Age and origin of the lowlands of Mars

Details Age and origin of the lowlands of Mars Age and origin of the lowlands of Mars

Apr 2004

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2004icar..168..277f&link_type=abstract

Icarus, Volume 168, Issue 2, p. 277-284.

Mathematics

Logic

15

Surface, Cratering, Magnetic Fields, Tectonics

Scientific paper

One of the many significant findings of the Mars Global Surveyor mission is the presence of hundreds of quasi-circular depressions (QCDs) observed from high-resolution MOLA topography data. Their presence has recently been interpreted to reflect a northern lowlands that archive some of the earliest recorded rocks on Mars, mostly below a veneer of Hesperian and Amazonian materials. Here we analyze these data, coupled with a recent synthesis of geologic, geophysical, geomorphic, topographic, and magnetic information. Such analysis allows us to suggest a potential plate tectonic phase during the recorded Early into Middle Noachian martian history that transitioned into a monoplate world with episodic magmatic-driven activity persisting to present. This working hypothesis is based on: (1) the observation that the basement of the northern plains is younger than the basement of the southern highlands, but older than the material exposures of the cratered highlands, suggesting different formational ages for each one of the three geologic-time units; (2) the observation that parts of the very ancient highland's crust are highly magnetized, thus suggesting that most if not all of the formation of the lowlands basement postdates the shut off of the martian dynamo, some 4 Gyr ago, and so allowing hundreds of millions of years for the shaping of the buried lowlands. Consequently, the role of endogenic processes in the earliest geological evolution of Mars (Early perhaps into Middle Noachian) requires reconsideration, since MOLA topographic and MGS magnetic data afford a temporal window sufficient for very early, non-primordial shaping of the northern lowlands' basement.

Affiliated with

Also associated with

No associations

Rating

Age and origin of the lowlands of Mars 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 Age and origin of the lowlands of Mars, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Age and origin of the lowlands of Mars will most certainly appreciate the feedback.

Rate now

Comments { 0 }

Profile ID: LFWR-SCP-O-735572