Computer Science
Scientific paper
Aug 2000
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2000mpse.conf..102l&link_type=abstract
International Conference on Mars Polar Science and Exploration, p. 102
Computer Science
Mars Surface, Mars (Planet), Planetary Geology, Topography, Geomorphology, Landforms, Analogies, Laser Altimeters, Water
Scientific paper
One of the most striking features of Mars are enormous channels and channel systems that shape its surface. Outflow channels more than 2000 km long and several 100 km wide reveal a vast amount of erosional landforms resembling terrestrial flood features. Runoff channels with dendritic networks and fretted channels with features resembling terrestrial rock glaciers show the variety of processes that shaped the landscape. Newly released Mars Orbiting Laser Altimeter (MOLA) tracks give a detailed insight in the development of the shape of cross sections along those Martian channels. We have studied numerous such cross sections (sometimes more than 100 per channel!) looking for the processes involved in the evolution of the channels. The MOLA data also allowed the generation of longitudinal profiles, by extracting the deepest points of all cross sections as given by the MOLA tracks.Cross sections of runoff channels (e.g. Nirgal Vallis) showed a striking similarity with terrestrial channel networks that were formed by sapping. They are U-shaped in the upper parts of the channels and box-shaped in the lower parts. They generally increase in width and depth downstream but often stagnate over long distances. No inner channels were found, possibly because of the limited vertical resolution of the MOLA tracks. The longitudinal profile of Nirgal Vallis shows a continuous downstream slope as one would expect from a channel formed by sapping as well as by surface runoff. These observations currently are compared with MOLA tracks of the more dendritic type of runoff channels hoping to find similarities or differences that might reveal more about the evolution of those channels and the processes involved.
Hebenstreit R.
Jaumann Ralf
Lanz Julia K.
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