Potential of Geomorphological Features Favouring the Development of Cryopegs on Earth and Mars

• Main Author: SASSENROTH, CYNTHIA VICTORIA
• Other Authors: Baroni, Carlo, Hauber, Ernst
• Format: Text
• Language: Italian
• Published: Pisa University 2024
• Subjects: GEO/04; Svalbard
• Online Access: http://etd.adm.unipi.it/theses/available/etd-06262024-170337/

This work presents a new approach for remotely identifying potentially cryopeg forming sites both on Earth and Mars. By utilizing high resolution remote sensing datasets, advanced photogeological interpretation techniques, and landscape analysis, detailed geomorphological maps were produced for three selected key sites to investigate the complex landscape assemblage of Kvadehuksletta Peninsula (Svalbard, Norway) and two martian stepped-fans in Picardi Crater (Terra Sirenum) and Dukhan Crater (Xanthe Terra) with hitherto unprecedented detail and spatial resolution. The maps, developed with a specialized and complex legend to highlight elements conducive to cryopeg formation, served as a valuable foundation for a detailed representation of the complex landscape assemblage, with particular attention to depict spatial and temporal relationships of the landforms identified and mapped (with the aim to identify landscape features, which can potentially favour cryopeg formation). Kvadehuksletta Penisula, featuring at least two well-preserved raised beach complexes, developed in the high Arctic region hosts significant potential sites for cryopeg formation. The most recent complex of raised beaches postdates the deglaciation that followed the Last Glacial Maximum, while older beach deposits are dated to Weichselian interstadial(s). Specific sites within Kvadehuksletta have been pinpointed where cryopegs are likely to form, correlating with identifiable features and deposits in coastal, fluvial, and possibly paleo-lagoonal settings. Saltwater enrichment, attributed to various factors like direct ocean contact during transgression and brine generation in lagoonal settings, contributes to localized salt concentrations in pore water, facilitating cryopeg formation. The geomorphological analysis of Martian stepped-fans in Picardi and Dukhan Crater unveils a more complex developmental history than previously believed. Besides deltaic and fluvial processes, deposits related to mass wasting events, and periodic glaciations, ...