Eskers associated with buried glaciers in Mars' mid latitudes: recent advances and future directions

• Published in: Annals of Glaciology
• Main Authors: Butcher, Frances, E G, Arnold, Neil, S, Balme, Matthew, R, Conway, Susan, J, Clark, Christopher, D, Gallagher, Colman, Hagermann, Axel, Lewis, Stephen, R, Rutledge, Alicia, M, Storrar, Robert, D, Woodley, Savana, Z
• Other Authors: Department of Geography Sheffield, University of Sheffield Sheffield, Scott Polar Research Institute, University of Cambridge UK (CAM), The Open University Milton Keynes (OU), Laboratoire de Planétologie et Géosciences UMR_C 6112 (LPG), Le Mans Université (UM)-Université d'Angers (UA)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Nantes université - UFR des Sciences et des Techniques (Nantes univ - UFR ST), Nantes Université - pôle Sciences et technologie, Nantes Université (Nantes Univ)-Nantes Université (Nantes Univ)-Nantes Université - pôle Sciences et technologie, Nantes Université (Nantes Univ)-Nantes Université (Nantes Univ), University College Dublin Dublin (UCD), Luleå University of Technology = Luleå Tekniska Universitet (LUT), Northern Arizona University Flagstaff, Sheffield Hallam University
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: HAL CCSD 2023
• Subjects: Debris-covered glaciers; extraterrestrial glaciology; geomorphology; [SDU.STU.PL]Sciences of the Universe [physics]/Earth Sciences/Planetology; [SDU.STU.GL]Sciences of the Universe [physics]/Earth Sciences/Glaciology; [SDU.STU.GM]Sciences of the Universe [physics]/Earth Sciences/Geomorphology; Annals of Glaciology
• Online Access: https://hal.science/hal-04262374; https://hal.science/hal-04262374/document; https://hal.science/hal-04262374/file/eskers-associated-with-buried-glaciers-in-mars-mid-latitudes-recent-advances-and-future-directions.pdf; https://doi.org/10.1017/aog.2023.7

International audience Until recently, the influence of basal liquid water on the evolution of buried glaciers in Mars' mid latitudes was assumed to be negligible because the latter stages of Mars' Amazonian period (3 Ga to present) have long been thought to have been similarly cold and dry to today. Recent identifications of several landforms interpreted as eskers associated with these young (100s Ma) glaciers calls this assumption into doubt. They indicate basal melting (at least locally and transiently) of their parent glaciers. Although rare, they demonstrate a more complex mid-tolate Amazonian environment than was previously understood. Here, we discuss several open questions posed by the existence of glacier-linked eskers on Mars, including on their global-scale abundance and distribution, the drivers and dynamics of melting and drainage, and the fate of meltwater upon reaching the ice margin. Such questions provide rich opportunities for collaboration between the Mars and Earth cryosphere research communities.