共查询到20条相似文献，搜索用时 46 毫秒
1.
We apply improved kinetic modeling of electron transport in the martian thermosphere to fit pitch angle distributions measured by the Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Magnetometer/Electron Reflectometer (MAG/ER), together with appropriate filtering, binning, averaging and error correction techniques, to create the most reliable ER global map to date of crustal magnetic field magnitude at 185 km altitude, with twice the spatial resolution and considerably higher sensitivity to crustal fields than global maps of magnetic field components produced with MAG data alone. This map compares favorably to sparsely sampled dayside MAG data taken at similar altitudes, insofar as a direct comparison is meaningful. Using this map, we present two case studies. The first compares the magnetic signatures of two highland volcanoes, concluding that the comparatively greater thermal demagnetization at Syrtis Major compared with Tyrrhena Patera is likely due to a higher ratio of intruded to extruded magmas. The second uses the map along with topographic data to compare the magnetic signatures and crater retention ages of the demagnetized Hellas impact basin and magnetized Ladon impact basin. From this comparison, we determine that the martian global dynamo magnetic field went from substantial to very weak or nonexistent in the absolute model age time interval 4.15±0.05 to 4.07±0.05 Ga ago. 相似文献
2.
The issue of crater retention age estimates on planetary surfaces is discussed with an attempt to quantify the effect of overlapping primary and secondary impact crater populations in restricted crater diameter ranges. The approach to this problem is illustrated with a simple model production function where the secondary crater input is artificially enhanced. Extrapolation of such a secondary crater model distribution to a global record results in extraordinarily high crater frequencies that do not exist on Mars, and implies the need of detailed studies of the size-frequency distribution for remote secondary craters, to date poorly known. A key case, the martian crater Zunil and its secondary crater field, illustrate that reasonable predictions for the secondary crater size-frequency distribution at small (<100 m) crater diameters affected the standard model crater retention age for the Cerberus plains less than the statistical uncertainty. These observations show that age determination based on appropriate crater counting statistics is valid in a wide primary crater diameter range. 相似文献
3.
This study presents an automated system for cataloging impact craters using the MOLA 128 pixels/degree digital elevation model of Mars. Craters are detected by a two-step algorithm that first identifies round and symmetric topographic depressions as crater candidates and then selects craters using a machine-learning technique. The system is robust with respect to surface types; craters are identified with similar accuracy from all different types of martian surfaces without adjusting input parameters. By using a large training set in its final selection step, the system produces virtually no false detections. Finally, the system provides a seamless integration of crater detection with its characterization. Of particular interest is the ability of our algorithm to calculate crater depths. The system is described and its application is demonstrated on eight large sites representing all major types of martian surfaces. An evaluation of its performance and prospects for its utilization for global surveys are given by means of detailed comparison of obtained results to the manually-derived Catalog of Large Martian Impact Craters. We use the results from the test sites to construct local depth-diameter relationships based on a large number of craters. In general, obtained relationships are in agreement with what was inferred on the basis of manual measurements. However, we have found that, in Terra Cimmeria, the depth/diameter ratio has an abrupt decrease at ∼38°S regardless of crater size. If shallowing of craters is attributed to presence of sub-surface ice, a sudden change in its spatial distribution is suggested by our findings. 相似文献
4.
McEwen et al. (McEwen, A.S., Preblich, B.S., Turtle, E.P., Artemieva, N.A., Golombek, M.P., Hurst, M., Kirk, R.L., Burr, D.M., Christensen, P. [2005]. Icarus 176, 351-381) developed a useful test for the internal consistency of crater-count chronometry systems. They argued that certain multi-kilometer, fresh-looking martian craters with prominent rays should be the youngest or near-youngest craters in their size range. The “McEwen et al. test” is that the ages determined from crater densities of the smallest superimposed craters (typically diameter D ∼ 5-20 m) should thus be comparable to the expected formation intervals of the host primary. McEwen et al. concluded from MOC data that crater chronometry failed this test by factors of 700-2000. We apply HiRISE and other imagery to eight different young craters in order to re-evaluate their arguments. We use existing crater chronology systems as well as the reported observed production rate of 16 m craters (Malin, M.C., Edgett, K., Posiolova, L., McColley, S., Noe Dobrea, E. [2006]. Science 314, 1573-1557; Hartmann, W.K., Quantin, C., Mangold, N. [2007]. Icarus 186, 11-23; Kreslavsky [2007]. Seventh International Conference on Mars, 3325). Every case passes the McEwen et al. test. We conclude that the huge inconsistencies suggested by McEwen et al. are spurious. Many of these craters show evidence of impact into ice-rich material, and appear to have ice-flow features and sublimation pits on their floors. As production rate data improve, decameter-scale craters will provide a valuable way of dating these young martian geological formations and the processes that modify them. 相似文献
5.
