The Hellas Basin on Mars has the Remnants of an Ocean Frozen Within

Salt or ice diapirism origin for the honeycomb terrain in Hellas basin, Mars?: Implications for the early martian climate

Authors:

Weiss et al

Abstract:

The “honeycomb” terrain is a Noachian-aged cluster of ∼7 km wide linear cell-like depressions located on the northwestern floor of Hellas basin, Mars. A variety of origins have been proposed for the honeycomb terrain, including deformation rings of subglacial sediment, frozen convection cells from a Hellas impact melt sheet, a swarm of igneous batholiths, salt diapirism, and ice diapirism. Recent work has shown that the salt or ice diapirism scenarios appear to be most consistent with the morphology and morphometry of the honeycomb terrain. The salt and ice diapirism scenarios have different implications for the ancient martian climate and hydrological cycle, and so distinguishing between the two scenarios is critical. In this study, we specifically test whether the honeycomb terrain is consistent with a salt or ice diapir origin. We use thermal modeling to assess the stability limits on the thickness of an ice or salt diapir-forming layer at depth within the Hellas basin. We also apply analytical models for diapir formation to evaluate the predicted diapir wavelengths in order to compare with observations. Ice diapirism is generally predicted to reproduce the observed honeycomb wavelengths for ∼100 m to ∼1 km thick ice deposits. Gypsum and kieserite diapirism is generally predicted to reproduce the observed honeycomb wavelengths for ≥ 600–1000 m thick salt deposits, but only with a basaltic overburden. Halite diapirism generally requires approx. ≥ 1 km thick halite deposits in order to reproduce the observed honeycomb wavelengths. Hellas basin is a distinctive environment for diapirism on Mars due to its thin crust (which reduces surface heat flux), low elevation (which allows Hellas to act as a water/ice/sediment sink and increases the surface temperature), and location within the southern highlands (which may provide proximity to inflowing saline water or glacial ice). The plausibility of an ice diapir mechanism generally requires temperatures ≤ 250 K within Hellas in order to reproduce the observed diapir wavelength. Conversely, the viability of the salt diapir mechanism requires sufficiently thick evaporite deposits to accumulate in Hellas (generally ≃1–3 km), which requires the emplacement and evaporation within Hellas of a 14–2045 m global equivalent layer (GEL) of saline water (∼2 × 106 km3 to ∼3 × 108 km3). On the basis of our analysis, we conclude that ice diapirism is more likely due to the thin deposits (∼0.1–1 km thick) and low water volumes required (only 0.3–24 m GEL water), and the potential for either glacial deposits or a frozen ocean to supply the necessary ice. Salt diapirism requires thick evaporite deposits and high water volumes by comparison, and thus appears less likely.

Extensive Noachian fluvial systems in Arabia Terra on Mars

Extensive Noachian fluvial systems in Arabia Terra: Implications for early Martian climate

Authors:

Davis et al

Abstract:

Valley networks are some of the strongest lines of evidence for extensive fluvial activity on early (Noachian; >3.7 Ga) Mars. However, their purported absence on certain ancient terrains, such as Arabia Terra, is at variance with patterns of precipitation as predicted by "warm and wet" climate models. This disagreement has contributed to the development of an alternative "icy highlands" scenario, whereby valley networks were formed by the melting of highland ice sheets. Here, we show through regional mapping that Arabia Terra shows evidence for extensive networks of sinuous ridges. We interpret these ridge features as inverted fluvial channels that formed in the Noachian, before being subject to burial and exhumation. The inverted channels developed on extensive aggrading flood plains. As the inverted channels are both sourced in, and traverse across, Arabia Terra, their formation is inconsistent with discrete, localized sources of water, such as meltwater from highland ice sheets. Our results are instead more consistent with an early Mars that supported widespread precipitation and runoff.

Do Sand Dune Shapes Suggest Mars had a Thin Atmosphere by the end of the Noachian 3.7 Billion Years ago?

Large wind ripples on Mars: A record of atmospheric evolution

Authors:

Lapotre et al

Abstract:

Wind blowing over sand on Earth produces decimeter-wavelength ripples and hundred-meter– to kilometer-wavelength dunes: bedforms of two distinct size modes. Observations from the Mars Science Laboratory Curiosity rover and the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter reveal that Mars hosts a third stable wind-driven bedform, with meter-scale wavelengths. These bedforms are spatially uniform in size and typically have asymmetric profiles with angle-of-repose lee slopes and sinuous crest lines, making them unlike terrestrial wind ripples. Rather, these structures resemble fluid-drag ripples, which on Earth include water-worked current ripples, but on Mars instead form by wind because of the higher kinematic viscosity of the low-density atmosphere. A reevaluation of the wind-deposited strata in the Burns formation (about 3.7 billion years old or younger) identifies potential wind-drag ripple stratification formed under a thin atmosphere.

