Estimation of the Age of the Tharsis Volcanic Highrise on Mars From Long-Term Polar Wander Modeling

Details Estimation of the Age of the Tharsis Volcanic Highrise on Mars From Long-Term Polar Wander Modeling Estimation of the Age of the Tharsis Volcanic Highrise on Mars From Long-Term Polar Wander Modeling

Dec 2002

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2002agufm.p62a0360s&link_type=abstract

American Geophysical Union, Fall Meeting 2002, abstract #P62A-0360

Physics

6035 Orbital And Rotational Dynamics, 6055 Surfaces And Interiors, 6207 Comparative Planetology, 6225 Mars

Scientific paper

The Tharsis volcanic complex forms a dominant positive mass anomaly on the surface of Mars. Murray and Malin (1973) have suggested that the inertia perturbation formed by the growth of such a large mass excess has led to a secular long-term motion of the rotation axis of Mars, resulting in a net polar wander of 10° - 20° in the last hundred million years. The present location of the Tharsis complex around the Martian equator is envisioned to be a direct consequence of this long-term polar motion. More recently, Spada et al. (1996) have quantitatively shown that this long-term polar wandering on Mars is feasible indeed. We use Spada et al.'s long-term polar wander formulations, which are based on normal-mode viscoelastic relaxation models in combination with the Liouville equations, to constrain the age of the Tharsis highrise. The Mars model consists of an inviscid core, viscoelastic mantle and elastic lithosphere. Mantle viscosity, lithospheric thickness and formation history of the highrise are varied in the simulations. The set of solutions is constrained by the requirement that the highrise should reach the equator during its life-span and the polar wander should amount 10° - 20° in the last hundred million years. From these simulations we derive an age of the Tharsis construct of 130 - 340 million years, depending on Martian mantle viscosity, lithospheric thickness and formation history of the volcanic complex.

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