Mathematics – Logic
Scientific paper
Dec 2010
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2010agufm.p52b..08z&link_type=abstract
American Geophysical Union, Fall Meeting 2010, abstract #P52B-08
Mathematics
Logic
[0798] Cryosphere / Modeling, [5422] Planetary Sciences: Solid Surface Planets / Ices, [6225] Planetary Sciences: Solar System Objects / Mars
Scientific paper
Several lines of evidence indicate that the volume of shallow ground ice in the Martian high latitudes exceeds the pore volume of the host regolith. Boynton et al. (2002) found an optimal fit to the Mars Odyssey Gamma Ray Spectrometer (GRS) data at the Phoenix landing site by modeling a buried layer of 50-75% ice by mass (up to 90% by volume). Thermal and optical observations of recent impact craters in the northern hemisphere have revealed nearly pure ice. Ice deposits containing only 1-2% soil by volume were excavated by Phoenix. The leading hypothesis for the origin of this excess, or segregated, ice is that it developed in situ by a mechanism analogous to the formation of terrestrial ice lenses and needle ice. Problematically, terrestrial soil-ice segregation is driven by freeze/thaw cycling and the movement of bulk water, which are not expected to have occurred in the geologically recent past on Mars. We have developed a numerical model that applies the physics of pre-melting to track phase partitioning in soil pore spaces and test for conditions under which ice lenses could initiate. Our results indicate that diurnal cycling in the ice-cemented regolith and resultant pressure gradients in thin films at grain-ice interfaces can cause interparticle forces to unload, initiating an ice lens at temperatures as low as 245 K. These results indicate that in situ ice segregation may have occurred on Mars in the recent past, and that geologically young ice lenses may account for much of observed excess ice.
Rempel Alan W.
Sizemore Hanna G.
Zent Aaron
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