Evidence of a Declining Martian Hydrological Cycle Starting 3.7 Billion Years Ago at the Noachian/Hesperian Boundary

Insights into surface runoff on early Mars from paleolake basin morphology and stratigraphy

Authors:

Goudge et al

Abstract:

We present observations on the morphology and stratigraphy of more than 400 paleolake basins on Mars. We show that there are two distinct classes of Martian paleolake basins: (1) paleolakes fed by regionally integrated valley networks (N = 251), and (2) paleolakes fed by isolated inlet valleys not integrated into broader regional drainage systems (N = 174). We conclude that valley network–fed paleolakes primarily formed prior to approximately the Noachian-Hesperian boundary, ca. 3.7 Ga, while isolated inlet valley paleolakes primarily formed later in Martian history. All 174 isolated inlet valley paleolakes are closed-basin lakes; however, there are surprisingly few (31) valley network–fed closed-basin lakes compared to a large number (220) of valley network–fed open-basin lakes. This observation is consistent with declining levels of fluvial activity over time on the Martian surface. Our results imply that during the era of valley network formation, ∼90% of topographic basins breached by an inlet valley had sufficiently high ratios of water influx to losses to fill, overtop, and form an outlet valley. This conclusion provides an important constraint on the balance between surface runoff production and water losses on early Mars that must be satisfied by any model of the early Martian climate and hydrologic cycle.

The Predicted Interaction of Lava and Glaciers on Early Mars

Lava heating and loading of ice sheets on early Mars: Predictions for meltwater generation, groundwater recharge, and resulting landforms

Authors:

Cassanelli et al

Abstract:

Recent modeling studies of the early Mars climate predict a predominantly cold climate, characterized by the formation of regional ice sheets across the highland areas of Mars. Formation of the predicted “icy highlands” ice sheets is coincident with a peak in the volcanic flux of Mars involving the emplacement of the Late Noachian – Early Hesperian ridged plains unit. We explore the relationship between the predicted early Mars “icy highlands” ice sheets, and the extensive early flood volcanism to gain insight into the surface conditions prevalent during the Late Noachian to Early Hesperian transition period. Using Hesperia Planum as a type area, we develop an ice sheet lava heating and loading model. We quantitatively assess the thermal and melting processes involved in the lava heating and loading process following the chronological sequence of lava emplacement. We test a broad range of parameters to thoroughly constrain the lava heating and loading process and outline predictions for the formation of resulting geological features. We apply the theoretical model to a study area within the Hesperia Planum region and assess the observed geology against predictions derived from the ice sheet lava heating and loading model. Due to the highly cratered nature of the Noachian highlands terrain onto which the volcanic plains were emplaced, we predict highly asymmetrical lava loading conditions. Crater interiors are predicted to accumulate greater thicknesses of lava over more rapid timescales, while in the intercrater plains, lava accumulation occurs over longer timescales and does not reach great thicknesses. We find that top-down melting due to conductive heat transfer from supraglacial lava flows is generally limited when the emplaced lava flows are less than ∼10 m thick, but is very significant at lava flow thicknesses of ∼100 m or greater. We find that bottom-up cryosphere and ice sheet melting is most likely to occur within crater interiors where lavas accumulate to a sufficient thickness to raise the ice-melting isotherm to the base of the superposed lavas. In these locations, if lava accumulation occurs rapidly, bottom-up melting of the ice sheet can continue, or begin, after lava accumulation has completed in a process we term “deferred melting”. Subsurface mass loss through melting of the buried ice sheets is predicted to cause substantial subsidence in the superposed lavas, leading to the formation of associated collapse features including fracture systems, depressions, surface faulting and folding, wrinkle-ridge formation, and chaos terrain. In addition, if meltwater generated from the lava heating and loading process becomes trapped at the lava flow margins due to the presence of impermeable confining units, large highly pressurized episodic flooding events could occur. Examination of the study area reveals geological features which are generally consistent with those predicted to form as a result of the ice sheet lava heating and loading process, suggesting the presence of surface snow and ice during the Late Noachian to Early Hesperian period.

