Polar Wander of Mars: Evidence from Giant Impact Basins

Details Polar Wander of Mars: Evidence from Giant Impact Basins Polar Wander of Mars: Evidence from Giant Impact Basins

May 2009

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2009agusm.p31b..01a&link_type=abstract

American Geophysical Union, Spring Meeting 2009, abstract #P31B-01

Mathematics

Probability

5420 Impact Phenomena, Cratering (6022, 8136), 5450 Orbital And Rotational Dynamics (1221), 5462 Polar Regions, 5499 General Or Miscellaneous

Scientific paper

We investigate the polar wander of Mars in the last about 4 Gyr, since shortly before the formation of Tharsis bulge. We show that many of the 20 giant impact basins recently reported by Frey (2008) trace great circles on Mars and propose that the circles were the prevailing equators of Mars at the impact times. Four different tests are conducted based on the probability calculations and fitting planes to randomly chosen combinations of the basins to support our hypothesis. We identify three different rotation poles of Mars, besides the present one. Accordingly, Tharsis bulge was initially formed at ~50 degree north latitude. It then moved toward southwest and passed the equator while rotating counter clockwise due to influence of the two newly forming volcanic structures, Alba Patera and Elysium Rise. The formation of giant impact basins Argyre, Hellas, Isidis and Utopia and subsequent density perturbations due to the formations of mass concentrations (mascons) in Argyre, Isidis, and Utopia basins, and surface masses of volcanic mountains such as Ascraeus, Pavonis, Arsia and Olympus, caused further polar wander which rotated Tharsis bulge clockwise and move it slightly to the north to arrive at its present location. The complex polar motion of Mars suggests that the lithosphere was not strong enough on a global scale to prevent Tharsis crossing the equator, though it may have cooled and become strong later.

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