Physics
Scientific paper
Apr 2003
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2003eaeja.....8734s&link_type=abstract
EGS - AGU - EUG Joint Assembly, Abstracts from the meeting held in Nice, France, 6 - 11 April 2003, abstract #8734
Physics
Scientific paper
Temperatures in the Martian crust and regolith are influenced by radioactive heat sources, mantle heat flow, surface temperature and thermal conductivity. In most models to calculate the temperature distribution in the upper layers, the thermal conductivity is assumed to have a constant value in the range of 2 to 4 W/(mK). This approximation is appropriate as long as only a solid crust is considered. However, Mars, like the Moon, has a regolith layer, which can extend to a depth of around 10 km. In this layer there are large variations in porosity and structure, which directly lead to changes in thermal conductivity of several orders of magnitude. Especially layers of fine dust and strongly fractured crust near the surface can exhibit values of thermal conductivity as low as 0.001 and 0.1 W/(mK), respectively, due to the low atmospheric pressure on Mars. Although these layers of very low thermal conductivity are relatively thin - tens to a few hundreds of meters are assumed - they are of extreme importance for the temperature distribution in the crust and upper mantle. Furthermore, the thermal conductivity is not only influenced by porosity but also by temperature and pressure as Hofmeister (1999) described in a model for the terrestrial mantle. The porosity dependence can cause - along with the temperature dependence - the higher the temperatures the lower the thermal conductivity - a positive feedback: Low thermal conductivity, especially near the surface, leads to an increase in overall temperature, which hereupon reduces the thermal conductivity in crust and upper mantle. In our models we show the influence of low thermal conductivity in highly porous layers and fractured crust on the temperature distribution and consequently their impact on the melting depth of ice as well as on parameters like the elastic lithosphere thickness.
Breuer Doris
Schumacher Stefan
Seiferlin Karsten
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