Physics
Scientific paper
May 2001
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2001georl..28.1787m&link_type=abstract
Geophysical Research Letters, Volume 28, Issue 9, p. 1787-1790
Physics
26
Planetology: Solid Surface Planets: Physical Properties Of Materials, Planetology: Solar System Objects: Comparative Planetology, Planetology: Solar System Objects: Mars
Scientific paper
We propose that the disruption of supermafrost aquifers on Mars by the thermal- or pressure-induced dissociation of methane hydrate may have been a frequent trigger for initiating outflow channel activity. This possibility is raised by recent work that suggests that significant amounts of methane and gas hydrate may have been produced within and beneath the planet's cryosphere. On Earth, the build-up of overpressured water and gas by the decomposition of hydrate deposits has been implicated in the formation of large blow-out features on the ocean floor. These features display a remarkable resemblance (in both morphology and scale) to the chaotic terrain found at the source of many Martian channels. The destabilization of hydrate can generate pressures sufficient to disrupt aquifers confined by up to 5 kilometers of frozen ground, while smaller discharges may result from the water produced by the decomposition of near-surface hydrate alone.
Clifford Stephen M.
Max Michael D.
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