Mathematics – Logic
Scientific paper
Dec 2001
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2001agufm.u12b..05h&link_type=abstract
American Geophysical Union, Fall Meeting 2001, abstract #U12B-05
Mathematics
Logic
1833 Hydroclimatology, 5407 Atmospheres: Evolution, 5416 Glaciation, 6225 Mars
Scientific paper
There is clear evidence for standing bodies of water in different places and at different times in the history of Mars. The martian outflow channels debouched into the northern lowlands primarily in the Late Hesperian Period and their characteristics suggest to many workers that a large standing body of water, or ocean, was produced as a result. Characteristics of northern lowland deposits in the Early Amazonian Period suggest that by this time such an ocean was gone. What would be the fate of such standing bodies of water under climatic conditions similar to the present? The evolution of water loaded with sediments emplaced by outflow channel formation would include three phases. (1) Violent emplacement of warm water followed by a short period of intensive evaporation and convection. Water vapor would strongly influence the climate, at least for a geologically short time; when the water reached 277 K, boiling and intensive convection ceased and sediments were deposited. (2) Geologically fast (104years) freezing accompanied by weak convective water movement. (3) Sublimation of the ice lasted longer than freezing, but for a geologically short period. The rate and latitudinal dependence of sublimation, and locations of water vapor condensation, crucially depend on planetary obliquity, climate, and sediment veneering of the ice. Several observations support the hypothesis that the Late Hesperian Vastitas Borealis Formation is the sublimation residue of the ocean. Geological evidence has been cited to support a `warm, wet' era in the earlier Noachian Period (e.g., valley networks, degradation rates, etc.) and standing bodies of water under these earlier conditions have different origins and could have significantly longer residence times. Critical assessment of this evidence leads to several scenarios for the emplacement style, location and fate of water on early Mars, and the important transition to conditions similar to those of today. Candidate early Mars emplacement styles include: 1) pluvial, 2) sapping and groundwater recharge, 3) ice sheet meltback, 4) global hydrostatic equilibrium, and 5) cryospheric seal disruption. We examine evidence for these mechanism for formation of standing bodies of water in the history of Mars, and assess their fate. Examples range in age from Noachian to Late Amazonian.
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