Mathematics – Logic
Scientific paper
Dec 2002
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2002agufm.p12a0360r&link_type=abstract
American Geophysical Union, Fall Meeting 2002, abstract #P12A-0360
Mathematics
Logic
1829 Groundwater Hydrology, 5420 Impact Phenomena (Includes Cratering), 5462 Polar Regions, 5470 Surface Materials And Properties, 6225 Mars
Scientific paper
Current theory on the martian hydrological cycle suggests liquid groundwater may exist beneath a confining cryosphere to depths of > 10 km [Clifford, S.M., 1993, J. Geophys. Res., 98, 10973]. This framework allows geologic tests of the subsurface hydrosphere to be made based on the concept that cryosphere disruption by geologic processes should enable groundwater under hydrostatic pressure to flow to the surface. Lyot crater (215 km diameter) in the northern lowlands is large enough to have physically and thermally breached the local cryosphere in a region where low planetary elevation implies hydrostatic pressure head should be greatest. Lack of evidence of hydrologic activity at Lyot suggests one or more of the following: 1) no groundwater is present beneath the cryosphere, 2) the pore space available to water is frozen all the way through (> 10 km), 3) the upper crust is not well interconnected, 4) refreezing rates are fast enough to "reseal" the cryosphere before flow to the surface occurs, 5) impacts are not effective at disrupting the cryosphere and/or providing groundwater access to the surface. Subsequent similar investigation of the ten next-largest craters (> 45 km diameter) in the northern lowlands reveals that results and implications gathered at Lyot are not due to a local anomaly but reflect conditions over ~ 20 % of the planet. Two possible exceptions are filled craters at 70 degrees N which may have been filled by 1) impact-release and freezing of groundwater, or 2) deposition of volatiles in crater cold-traps, similar to processes acting in the nearby north polar cap. While the latter is suggested by correlation of filled craters with latitude in our sample, we have undertaken further modeling to distinguish between these two processes.
Head James W.
Russell Patrick S.
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