Evidence of an eolian ice-rich and stratified permafrost in Utopia Planitia Mars
International audience Western Utopia Planitia (UP) is dotted with scalloped depressions, small-sized polygons and pingo-like mounds. Within the planetary science community, there seems to be a general agreement that these relatively recent landscape features are indicative of an ice-rich permafrost...
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ftunivnantes:oai:HAL:hal-00674954v1 2023-05-15T16:36:41+02:00 Evidence of an eolian ice-rich and stratified permafrost in Utopia Planitia Mars Séjourné, A. Costard, F. Gargani, J. Soare, R.J. Marmo, C. Interactions et dynamique des environnements de surface (IDES) Université Paris-Sud - Paris 11 (UP11)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) Dawson College Dpt of Earth Sciences Ontario University of Western Ontario (UWO) 2012 https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00674954 en eng HAL CCSD Elsevier hal-00674954 https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00674954 ISSN: 0032-0633 Planetary and Space Science https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00674954 Planetary and Space Science, Elsevier, 2012, 60 ((1)), pp.:248-254 (IF 2,344) [SDU.STU]Sciences of the Universe [physics]/Earth Sciences info:eu-repo/semantics/article Journal articles 2012 ftunivnantes 2022-06-28T23:23:56Z International audience Western Utopia Planitia (UP) is dotted with scalloped depressions, small-sized polygons and pingo-like mounds. Within the planetary science community, there seems to be a general agreement that these relatively recent landscape features are indicative of an ice-rich permafrost. However, questions about the concentration of ice-content and the origin of the permafrost remain unanswered. The scalloped depressions (∼100 m to few km in diam.) are thought to be the product of degradation of ground-ice by thawing or sublimation. Indeed, most of the scalloped depressions display bright bands on their floors. These have been described as possible exposed sedimentary layers, markers of recessional ponded water or slumped material by previous works. As the depressions could represent probes of the permafrost, therefore the study of the inner bands could help to investigate the permafrost. Here, we evaluate the disparate hypotheses of band origin using several HiRISE images and a HiRISE DEM. We show that the depressions have an inner stepped-profile. This profile is reminiscent of exhumed and tilted sedimentary layers of different cohesion. Using ArcGIS, we estimate the dip of several layers (n=52). The stratification is complex comprising layers of ∼2-4 m thick having different shallow dips with generally a north or south plunge sense. This geometry of tilted layers is typical on Earth of fluviatile or eolian sedimentation. In the last few years, several evidences on Mars, among them the subkilometer-scale smoothing of the topography and climatic simulations, suggested that the northern mid-latitudes have been influenced by eolian processes. The inferred complex stratification inside scalloped depressions may support an eolian origin of the permafrost in UP. In periglacial regions on Earth where thermokarst lakes are formed by extensive thawing of ground-ice, ice-rich permafrost are composed of fluvial or eolian sediments containing ∼15-80% of ice by volume. By analogy, the wide occurrence of ... Article in Journal/Newspaper Ice permafrost Thermokarst Université de Nantes: HAL-UNIV-NANTES |
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Open Polar |
collection |
Université de Nantes: HAL-UNIV-NANTES |
op_collection_id |
ftunivnantes |
language |
English |
topic |
[SDU.STU]Sciences of the Universe [physics]/Earth Sciences |
spellingShingle |
[SDU.STU]Sciences of the Universe [physics]/Earth Sciences Séjourné, A. Costard, F. Gargani, J. Soare, R.J. Marmo, C. Evidence of an eolian ice-rich and stratified permafrost in Utopia Planitia Mars |
topic_facet |
[SDU.STU]Sciences of the Universe [physics]/Earth Sciences |
description |
International audience Western Utopia Planitia (UP) is dotted with scalloped depressions, small-sized polygons and pingo-like mounds. Within the planetary science community, there seems to be a general agreement that these relatively recent landscape features are indicative of an ice-rich permafrost. However, questions about the concentration of ice-content and the origin of the permafrost remain unanswered. The scalloped depressions (∼100 m to few km in diam.) are thought to be the product of degradation of ground-ice by thawing or sublimation. Indeed, most of the scalloped depressions display bright bands on their floors. These have been described as possible exposed sedimentary layers, markers of recessional ponded water or slumped material by previous works. As the depressions could represent probes of the permafrost, therefore the study of the inner bands could help to investigate the permafrost. Here, we evaluate the disparate hypotheses of band origin using several HiRISE images and a HiRISE DEM. We show that the depressions have an inner stepped-profile. This profile is reminiscent of exhumed and tilted sedimentary layers of different cohesion. Using ArcGIS, we estimate the dip of several layers (n=52). The stratification is complex comprising layers of ∼2-4 m thick having different shallow dips with generally a north or south plunge sense. This geometry of tilted layers is typical on Earth of fluviatile or eolian sedimentation. In the last few years, several evidences on Mars, among them the subkilometer-scale smoothing of the topography and climatic simulations, suggested that the northern mid-latitudes have been influenced by eolian processes. The inferred complex stratification inside scalloped depressions may support an eolian origin of the permafrost in UP. In periglacial regions on Earth where thermokarst lakes are formed by extensive thawing of ground-ice, ice-rich permafrost are composed of fluvial or eolian sediments containing ∼15-80% of ice by volume. By analogy, the wide occurrence of ... |
author2 |
Interactions et dynamique des environnements de surface (IDES) Université Paris-Sud - Paris 11 (UP11)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) Dawson College Dpt of Earth Sciences Ontario University of Western Ontario (UWO) |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Séjourné, A. Costard, F. Gargani, J. Soare, R.J. Marmo, C. |
author_facet |
Séjourné, A. Costard, F. Gargani, J. Soare, R.J. Marmo, C. |
author_sort |
Séjourné, A. |
title |
Evidence of an eolian ice-rich and stratified permafrost in Utopia Planitia Mars |
title_short |
Evidence of an eolian ice-rich and stratified permafrost in Utopia Planitia Mars |
title_full |
Evidence of an eolian ice-rich and stratified permafrost in Utopia Planitia Mars |
title_fullStr |
Evidence of an eolian ice-rich and stratified permafrost in Utopia Planitia Mars |
title_full_unstemmed |
Evidence of an eolian ice-rich and stratified permafrost in Utopia Planitia Mars |
title_sort |
evidence of an eolian ice-rich and stratified permafrost in utopia planitia mars |
publisher |
HAL CCSD |
publishDate |
2012 |
url |
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00674954 |
genre |
Ice permafrost Thermokarst |
genre_facet |
Ice permafrost Thermokarst |
op_source |
ISSN: 0032-0633 Planetary and Space Science https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00674954 Planetary and Space Science, Elsevier, 2012, 60 ((1)), pp.:248-254 (IF 2,344) |
op_relation |
hal-00674954 https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00674954 |
_version_ |
1766027014445203456 |