Plate Tectonics and the Long-Term Global Water Cycle of Mars

Details Plate Tectonics and the Long-Term Global Water Cycle of Mars Plate Tectonics and the Long-Term Global Water Cycle of Mars

Dec 2001

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2001agufm.p22a0539b&link_type=abstract

American Geophysical Union, Fall Meeting 2001, abstract #P22A-0539

Other

1899 General Or Miscellaneous, 5416 Glaciation, 5455 Origin And Evolution, 5475 Tectonics (8149), 6225 Mars

Scientific paper

The surface environment of the Earth has been largely controlled by plate tectonics and superplume activity since plate tectonics started ca. 4.0 Ga. We propose that the Mars surface environment was also strongly affected by plate tectonics in the Noachian, but subsequently the Tharsis superplume played the key role for the surface environment. The mantle-controlled surface environment would have been drastically changed after plate tectonics stopped at the end of the Noachian. Mars presently lies near the outer end of habitable zone of the solar system. The stability of liquid water on Mars has been critical not only for the evolution of life, but also for the planetary resurfacing process. In spite of the faint young sun, a wide and deep sea may have been stable in the Early Noachian Epoch, and an atmosphere rich in CO2 and SO2 present. We predict fate of carbonates and sulfates which may have been precipitated in the Noachian sea, based on Archean examples on the Earth. At Archean divergent plate boundaries, extensive hydrothermal systems operated to sink carbonate (dolomite-calcite) and sulfate (barite) in the upper 400m of oceanic crust and its cover. These moved horizontally to migrate to oceanic trenches, where they are subducted into the deeper mantle. Carbonate is strongly resistant and stable even at high geothermal gradients in the Archean, whereas most hydrous minerals are not stable. The breakdown of water must have occurred above 70 km depth. This caused a rapid decrease of XCO2 and XSO2 in the atmosphere and ocean, thereby producing a frozen surface on Mars. Volcanic fields at plate boundaries would have served as excellent areas for life. In the Late Noachian, surface water would have decreased in amount because of return-flow of seawater into mantle. As a result, the mantle transition zone from 1280 to 1800km would have become a potential water reservoir with time. Mars' mantle must have been locally hydrated from surface to the near bottom of mantle by the Late Noachian. From this hydrated mantle, the Tharsis superplume was born after cessation of plate tectonics. This was a critical time for the global material circulation on Mars. Since then, the Tharsis superplume has been the prime agent to transport mantle CO2 and water to the surface. Episodic activity of the superplume was responsible for short periods of climate change, surface water phenomena, and recent volcanism. Key words: Mars, plate tectonics, C-S cycle, glaciation, life

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