The occurrence of fluvial activity and standing bodies of water on early Mars is the subject of debate. Using MOC, MOLA, and THEMIS data, we identify a whole set of landforms in the Thaumasia region which attest to water flows during geologically long periods of more than thousand years. A thick fan-delta is identified within an impact crater at the outlet of a deep valley. Ponded water filled and overflowed this crater's rim, creating entrance and exit breaches and an outlet valley. These landforms show that the 25-km diameter impact crater contained a lake up to 600 m deep. At the head of this crater's deep contributing valley, a closed depression may have contained another lake, but depositional landforms are not evident in this headward basin. Alternatively, groundwater discharge may have supplied the valley, but the observed landforms are not consistent with a sudden release of water, as is usually invoked for the large martian outflows channels. Stratigraphic relationships show that this hydrological activity occurred during the Hesperian period, thus relatively late in the history of martian valley network development. 相似文献
6.
A meteorite impact capable of creating a 200 km diameter crater can demagnetize the entire crust beneath, and produce an appreciable magnetic anomaly at satellite altitudes of ～400 km in case the pre-existing crust is magnetized. In this study we examine the magnetic field over all of the craters and impact-related Quasi-Circular Depressions (QCDs) with diameters larger than 200 km that are located on the highlands of Mars, excluding the Tharsis bulge, in order to estimate the mean magnetization of the highland crust. Using the surface topography and the gravity of Mars we first identify those QCDs that are likely produced by impacts. The magnetic map of a given crater or impact-related QCD is derived using the Mars Global Surveyor high-altitude nighttime radial magnetic data. Two extended ancient areas are identified on the highlands, the South Province and the Tempe Terra, which have large number of craters and impact-related QCDs but none of them has an appreciable magnetic signature. The primordial crust of these areas is not magnetized, or is very weakly magnetized at most. We examine some plausible scenarios to explain the weak magnetization of these areas, and conclude that no strong dynamo existed in the first ～100 Myr of Mars’ history when the newly formed primordial crust was cooling below the magnetic blocking temperatures of its minerals. 相似文献
7.
Self-organised patterns of stone stripes, polygons, circles and clastic solifluction lobes form by the sorting of clasts from fine-grained sediments in freeze-thaw cycles. We present new High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) images of Mars which demonstrate that the slopes of high-latitude craters, including Heimdal crater - just 25 km east of the Phoenix Landing Site - are patterned by all of these landforms. The order of magnitude improvement in imaging data resolution afforded by HiRISE over previous datasets allows not only the reliable identification of these periglacial landforms but also shows that high-latitude fluviatile gullies both pre- and post-date periglacial patterned ground in several high-latitude settings on Mars. Because thaw is inherent to the sorting processes that create these periglacial landforms, and from the association of this landform assemblage with fluviatile gullies, we infer the action of liquid water in a fluvio-periglacial context. We conclude that these observations are evidence of the protracted, widespread action of thaw liquids on and within the martian regolith. Moreover, the size frequency statistics of superposed impact craters demonstrate that this freeze-thaw environment is, at least in Heimdal crater, less than a few million years old. Although the current martian climate does not favour prolonged thaw of water ice, observations of possible liquid droplets on the strut of the Phoenix Lander may imply significant freezing point depression of liquids sourced in the regolith, probably driven by the presence of perchlorates in the soil. Because perchlorates have eutectic temperatures below 240 K and can remain liquid at temperatures far below the freezing point of water we speculate that freeze-thaw involving perchlorate brines provides an alternative “low-temperature” hypothesis to the freeze-thaw of more pure water ice and might drive significant geomorphological work in some areas of Mars. Considering the proximity of Heimdal crater to the Phoenix Landing Site, the presence of such hydrated minerals might therefore explain the landforms described here. If this is the case then the geographical distribution of martian freeze-thaw landforms might reflect relatively high temperatures (but still below 273 K) and the locally elevated concentration of salts in the regolith. 相似文献
8.