Did the Tharsis Volcanic Eruptions Tilt Mars on its Axis During the Late Noachian/Early Hesperian?

Late Tharsis formation and implications for early Mars

Authors:

Bouley et al

Abstract:

The Tharsis region is the largest volcanic complex on Mars and in the Solar System. Young lava flows cover its surface (from the Amazonian period, less than 3 billion years ago) but its growth started during the Noachian era (more than 3.7 billion years ago). Its position has induced a reorientation of the planet with respect to its spin axis (true polar wander, TPW), which is responsible for the present equatorial position of the volcanic province. It has been suggested that the Tharsis load on the lithosphere influenced the orientation of the Noachian/Early Hesperian (more than 3.5 billion years ago) valley networks1 and therefore that most of the topography of Tharsis was completed before fluvial incision. Here we calculate the rotational figure of Mars (that is, its equilibrium shape) and its surface topography before Tharsis formed, when the spin axis of the planet was controlled by the difference in elevation between the northern and southern hemispheres (hemispheric dichotomy). We show that the observed directions of valley networks are also consistent with topographic gradients in this configuration and thus do not require the presence of the Tharsis load. Furthermore, the distribution of the valleys along a small circle tilted with respect to the equator is found to correspond to a southern-hemisphere latitudinal band in the pre-TPW geographical frame. Preferential accumulation of ice or water in a south tropical band is predicted by climate model simulations of early Mars applied to the pre-TPW topography. A late growth of Tharsis, contemporaneous with valley incision, has several implications for the early geological history of Mars, including the existence of glacial environments near the locations of the pre-TPW poles of rotation, and a possible link between volcanic outgassing from Tharsis and the stability of liquid water at the surface of Mars.

Martian Atmosphere was Reducing (ie not oxidizing) Through the end of the Noachian Era, 3.7 Billion Years ago

Mineralogical record of the redox conditions on early Mars

Authors:

Dehouck et al

Abstract:

Sulfates and Fe-oxides identified on the martian surface by orbital and in situ missions indicate that oxidizing conditions have existed on early Mars, at least locally and/or episodically. In the context of rock alteration and weathering, redox conditions are especially critical for the behavior of iron, which is soluble in its divalent state but insoluble in its trivalent state. Here, we combine results from a series of laboratory experiments conducted under Mars-like conditions to address the influence of highly-oxidizing compounds such as hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) on the alteration pathways of primary materials. We show that, if early Mars had a dense CO2 atmosphere allowing for relatively “warm and wet” conditions and surface weathering, highly-oxidizing conditions would have strongly inhibited the formation of Fe/Mg-smectite clays from alteration of igneous ferromagnesian minerals, and possibly enhanced the formation of carbonates. But a decade of mineral mapping of the martian surface show abundant, widespread Fe/Mg-clays and rare carbonates, which we interpret here as a mineralogical record of poorly-oxidizing (or even reducing) conditions during most of the Noachian era. Oxidizing conditions would have occurred later in martian history as a consequence of a higher rate of H2 escape or of a lower rate of volcanic outgassing, or both.

How Much Sulfur dioxide did Hesperian Mars Have?

Early Mars volcanic sulfur storage in the cryosphere and formation of transient SO2-rich atmospheres during the Hesperian

Authors:

Schmidt et al

Abstract:

In a previous paper (Chassefi\`ere et al., Icarus 223, 878-891, 2013), we have shown that most volcanic sulfur released to early Mars atmosphere could have been trapped in the cryosphere under the form of CO2-SO2 clathrates. Huge amounts of sulfur, up to the equivalent of a ~1 bar atmosphere of SO2, would have been stored in the Noachian cryosphere, then massively released to the atmosphere during Hesperian due to rapidly decreasing CO2 pressure. It would have resulted in the formation of the large sulfate deposits observed mainly in Hesperian terrains, whereas no or little sulfates are found at the Noachian. In the present paper, we first clarify some aspects of our previous work. We discuss the possibility of a smaller cooling effect of sulfur particles, or even of a net warming effect. We point out the fact that CO2-SO2 clathrates formed through a progressive enrichment of a preexisting reservoir of CO2 clathrates and discuss processes potentially involved in the slow formation of a SO2-rich upper cryosphere. We show that episodes of sudden destabilization at the Hesperian may generate 1000 ppmv of SO2 in the atmosphere and contribute to maintaining the surface temperature above the water freezing point.

