Mathematics – Logic
Scientific paper
Dec 2010
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2010agufm.p51b1432h&link_type=abstract
American Geophysical Union, Fall Meeting 2010, abstract #P51B-1432
Mathematics
Logic
[5480] Planetary Sciences: Solid Surface Planets / Volcanism, [6225] Planetary Sciences: Solar System Objects / Mars
Scientific paper
The Hrad Vallis outflow channel heads on the northern flanks of Elysium Mons, one of the largest volcanoes on Mars. The head of the system is marked by a complex set of elongate depressions oriented radially to the central peak of Elysium Mons. The system is relatively simple, consisting of a single sinuous channel over much of its 1450 km length. Channel floors are mainly 50 to 430 m below adjacent plains, with local channel relief progressively diminishing as the distal parts of the system fade into the ridged plains of Utopia Planitia. Hrad Vallis possesses a range of characteristics typical of Martian outflow channels, including anastamosing reaches, streamlined erosional residuals, and channel terraces. Though much of the channel region is thinly mantled by sediments of aeolian or volcanic origin, local exposures of channel floors at Hrad Vallis show features including ridged and platy flows, shear zones, wake forms, and levees. The Hrad Vallis system is widely interpreted as having developed through large aqueous outbursts from the subsurface, but such origins are not congruous with the absence of clear deposits of fluvial or diluvial character, the relatively high elevation of the system head, mineralogical evidence that is suggestive of dry Martian conditions over much of the Hesperian and Amazonian, and the absence of realistic analog processes for development of large channel systems through aqueous outbursts from aquifers. Instead, the characteristics of the Hrad Vallis system are consistent with origins involving incision by low-viscosity lavas of mafic composition. The system heads on the flanks of a large shield volcano, terminates at extensive ridged volcanic plains, shows evidence for having been a conduit for large volumes of lava, and possesses contextual and morphological properties analogous to those of large volcanic channels of the Moon and Venus. Development of Hrad Valles is estimated to have involved eruption of approximately 100,000 cubic kilometers of basaltic lava.
Hopper John
Leverington David W.
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