Flow and Mass Balance History of the Martian North Polar Layered Deposits: Prospective Tests from Imminent Radar-Stratigraphic Observations

Details Flow and Mass Balance History of the Martian North Polar Layered Deposits: Prospective Tests from Imminent Radar-Stratigraphic Observations Flow and Mass Balance History of the Martian North Polar Layered Deposits: Prospective Tests from Imminent Radar-Stratigraphic Observations

Dec 2006

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2006agufm.p31a0113w&link_type=abstract

American Geophysical Union, Fall Meeting 2006, abstract #P31A-0113

Computer Science

Sound

5416 Glaciation, 5462 Polar Regions, 5464 Remote Sensing

Scientific paper

We have recently shown that inter-trough surface topography on Titania Lobe conforms, with high accuracy, to the topography expected for ice that flows from high on the ice cap, through an accumulation zone to an equilibrium line, and then through an ablation zone to the ice edge. (Following Pathare and Paige, we use the term Titania Lobe for the lobe of the North Polar Layered Deposits, or NPLD, that bounds Chasma Boreale to the south.) We interpret this observation as evidence for past ice flow as a primary agent in shaping Titania Lobe. However, the flow model that reproduces inter-trough topography requires ice to flow in the spaces where troughs currently incise the ice cap, i.e., in spaces that are today occupied by the Martian atmosphere. We therefore infer that troughs postdate inter-trough topography, and that trough formation rates were, or are, fast relative to flow rates. This scenario implies not only a history of flow, but also a change in the spatial pattern and role of mass balance in shaping topography of the NPLD. Key questions are thus: What observations can test this scenario conclusively? And, if further observations favor the scenario, when did the change in surface mass balance occur? Comparison of modeled internal surfaces of constant age (isochrones) with observations of internal stratigraphy by the MARSIS and SHARAD radar sounders can be used to test our hypothesis that troughs incise pre- existing stratigraphy. Specifically, relationships between surface and layer elevations and slopes at locations between troughs (i.e., away from exposures at trough faces) discriminate our scenario from other proposed mass balance and flow regimes. We will show how observations of internal layers can be used to estimate historical mass balance parameters, e.g., equilibrium line positions and, with the addition of modeled englacial temperatures, flow rates and mass fluxes. Finally, we identify diagnostic locations on the NPLD to distinguish between historical scenarios.

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