Mathematics – Logic
Scientific paper
Dec 2005
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2005agufm.p13b0145m&link_type=abstract
American Geophysical Union, Fall Meeting 2005, abstract #P13B-0145
Mathematics
Logic
0702 Permafrost (0475), 0710 Periglacial Processes, 1616 Climate Variability (1635, 3305, 3309, 4215, 4513), 1625 Geomorphology And Weathering (0790, 1824, 1825, 1826, 1886), 6225 Mars
Scientific paper
The identification of sources of water on Mars will be critical to the successful exploration of the planet and the establishment of a permanent presence by humans. While the Martian polar ice caps contain up to 70% water by mass, the extreme climate of these regions means that they may not be suitable for habitation. As a result, other sites must be identified where access to water is possible. Recent evidence has emerged that suggests sand dunes on Mars may contain 40-50% water by mass (Bourke 2005). In this paper, we present niveo-aeolian features observed in the sand dunes of the Victoria Valley, Antarctica, which have long been considered an Earth analogue for those on Mars (Morris et al. 1972). These features include cornices of permafrosted sand in dune-crest deflation hollows, exposed erosion resistant frozen water and sand lenses, wet sand flows and seeps. We also report on the morphological characteristics of sand sink holes which form in chains above layers of buried, melting and/or sublimating snow. This process is apparently reliant on the melting of inter-grain ice bonds and subsequent formation of a dry mobile sand layer on the dune surface. These micro-morphological features associated with summertime denivation of the Victoria Valley sand dunes, which are 5 to 10 m high and several hundred meters in crest length, are too small to identify on air photographs, satellite imagery and LIDAR DEMS of these transverse barchanoid ridges. However, on Mars where sand dunes are 1 to 2 orders of magnitude larger, these features may be identifiable if solid water exists within them, as suggested by Bourke (2005). Perhaps of greater importance, they may indicate the presence of buried palaeo-snow layers which have been preserved beneath the erosion resistant permafrosted sand dunes on Mars. We believe that the formation and subsequent exposure of these snow layers is the primary cause of the denivation features present in the polar dunes of the Victoria Valley, Antarctica. References: Bourke, M.C. 2005: Water on Mars. The Halstead Lecture, British Association for the Advancement of Science, Trinity College, Dublin, September 2005. Morris, E.C., Mutch, T.A. and Holt, H.E. 1972: Atlas of geologic features in the Dry Valleys of South Victoria Land, Antarctica: Possible analogs of Martian surface features. Interagency report: Astrogeology 52. Prepared under NASA contract L-9718 by the Geological Survey.
McGowan Hamish A.
Neil Douglas
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