Volcanology: Planetary Volcanism (5480)
Scientific paper
Hrad Vallis is a ~370 m deep, ~800 km long depression located at 34°N, 218°W, in Elysium Planitia, Mars. A distinctive deposit, present on both sides of the source area of Hrad Vallis, has a maximum width of ~70 km along the strike of the depression, a lower unit extends for nearly 100 km away from the depression on either side, and an upper unit extends for ~50 km. Viking and Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) images show lobate deposit boundaries, rheomorphic deformation, and numerous craters 270-580 m in diameter within the deposit. The deposit coincides with a broad topographic rise ~30 km wide and ~100-150 m high extending along the sides of the valley for at least 100 km along strike. We propose that these features formed when a dike underlying the axis of the valley generated a shallow sill, which in turn is partly responsible for the rise topography. The remainder of the rise consists of a mud-like deposit of ejecta from a large-scale phreatomagmatic explosion due to violent mechanical and thermal mixing between the central part of the sill and ice-rich rock layers in the upper few hundred meters of the crust in a fuel-coolant-type interaction. The observed range and thickness of ejecta and the depth of the Hrad depression imply explosion steam pressures up to 360 MPa, ejecta speeds of ~400 m s-1, and a sill at least 150 m thick intruded at a depth of ~350-400 m below the original surface.
Mouginis-Mark Peter J.
Wilson Lionel
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