Other
Scientific paper
Dec 2011
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2011agufm.p21b1664h&link_type=abstract
American Geophysical Union, Fall Meeting 2011, abstract #P21B-1664
Other
[5480] Planetary Sciences: Solid Surface Planets / Volcanism, [6225] Planetary Sciences: Solar System Objects / Mars, [8425] Volcanology / Effusive Volcanism, [8450] Volcanology / Planetary Volcanism
Scientific paper
The history of the Martian surface and atmosphere, and therefore its habitability, is tied to its internal evolution. The investigation of the volcanic surface record can constrain models of this evolution. While the morphology and, to some degree, the composition of volcanic materials on Mars is relatively well known, the rates of volcanic activity are still poorly constrained. Crater size-frequency distributions of volcanic surface units indicate that volcanism on Mars was active until the last few tens of million years, and perhaps even more recently, but the amount of erupted material is difficult to quantify. Since typically no subsurface information is available, the thickness of emplaced eruption products such as lava flows can only be determined indirectly. One such method is the identification of older impact craters which have been embayed by younger lava flows. The cumulative thickness of these lava flows must be less than the rim height of the crater, otherwise the latter would not be visible anymore. Since the rim height of craters can be inferred from their diameter by empirical relationships, the diameter of an embayed crater thus provides the maximum cumulative thickness of all lava flows emplaced since its formation. We focus on the recent volcanic history of the Tharsis region, the largest volcano-tectonic province on Mars. A search for embayed craters, using THEMIS-IR, HRSC, and CTX images, revealed more than 1,500 embayed craters in the Late Amazonian terrains of Tharsis. We selected about 325 craters for closer inspection, with diameters of 2.5 to 72.7 km. For many of them, we mapped lava flows around them and determined their absolute model ages by crater counts. The combination of these ages with the cumulative thickness provides estimates on the production rate of recent volcanism. We will also discuss the possible amount of volatiles released into the atmosphere by this late volcanic activity.
Arnold Luc
Hauber Ernst
Platz Thomas
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