Mathematics – Logic
Scientific paper
Jul 2003
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2003psrd.repte..74m&link_type=abstract
Planetary Science Research Discoveries
Mathematics
Logic
Mars, Ocean, Channels, Shorelines, Northern Lowlands, Hesperian, Vastitas Borealis Formation
Scientific paper
The role of water in the origin and evolution of landforms on Mars has been a main topic of planetary science research for at least the past 30 years, certainly since Mariner 9 images first showed large winding channels. The ancient immense floods that presumably formed the channels would have left behind large bodies of water at the ends of the channels. Where the bodies of water might have been, their size, or even evidence of their existence have been debated ever since. PSRD continues its coverage of water-related issues on Mars with a summary of an updated review of the evidence and possible fate of Martian oceans in the northern plains by Michael Carr (U. S. Geological Survey, Menlo Park) and James Head III (Brown University). They examined the features previously mapped as shorelines by Timothy Parker (Jet Propulsion Lab) and colleagues but found that more compelling evidence for the past presence of large bodies of water are deposits within the northern plains. They cite specifically the veneer of material of Upper Hesperian age called the Vastitas Borealis Formation (VBF). This knobby-textured surface is interpreted to be the sublimation residue from ponded flood runoff. There are multiple theories about what would have happened to the water in the northern oceans (which they predict had a volume of about 2.3x107 km3). Carr and Head suggest that some of it, about 30%, could have been lost to space by sublimation, almost 20% could be in the present polar caps, and the rest could be trapped in other volatile-rich surface deposits or redistributed in the groundwater system.
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