East-west trending magnetic anomalies in the Southern Hemisphere of Mars: Modeling analysis and interpretation 总被引：1，自引：0，他引：1
Maps of the vector components of the martian crustal magnetic field over the strongly magnetized Terra Cimmeria/Sirenum region are constructed using Mars Global Surveyor magnetometer data. Although pronounced east-west trending anomalies are present on the radial and north field component maps at the mapping altitude (∼360-380 km), these trends are much less prominent at the lower aerobraking altitude (∼90-150 km). Comparisons with similar maps produced using artificial data at the aerobraking altitude indicate that elongated sources in this region may have maximum lengths along the martian surface of ∼500 km and maximum aspect ratios of ∼2. Iterative forward modeling of several relatively isolated anomalies in the mapped region yields paleomagnetic pole positions consistent with those estimated in previous studies of other anomalies using mapping phase and science phasing orbit data. On this basis, it is inferred that sources in the studied region are most probably magnetized primarily in northward or southward directions. Using this additional constraint, iterative forward modeling is then applied to determine a magnetization distribution that is consistent with data at both the aerobraking altitude and the mapping altitude. The model magnetization distribution, which includes 41 discrete sources, again indicates no highly elongated sources. An examination of surface geology in the region as well as a consideration of the global distribution of anomalies suggests that magmatic intrusions (e.g., subsurface dike swarms), cooling in the presence of water, are the most likely sources of the magnetic anomalies. 相似文献
9.
The technique of electron reflectometry, a method for remote estimation of planetary magnetic fields, is expanded from its original use of mapping crustal magnetic fields at the Moon to achieving the same purpose at Mars, where the presence of a substantial atmosphere complicates matters considerably. The motion of solar wind electrons, incident on the martian atmosphere, is considered in detail, taking account of the following effects: the electrons' helical paths around the magnetic field lines to which they are bound, the magnetic mirror force they experience due to converging field lines in the vicinity of crustal magnetic anomalies, their acceleration/deceleration by electrostatic potentials, their interactions with thermal plasma, their drifts due to magnetic field line curvature and perpendicular electric fields and their scattering off, and loss of energy through a number of different processes to, atmospheric neutrals. A theoretical framework is thus developed for modeling electron pitch angle distributions expected when a spacecraft is on a magnetic field line which is connected to both the martian crust and the interplanetary magnetic field. This framework, along with measured pitch angle distributions from the Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Magnetometer/Electron Reflectometer (MAG/ER) experiment, can be used to remotely measure crustal magnetic field magnitudes and atmospheric neutral densities at ∼180 km above the martian datum, as well as estimate average parallel electric fields between 200 and 400 km altitude. Detailed analysis and full results, concerning the crustal magnetic field and upper thermospheric density of Mars, are left to two companion papers. 相似文献
10.
The lack of magnetic anomalies within the giant martian impact basins, Hellas, Argyre, and Isidis suggests that the impacts demagnetized the crust. Our analysis of the magnetic anomaly intensity shows that the interior parts of the basins are completely demagnetized, while the outer parts and surroundings are partially demagnetized. We investigate the shock pressure and impact heating resulting from the impacts. The crust has been completely demagnetized within ∼0.8 basin radius by a combination of thermal and shock effects, and the surroundings have been partially demagnetized by shock to a distance of at least 1.4 radii. We also investigate magnetic signatures of intermediate-size craters. From the pressures generated by both the large and intermediate-sized impacts, we conclude that the remanent magnetization is carried at least in part by high coercivity rocks. Since the crust beneath the basins does not appear to have been remagnetized as it cooled following the impacts, we conclude that the martian core dynamo was inactive or very weak for at least 100 Myr following the Hellas impact. 相似文献
11.
We compare three previously independently studied crater morphologies - excess ejecta craters, perched craters, and pedestal craters - each of which has been proposed to form from impacts into an ice-rich surface layer. Our analysis identifies the specific similarities and differences between the crater types; the commonalities provide significant evidence for a genetic relationship among the morphologies. We use new surveys of excess ejecta and perched craters in the southern hemisphere in conjunction with prior studies of all of the morphologies to create a comprehensive overview of their geographic distributions and physical characteristics. From these analyses, we conclude that excess ejecta craters and perched craters are likely to have formed from the same mechanism, with excess ejecta craters appearing fresh while perched craters have experienced post-impact modification and infilling. Impacts that led to these two morphologies overwhelmed the ice-rich layer, penetrating into the underlying martian regolith, resulting in the excavation of rock that formed the blocky ejecta necessary to armor the surface and preserve the ice-rich deposits. Pedestal craters, which tend to be smaller in diameter, have the same average deposit thickness as excess ejecta and perched craters, and form in the same geographic regions. They rarely have ejecta around their crater rims, instead exhibiting a smooth pedestal surface. We interpret this to mean that they form from impacts into the same type of ice-rich paleodeposit, but that they do not penetrate through the icy surface layer, and thus do not generate a blocky ejecta covering. Instead, a process related to the impact event appears to produce a thin, indurated surface lag deposit that serves to preserve the ice-rich material. These results provide a new basis to identify the presence of Amazonian non-polar ice-rich deposits, to map their distribution in space and time, and to assess Amazonian climate history. Specifically, the ages, distribution and physical attributes of the crater types suggest that tens to hundreds of meters of ice-rich material has been episodically emplaced at mid latitudes in both hemispheres throughout the Amazonian due to obliquity-driven climate variations. These deposits likely accumulated more frequently in the northern lowlands, resulting in a larger population of all three crater morphologies in the northern hemisphere. 相似文献
12.
