Physics
Scientific paper
Apr 1971
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=1971pepi....4..273w&link_type=abstract
Physics of the Earth and Planetary Interiors, Volume 4, Issue 3, p. 273-285.
Physics
1
Scientific paper
Recent radar and spectroscopic determinations of topographic heights on Mars reveal that the planet possesses a distribution of surface harmonics similar to that of the Earth. This similarity is manifested in the dominance of the first five harmonics with a rapid decline of higher order terms. An independent study of the Martian grid pattern, composed of lineaments known as the ``Martian canals'', indicates the possible presence of convection currents within the Martian mantle. The distribution of areas of rising and descending currents provides a rough estimate of the stress fields in the Martian crust which can explain the position of the sub-equatorial dark maria, a zone now known to be partly composed of continental-type blocks, in terms of a southerly continental drift. These stress regions also suggest that the northern hemisphere feature Mare Acidalium could have formed in a manner similar to the convection hypothesis of the origin of terrestrial mid-oceanic ridges, that the south pole may be a mountainous area, and in general that the Martian linear features are related to tectonic zones of weakness. Other observed features also find a natural explanation in their origin in terms of the harmonics of an internal convection pattern. In this category may be included those surface features recently detected by the author with the aid of CO2 abundance measurements over discrete areas of the planet in light reflected in the 1.05 μm band. Operated by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, Inc., under contract with the National Science Foundation.
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