Impacts by Comets and Asteroids Since the Noachian Probably NOT the Cause of Martian Atmospheric Loss

Scenarios of atmospheric mass evolution on Mars influenced by asteroid and comet impacts since the late Noachian

Authors:

Pham et al

Abstract:

Early in its history, Mars probably had a denser atmosphere and higher surface temperatures to sustain the presence of stable liquid water or saline solution at the surface. Impacts by asteroids and comets could affect the atmospheric evolution of a planet, by removing part of its atmosphere and by delivering into it material and volatiles. In this study we investigate the atmospheric loss and delivery of volatiles between the end of the Noachian and present, with the help of a semi-analytic model. Our results suggest that impacts alone can hardly remove a significant amount of atmospheric mass over this period. Contribution of additional factors such as outgassing and non-thermal escape processes can not explain neither the presence of surface pressure larger than few hundreds of mbars 3.9 Gyr ago, unless parameter values outside of their expected range are considered. Based on extreme case scenarios, maximum surface pressures at the end of the Noachian, could be as much as 0.25 bar or 1.9 bar, with and without CO2 storage into carbonate reservoirs, respectively.

Was the Noctis Labyrinthus on Mars Produced by Groundwater Flows Collapsing the Ground Above?

Groundwater flow induced collapse and flooding in Noctis Labyrinthus, Mars

Authors:

Rodriguez et al

Abstract:

Catastrophic floods of enormous proportions are thought to have played a major role in the excavation of some of the Solar System’s largest channels; the circum-Chryse outflow channels. The generation of the floods has been attributed to both the evacuation of regional highland aquifers and ancient paleo-lakes. Numerous investigators indicate that these source regions were likely recharged and pressurized by eastward groundwater flow via conduits extending thousands of kilometers from an elevated groundwater table in the Tharsis volcanic rise. This hypothesis remains controversial, largely because subsequent stages of Valles Marineris development and enlargement would have resulted in the widespread destruction of the proposed groundwater paths. Here, we show that Noctis Labyrinthus, a unique canyon system connecting the Tharsis volcanic rise and western Valles Marineris, retains geologic evidence of conduit development associated with structurally-controlled groundwater flow through salt-rich upper crustal deposits, consistent with aquifer drainage from the Tharsis volcanic rise region. Our investigation indicates that subsequent surface collapse over these conduits during the Hesperian Period resulted in the generation of large basins in the central and eastern regions of Noctis Labyrinthus, and contributed to the chasmata formation in the western portion of Valles Marineris. The lava-covered floors of these basins, dated by previous workers as Late Amazonian, contain hydrated mineral deposits occurring in spatial coexistence with decameter-scale features that we interpret to be lacustrine and periglacial in origin. The proposed paleo-lake sites also include chaotic terrains, which could comprise groundwater discharge zones, pointing to regional hydrologic processes that could have operated from the Early Hesperian until a few tens of millions of years ago. Episodic fluidized discharges from eastern Noctis Labyrinthus troughs delivered vast volumes of sediments and volatiles into western Valles Marineris, contributing to the construction of a regional volatile-rich stratigraphy. Episodic groundwater discharges and the resulting intermittent formation of lakes within regional tectono-volcanic basins could have lasted hundreds of millions of years, making the study region of prime interest for astrobiological exploration.

Most of Mars' Missing Carbon Escaped to Space, Implies Thinner Deep Time/Noachian Atmosphere Than Normally Thought

Mars is blanketed by a thin, mostly carbon dioxide atmosphere--one that is far too thin to prevent large amounts of water on the surface of the planet from subliming or evaporating. But many researchers have suggested that the planet was once shrouded in an atmosphere many times thicker than Earth's. For decades that left the question, "Where did all the carbon go?"

Now a team of scientists from Caltech and JPL thinks they have a possible answer. The researchers suggest that 3.8 billion years ago, Mars might have had only a moderately dense atmosphere. They have identified a photochemical process that could have helped such an early atmosphere evolve into the current thin one without creating the problem of "missing" carbon and in a way that is consistent with existing carbon isotopic measurements.

The scientists describe their findings in a paper that appears in the November 24 issue of the journal Nature Communications.

"With this new mechanism, everything that we know about the martian atmosphere can now be pieced together into a consistent picture of its evolution," says Renyu Hu, a postdoctoral scholar at JPL, a visitor in planetary science at Caltech, and lead author on the paper.

