Affiliation:
1. Department of Earth and Planetary Science Birkbeck University of London London UK
2. Department of Earth Sciences Space and Planetary Science Center Khalifa University Abu Dhabi United Arab Emirates
3. Department of Geography and Earth Sciences Aberystwyth University Aberystwyth UK
4. School of Environmental Sciences University of Liverpool Liverpool UK
Abstract
AbstractGlacier‐Like Forms (GLFs) are a subset of ice‐rich landforms known as Viscous Flow Features that populate Mars' mid‐latitudes. GLFs are morphologically similar to terrestrial valley glaciers and are thought to result from the redistribution of water ice from the Martian poles during periods of high obliquity throughout the Amazonian period. Their ages, formation, and evolutionary processes are poorly constrained. We selected the 100 largest GLFs from the most recent GLF population data set, and by analyzing their superimposing crater morphologies and populations, we calculated their Crater Retention Ages (CRAs) and identified any relationships between CRAs, crater morphologies, and GLF geometries. We also organized the crater morphologies into states of degradation based on the understood erosional sequences. 3,630 craters were mapped, which we classified into 15 different crater morphologies. We calculated 98 CRAs, ranging from ∼2.88 Ma to ∼3.5 Ga. On average, GLFs in the southern hemisphere have younger CRAs, higher average slopes, smaller crater populations, and show less variability in crater morphological development than in the northern hemisphere. GLFs with higher mean slopes display less crater morphology variety, suggesting that shallow GLFs experience less reworking than steeper GLFs. We propose that these regional and hemispheric differences are due to a combination of favorable topography and climate conditions, both during and between high obliquity periods. We present several scenarios for the GLFs observed in this study and suggest that the glacial and erosional processes that affect GLF evolution are likely locale‐dependent.
Funder
Birkbeck, University of London
Publisher
American Geophysical Union (AGU)