Evaluation of Melting Process of the Permafrost on Mars: Its Implication for Surface Features

Details Evaluation of Melting Process of the Permafrost on Mars: Its Implication for Surface Features Evaluation of Melting Process of the Permafrost on Mars: Its Implication for Surface Features

Dec 2002

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2002agufm.p12a0359o&link_type=abstract

American Geophysical Union, Fall Meeting 2002, abstract #P12A-0359

Physics

1823 Frozen Ground, 1884 Water Supply, 6225 Mars

Scientific paper

For supplying massive liquid water to the outflow channels, igneous melting of the permafrost layer could have played a significant role. We numerically simulate the melting process of the permafrost layer induced by magmatic intrusion. The point of our simulation is incorporation of thermal convection in porous media, which has not been modeled well in previous studies of the melting of the permafrost. Our results show that convection in the molten zone causes drastic change in heat transfer, which results in focussing in the growth of the melt region and enhancement of water generation. The resulting melt zone extends vertically up just next to the surface, like a plume with a single column (mushroom structure). The volume of molten water is considerably more than that expected in the conduction case. These characteristics suggest that a substantial amount of water should exist very near to the surface. We consider compaction should have occurred and segregated liquid water would erupt to the ground to form the fluvial features. The event would certainly accompany surface destruction, which we can see as chaotic terrains. We propose a consistent scenario of forming surface features around the outflow channels. We compare the above mentioned model with the martian morphology utilizing the MOLA (Mars Orbiter Laser Altimeter) data. We also discuss the process of forming closed depressions of various scales such as chasma and pit as well as chaos, being based on the observational data.

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