When considering how the early martian atmosphere might have transitioned to its current state, there are two possible mechanisms for the removal of excess carbon dioxide (CO2). Either the CO2 was incorporated into minerals in rocks called carbonates or it was lost to space.

A separate recent study coauthored by Bethany Ehlmann, assistant professor of planetary science and a research scientist at JPL, used data from several Mars-orbiting satellites to inventory carbonate rocks, showing that there are not enough carbonates in the upper kilometer of crust to contain the missing carbon from a very thick early atmosphere that might have existed about 3.8 billion years ago.

To study the escape-to-space scenario, scientists examine the ratio of carbon-12 and carbon-13, two stable isotopes of the element carbon that have the same number of protons in their nuclei but different numbers of neutrons, and thus different masses. Because various processes can change the relative amounts of those two isotopes in the atmosphere, "we can use these measurements of the ratio at different points in time as a fingerprint to infer exactly what happened to the martian atmosphere in the past," says Hu.

link.

Some Pebbles in the Gale Crater on Mars may Have Been Transported for tens of Miles

While new evidence suggests that Mars may harbor a tiny amount of liquid water, it exists today as a largely cold and arid planet. Three billion years ago, however, the situation may have been much different.

In 2012 the Mars Curiosity rover beamed images back to Earth containing some of the most concrete evidence that water once flowed in abundance on the planet. Small, remarkably round and smooth pebbles suggested that an ancient riverbed had once carried these rocks and abraded them as they traveled.

To Douglas Jerolmack, a geophysicist at the University of Pennsylvania, and his collaborator Gábor Domokos, a mathematician at Budapest University of Technology and Economics, Curiosity's findings raised a fundamental geological question: Can we use shape alone to interpret the transport history of river pebbles -- on Mars, Earth or any planet?

"Thousands of years ago, Aristotle pondered the question of pebbles on the beach and how they become rounded," Jerolmack said. "But until recently, descriptions of pebble shape have been qualitative, and we lacked a basic understanding of the rounding process."

Now that has changed. In a new report in Nature Communications, Jerolmack, Domokos and colleagues report the first-ever method to quantitatively estimate the transport distance of river pebbles from their shape alone. The researchers' estimate that the Martian pebbles traveled roughly 30 miles from their source, providing additional evidence for the idea that Mars once had an extensive river system, conditions that could support life.

link.

New Model Suggests Mars had Extensive Hydrogen in its Atmosphere 3.8 Billion Years ago During Late Noachian

The extensive valley networks on the surface of Mars were probably created by running water billions of years ago, but the source of that water is unknown. Now, a team of Penn State and NASA researchers is using climate models to predict how greenhouse warming could be the source of the water.

"Everyone is looking for life on Mars, and if Mars was habitable early on as indicated by flowing water, then the chances of there being some sort of life there now goes up," said Natasha Batalha, graduate student in astronomy and astrophysics, Penn State. "Our work involves using models to best estimate what was happening on the surface of Mars 3.8 billion years ago."

Previous studies analyzing craters support the idea of flowing water on early Mars but still unknown is how surface warming occurred to melt that water and how much water was really there.

"If we compare some of these valleys on Mars to what we know on Earth, for example the Colorado River, then they look to be the same width," said James Kasting, Evan Pugh Professor of Geosciences, Penn State. "We know how much water it took to carve the Grand Canyon based on five to six million years of rainfall, which is estimated to be about three to six million feet (of rainfall)."

In 2014, Kasting's group proposed a climate model showing Mars warmed by a dense atmosphere of greenhouse gases, specifically carbon dioxide and hydrogen. In a recent issue of Icarus, they report that using a photochemical model, they determined the possibility that there was a high percentage of hydrogen in the atmosphere. According to Batalha and Kasting, photochemical models simulate different aspects of the atmosphere using mathematics to determine the chemicals and how they react. They also set limits that define what is happening at the surface and in the atmosphere.

link.

Gale Crater was Long Term Lakebed 3.3 to 3.8 Billion Years ago From Late Noachian Into Hesperian

We have heard the Mars exploration mantra for more than a decade: follow the water. In a new paper published October 9, 2015, in the journal Science, the Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) team presents recent results of its quest to not just follow the water but to understand where it came from, and how long it lasted on the surface of Mars so long ago.

The story that has unfolded is a wet one: Mars appears to have had a more massive atmosphere billions of years ago than it does today, with an active hydrosphere capable of storing water in long-lived lakes. The MSL team has concluded that this water helped to fill Gale Crater, the MSL rover Curiosity's landing site, with sediment deposited as layers that formed the foundation for the mountain found in the middle of the crater today.

