Evolution of Martian polar landscapes - Interplay of long-term variations in perennial ice cover and dust storm intensity

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Dust Storms, Ice, Mars Surface, Planetary Evolution, Polar Caps, Landforms, Long Term Effects, Morphology, Topography, Evolution, Mars, Polar Regions, Seasons, Dust Storms, Annual Variations, Ice, Viking, Deposits, Dust, Wavelengths, Topography, Troughs, Models, Plains, Mapping, Layering, Scarps

Scientific paper

The discovery of a new type of Martian polar terrain, called undulating plain, is reported and the evolution of the plains and other areas of the Martian polar region is discussed in terms of the trapping of dust by the perennial ice cover. High-resolution Viking Orbiter 2 observations of the north polar terrain reveal perennially ice-covered surfaces with low relief, wavelike, regularly spaced, parallel ridges and troughs (undulating plains) occupying areas of the polar terrain previously thought to be flat, and associated with troughs of considerable local relief which exhibit at least partial annual melting. It is proposed that the wavelike topography of the undulating plains originates from long-term periodic variations in cyclical dust precipitation at the margin of a growing or receding perennial polar cap in response to changes in insolation. The troughs are proposed to originate from areas of steep slope in the undulating terrain which have lost their perennial ice cover and have become incapable of trapping dust. The polar landscape thus appears to record the migrations, expansions and contractions of the Martian polar cap.

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