Mathematics – Logic
Scientific paper
Mar 1996
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=1996lpi....27.1495z&link_type=abstract
Lunar and Planetary Science, volume 27, page 1495
Mathematics
Logic
Gordii Dorsum, Ignimbrites, Medusae Fossae, Photoclinometry, Processing: Image
Scientific paper
Massive deposits in the Amazonis Planitia region of Mars, distributed within 12 degrees S to 18 degrees N latitude and 125 degrees to 220 degrees W longitude, have been mapped regionally as the Medusae Fossae Formation (MFF). They have been subdivided locally into from three to seven separate units. Several hypotheses have been published concerning the possible formation mechanism for these unique deposits. Recently four Mars Transverse Mercator (MTM) sheets at 1:500,000 scale were approved by NASA for systematic geologic mapping, with the goal of obtaining constraints on the hypotheses of formation of these materials. Base map materials were only recently received, but here we report on an initial investigation of the excellent Viking images (orbits 462 to 473 of the Survey Mission, with 30-33 m/pixel resolution) available for large portions of the Medusae Fossae materials. Digital processing and mosaicing of selected images reveals remarkable evidence of intense aeolian erosion; the Medusae Fossae materials apparently are extremely friable and easily removed by the wind. Several exhumed surfaces, exposed once MFF materials have been partially to completely stripped away, show apparently pristine morphology of lava flow fronts and impact craters. The preservation of these delicate morphologies after both burial by and exhumation from beneath the MFF place some useful constraints on the physical properties of these materials. Photoclinometry of several partially exhumed impact craters and erosional scarps of MFF indicate minimum thicknesses of 200-300 m for these materials SE of the Gordii Dorsum feature. Efforts are underway to compare the MFF to the Los Frailes ignimbrite in Bolivia as a test of the ignimbrite hypothesis of origin for the Martian materials.
Crown D.
Jenson D.
Zimbelman James
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