Interactions of Intrusive Volcanism with Permafrost on Mars

Details Interactions of Intrusive Volcanism with Permafrost on Mars Interactions of Intrusive Volcanism with Permafrost on Mars

Aug 2000

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2000mpse.conf...47g&link_type=abstract

International Conference on Mars Polar Science and Exploration, p. 47

Biology

Mars (Planet), Mars Surface, Planetary Geology, Volcanology, Permafrost, Exobiology, Rock Intrusions, Snc Meteorites, Terrain, Water, Ice, Magma, Planetary Craters, Planetary Crusts

Scientific paper

Martian dike formation may have created swarms of linear faults and accompanied uplift and lithospheric extension, particularly around the Tharsis plateau. A model of dike emplacement and graben formation in the permafrost-capped crust showed that sufficient volumes of melt water could be generated to explain episodes of catastrophic flooding of Mars. The geologic youth of certain volcanic terrains from crater counts and the young radiometric ages of some Shergottites-Nakhlites-Chassignite (SNC) meteorites suggests that volcanism, and thus dike formation may be a global, ongoing occurrence on Mars, although surface expression may be subtle because of depth of intrusion or obscuration by subsequent deposition. The interaction of intrusive magmatic bodies and permafrost or ice is a complex, poorly studied process with few known terrestrial analogs. There is limited morphological evidence for cryomagmatic activity on Mars. However, ice-magma interactions may have played an important role in the subsurface chemical alteration of the crust, as suggested by the presence of weathering products in the SNC meteorites. In the absence of a catastrophic release, subsurface melt water above dikes was shown to persist for ten Myr before refreezing and thus is also of potential exobiological interest. Additional information is contained in the original extended abstract.

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