Curiosity has been exploring Gale Crater, which is estimated to be between 3.8 billion and 3.6 billion years old, since August 2012. In mid-September 2014, the rover reached the foothills of Aeolis Mons, a three-mile-high layered mountain nicknamed "Mount Sharp" in honor of the late Caltech geologist Robert Sharp. Curiosity has been exploring the base of the mountain since then.

"Observations from the rover suggest that a series of long-lived streams and lakes existed at some point between 3.8 billion to 3.3 billion years ago, delivering sediment that slowly built up the lower layers of Mount Sharp," says Ashwin Vasavada (PhD '98), MSL project scientist. "However, this series of long-lived lakes is not predicted by existing models of the ancient climate of Mars, which struggle to get temperatures above freezing," he says.

This mismatch between the predictions of Mars's ancient climate that arise from models developed by paleoclimatologists and indications of the planet's watery past, as interpreted by geologists, bears similarities to a century-old scientific conundrum--in this case, about Earth's ancient past.

link.

paper link.

Keep in mind that is the equivalent of the entirety of the Phanerozoic (ie all the time system the beginning of the Cambrian Explosion).

How Much Water was Needed to Carve the Late Noachian Valley Networks on Mars?

Late Noachian Fluvial Erosion on Mars: Cumulative Water Volumes Required to Carve the Valley Networks and Grain Size of Bed-Sediment

Authors:

Rosenberg et al

Abstract:

Our goal is to quantify the cumulative water volume that was required to carve the Late Noachian valley networks on Mars. We employ an improved methodology in which fluid/sediment flux ratios are based on empirical data, not assumed. We use a large quantity of data from terrestrial rivers to assess the variability of actual fluid/sediment flux sediment ratios. We find the flow depth by using an empirical relationship to estimate the fluid flux from the estimated channel width, and then using estimated grain sizes (theoretical sediment grain size predictions and comparison with observations by the Curiosity rover) to find the flow depth to which the resulting fluid flux corresponds. Assuming that the valley networks contained alluvial bed rivers, we find, from their current slopes and widths, that the onset of suspended transport occurs near the sand-gravel boundary. Thus, any bed sediment must have been fine gravel or coarser, whereas fine sediment would be carried downstream. Subsequent to the cessation of fluvial activity, aeolian processes have partially redistributed fine-grain particles in the valleys, often forming dunes. It seems likely that the dominant bed sediment size was near the threshold for suspension, and assuming that this was the case could make our final results underestimates, which is the same tendency that our other assumptions have. Making this assumption, we find a global equivalent layer (GEL) of 3 – 100 m of water to be the most probable cumulative volume that passed through the valley networks. This value is similar to the ∼34 m water GEL currently on the surface and in the near-surface in the form of ice. Note that the amount of water required to carve the valley networks could represent the same water recycled through a surface valley network hydrological system many times in separate or continuous precipitation/runoff/collection/evaporation/precipitation cycles.

Did Mars NEVER Have a Thick Atmosphere? Nili Fossae on Mars Only Seems to Sequester 12 mbar of CO2 (max)

Carbon sequestration on Mars

Authors:

Edwards et al

Abstract:

On Earth, carbon sequestration in geologic units plays an important role in the carbon cycle, scrubbing CO2 from the atmosphere for long-term storage. While carbonate is identified in low abundances within the dust and soils of Mars, at less than 1 wt% in select meteorites, and in limited outcrops, no massive carbonate rock reservoir on Mars has been identified to date. Here, we investigate the largest exposed carbonate-bearing rock unit, the Nili Fossae plains, combining spectral, thermophysical, and morphological analyses to evaluate the timing and carbon sequestration potential of rocks on Mars. We find that the olivine-enriched (∼20%–25%) basalts have been altered, by low-temperature in-situ carbonation processes, to at most ∼20% Fe-Mg carbonate, thus limiting carbon sequestration in the Nili Fossae region to ∼0.25–12 mbar of CO2 during the late Noachian–early Hesperian, before or concurrent with valley network formation. While this is large compared to modern-day CO2 reservoirs, the lack of additional, comparably sized post–late Noachian carbonate-bearing deposits on Mars indicates ineffective carbon sequestration in rock units over the past ∼3.7 b.y. This implies a thin atmosphere (≲500 mbar) during valley network formation, extensive post-Noachian atmospheric loss to space, or diffuse, deep sequestration by a yet-to-be understood process. In stark contrast to Earth's biologically mediated crust:atmosphere carbon reservoir ratio of ∼104–105, Mars' ratio is a mere ∼10–103, even if buried pre-Noachian crust holds multiple bars.

