Organized Stone Stripes in the Northern Plains of Mars

Details Organized Stone Stripes in the Northern Plains of Mars Organized Stone Stripes in the Northern Plains of Mars

Dec 2008

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2008agufm.p33b1467m&link_type=abstract

American Geophysical Union, Fall Meeting 2008, abstract #P33B-1467

Physics

5462 Polar Regions, 5464 Remote Sensing, 5470 Surface Materials And Properties

Scientific paper

Polygonally-patterned ground at scales of meters to tens of meters is nearly ubiquitous in the northern plains of Mars. Collections of cobble to boulder-sized clasts are commonly found superimposed on polygonal terrain in a regular pattern that resembles the surface of a basketball [Mellon et al., 2008; Malin and Edgett, 2001]. Here we describe a variation of this basketball terrain, dubbed "stone stripes," in which piles of clastic debris are arranged into a series of parallel to subparallel ridges spaced at intervals of ~40 m. Stone stripes appear to be continuous or nearly continuous over areas of tens to hundreds of square kilometers. This type of landform is most prevalent poleward of ~70°N latitude, at the northern margin of Utopia Planitia . We hypothesize that the orientation of stone stripes is controlled by regional structures, such as wrinkle ridges. First results from a survey of THEMIS VIS images within the area from 60°N-80°N and from 70°E-130°E show no obvious correlation between wrinkle ridge orientation and the orientation of stone stripes. Work is ongoing to further characterize the orientation of stone stripes in relation to regional structures and local and regional topographic slopes. Mellon et al., (2008), Periglacial landforms at the Phoenix landing site and the northern plains of Mars, Journal of Geophysical Research, doi:10.1029/2007JE003039, in press. Malin and Edgett, (2001), Mars global surveyor mars orbiter camera: Interplanetary cruise through primary mission, Journal of Geophysical Research, 106, 23429-23570.

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