Firn Densification in a Late Noachian “icy Highlands” Mars

Firn densification in a Late Noachian “icy highlands” Mars: Implications for ice sheet evolution and thermal response

Authors:

Cassanelli et al

Abstract:

Recent modeling of a thicker early CO2 martian atmosphere and Late Noachian climate predicts that for pressures beyond a fraction of a bar, atmosphere-surface thermal coupling occurs, resulting in adiabatic cooling of high areas across Mars. This promotes the transport of water ice from relatively warmer low-lying areas to the highlands, where deposition and accumulation of water ice result in an “icy highlands” Late Noachian Mars. Deposits will remain stable in the highlands under nominal Late Noachian conditions, but the potential exists for punctuated heating by both top-down (e.g. impacts, volcanism) and bottom-up (e.g. elevated geothermal heat flux) processes. Important in understanding melt generation from these processes is the state of the accumulated snow and ice. Through modeling of the firn densification process in the “icy highlands” framework we assess: (1) the nature of snow accumulation and the physical growth and evolution of the predicted ice deposits, and (2) the implications for the thermal properties of the ice sheets and the response to heating events. Analysis of the firn densification process in the “icy highlands” context indicates that: (1) the upper layers of the ice sheet will be more vulnerable to melting from top-down heating processes because they are comprised of the least dense and least thermally conductive ice, and (2) even with a low thermal conductivity firn layer, basal melting is only likely to occur through a combination of top-down and bottom-up heating. This is because at the nominal mean annual surface temperatures and estimated effective thermal conductivities, the predicted ice sheet thicknesses do not produce enough basal warming to initiate melting for plausible geothermal heat fluxes. Variations in spin-axis/orbital parameters alone are not predicted to cause widespread ablation (melting and sublimation) of the icy highlands ice sheets.

Noachian and Hesperian Water Activity Causing Long-runout Landslides on Mars?

Long-runout landslides and the long-lasting effects of early water activity on Mars

Authors:

Watkins et al

Abstract:

Long-runout subaerial landslides (greater than 50 km) are rare on Earth but are common features shaping Mars' Valles Marineris troughs. In this study, we investigated the highly debated emplacement mechanisms of these Martian landslides by combining spectral and satellite-image analyses. Our results suggest that hydrated silicates played a decisive role in facilitating landslide transport by lubricating the basal sliding zone. This new understanding implies that clay minerals, generated as a result of water-rock interactions in the Noachian and Hesperian (4.1–3.3 Ga), exert a long-lasting influence on geomorphic processes that shape the surface of the planet.

Where did the Water Come From in the Martian Late Noachian “Icy Highlands” Model

Sources of water for the outflow Channels on Mars: Implications of the Late Noachian “Icy Highlands” Model for Melting and Groundwater Recharge on the Tharsis Rise

Authors:

Cassenelli et al

Abstract:

From the Late Noachian period, through the Hesperian, and into the Amazonian periods on Mars, large outflow channels were formed. Many are interpreted to have originated through the catastrophic discharge of groundwater from martian aquifers, involving the release of up to millions of cubic-kilometers of water. Such a mechanism for outflow channel formation requires that martian aquifers were supplied with significant quantities of water some time prior to the discharge events. Typical groundwater recharge occurs due to the infiltration of surficial waters through a permeable substrate down into aquifers. However, some climate models predict an early martian climate dominated by generally “cold and icy” conditions. In this scenario, a globally continuous, impermeable cryosphere prevents infiltration of liquid water (that might be generated at the surface through anomalous heating conditions), leaving the martian aquifers without an apparent source of recharge to supply later outflow channel formation by groundwater discharge. More recent global climate modeling of an early, thicker CO2 martian atmosphere predicts that, when coupled with a full water cycle, the atmosphere of Mars will behave adiabatically causing temperatures to decrease with elevation. The high standing areas of Mars, such as the southern highlands and the Tharsis region, then act as cold traps. This leads to the preferential accumulation of snow and ice, resulting in the formation of regional ice sheets throughout the highlands that characterize the Late Noachian “icy highlands” early Mars climate model (LNIH). We make the initial assumption that the LNIH model is representative of the early Mars climate, and seek to test the model against the presence of the Hesperian and Amazonian outflow channels to determine if it can be consistent. In order to reconcile the LNIH early Mars climate model with the presence of the later outflow channels a groundwater recharge mechanism that can operate under the predicted “cold and icy” conditions is required. We test basal melting of surface snow and ice in response to a regionally elevated geothermal heat flux throughout the Tharsis rise (resulting from widespread volcanic and magmatic activity during the Noachian) as a mechanism that can provide: (1) liquid water generation at the surface of Mars under generally “cold and icy” conditions, and (2) potentially large scale integration of the hydrological system (through thinning or breaching of the cryosphere), allowing for infiltration of meltwater to provide groundwater recharge during the Late Noachian to supply the later formation of outflow channels. We find: (1) Regional scale basal melting of LNIH ice sheets is not likely to occur at the predicted nominal average ice sheet thicknesses, even in the presence of the anomalous bottom-up heating conditions expected in the Tharsis region (although the increased baseline heating will render the LNIH ice sheets more susceptible to melting through additional anomalous heating conditions introduced by top-down and bottom-up processes). (2) Local scale basal melting and groundwater recharge through a “heat-pipe drain pipe” mechanism is likely to occur, but is not predicted to produce sufficient groundwater recharge to supply the water needed to form the outflow channels. (3) Under the assumption of an ice saturated cryosphere, regional scale melting of the cryosphere due to the insulating effect of the LNIH ice sheets does not provide enough water to explain the formation of all of the outflow channels. Therefore, if the LNIH model is correct, the groundwater recharge that supplied outflow channel formation requires a source that operated earlier in martian history, or the recharge was supplied by other mechanisms.

Martian Glaciation in the Late Noachian Icy Highlands

Glaciation in the Late Noachian Icy Highlands: Ice Accumulation, Distribution, Flow Rates, Basal Melting and Top-Down Melting Rates and Patterns

Authors:

Fastook et al

Abstract:

Geological evidence for extensive non-polar ice deposits of Amazonian age indicates that the current cold and dry climate of Mars has persisted for several billion years. The geological record and climate history of the Noachian, the earliest period of Mars history, is less certain, but abundant evidence for fluvial channels (valley networks) and lacustrine environments (open-basin lakes) has been interpreted to represent warm and wet conditions, including rainfall and runoff. Alternatively, recent atmospheric modeling results predict a “cold and icy” Late Noachian Mars in which moderate atmospheric pressure accompanied by a full water cycle produce an atmosphere where temperature declines with elevation following an adiabatic lapse rate, in contrast to the current situation on Mars, where temperature is almost completely determined by latitude. These results are formulated in the Late Noachian Icy Highlands (LNIH) model, in which these cold and icy conditions lead to the preferential deposition of snow and ice at high elevations, such as the southern uplands. What is the fate of this snow and ice and the nature of glaciation in such an environment? What are the prospects of melting of these deposits contributing to the observed fluvial and lacustrine deposits?

To address these questions, we report on a glacial flow-modeling analysis using a Mars-adapted ice sheet model with LNIH climate conditions. The total surface/near-surface water inventory is poorly known for the Late Noachian, so we explore the LNIH model in a “supply-limited” scenario for a range of available water abundances and a range of Late Noachian geothermal fluxes. Our results predict that the Late Noachian icy highlands (above an equilibrium line altitude of approximately +1 km) were characterized by extensive ice sheets of the order of hundreds of meters thick. Due to extremely cold conditions, the ice-flow velocities in general were very low, less than a few mm/yr, and the regional ice-flow pattern was disorganized and followed topography, with no radial flow pattern typical of an equilibrium ice sheet. Virtually the entire ice sheet is predicted to be cold-based, and thus the range of wet-based features typically associated with temperate glaciers (e.g., drumlins, eskers, etc.) is not predicted to occur. Wet-based conditions are predicted only locally in the thickest ice (on the floors of the deepest craters), where limited subglacial lakes may have formed.

These LNIH regional ice-sheets provide a huge reservoir of potential meltwater as a source for forming the observed fluvial and lacustrine features and deposits. Top-down melting scenarios applied to our LNIH ice sheet model predict that periods of punctuated warming could lead to elevated temperatures sufficient to melt enough snow and ice to readily account for the observed fluvial and lacustrine features and deposits. Our model indicates that such melting should take place preferentially at the margins of the ice sheets, a prediction that can be tested with further analyses.