Alfred S. McEwen Brandon S. Preblich Natalia A. Artemieva Michelle Hurst Devon M. Burr 《Icarus》2005,176(2):351-381
A 10-km diameter crater named Zunil in the Cerberus Plains of Mars created ∼107 secondary craters 10 to 200 m in diameter. Many of these secondary craters are concentrated in radial streaks that extend up to 1600 km from the primary crater, identical to lunar rays. Most of the larger Zunil secondaries are distinctive in both visible and thermal infrared imaging. MOC images of the secondary craters show sharp rims and bright ejecta and rays, but the craters are shallow and often noncircular, as expected for relatively low-velocity impacts. About 80% of the impact craters superimposed over the youngest surfaces in the Cerberus Plains, such as Athabasca Valles, have the distinctive characteristics of Zunil secondaries. We have not identified any other large (?10 km diameter) impact crater on Mars with such distinctive rays of young secondary craters, so the age of the crater may be less than a few Ma. Zunil formed in the apparently youngest (least cratered) large-scale lava plains on Mars, and may be an excellent example of how spallation of a competent surface layer can produce high-velocity ejecta (Melosh, 1984, Impact ejection, spallation, and the origin of meteorites, Icarus 59, 234-260). It could be the source crater for some of the basaltic shergottites, consistent with their crystallization and ejection ages, composition, and the fact that Zunil produced abundant high-velocity ejecta fragments. A 3D hydrodynamic simulation of the impact event produced 1010 rock fragments ?10 cm diameter, leading to up to 109 secondary craters ?10 m diameter. Nearly all of the simulated secondary craters larger than 50 m are within 800 km of the impact site but the more abundant smaller (10-50 m) craters extend out to 3500 km. If Zunil is representative of large impact events on Mars, then secondaries should be more abundant than primaries at diameters a factor of ∼1000 smaller than that of the largest primary crater that contributed secondaries. As a result, most small craters on Mars could be secondaries. Depth/diameter ratios of 1300 small craters (10-500 m diameter) in Isidis Planitia and Gusev crater have a mean value of 0.08; the freshest of these craters give a ratio of 0.11, identical to that of fresh secondary craters on the Moon (Pike and Wilhelms, 1978, Secondary-impact craters on the Moon: topographic form and geologic process, Lunar Planet. Sci. IX, 907-909) and significantly less than the value of ∼0.2 or more expected for fresh primary craters of this size range. Several observations suggest that the production functions of Hartmann and Neukum (2001, Cratering chronology and the evolution of Mars, Space Sci. Rev. 96, 165-194) predict too many primary craters smaller than a few hundred meters in diameter. Fewer small, high-velocity impacts may explain why there appears to be little impact regolith over Amazonian terrains. Martian terrains dated by small craters could be older than reported in recent publications. 相似文献
13.
Modeling of major martian magnetic anomalies: Further evidence for polar reorientations during the Noachian 总被引：1，自引：0，他引：1
Maps of the vector components of the Mars crustal magnetic field are constructed at the mapping altitude (360 to 410 km) using a selected set of data obtained with the Mars Global Surveyor magnetometer during 2780 orbits of the planet in 1999. Forward modeling calculations are then applied to six relatively strong and isolated, dominantly dipolar, magnetic anomalies for the primary purpose of estimating bulk directions of magnetization. Assuming that the magnetizing field was a (dipolar) core dynamo field centered in the planet, paleomagnetic pole positions are calculated for the six primary source bodies together with that for a seventh anomaly analyzed earlier. In agreement with several previous studies, it is found that six of the seven pole positions are clustered in what is now the northern lowlands in a region centered northwest of Olympus Mons (mean pole position: 34°±10° N, 202°±58° E). Assuming that the dynamo dipole moment vector was approximately parallel to the rotation axis, the modeling results therefore suggest a major reorientation of Mars relative to its rotation axis after magnetization was acquired. Such a reorientation may have been stimulated by internal mass redistributions associated with the formation of the northern lowlands and Tharsis, for example. A comparison of the mean paleo (magnetic) equator to the global distribution of crustal fields shows that magnetic anomalies tend to occur at low paleolatitudes. The same appears to be true for the Noachian-aged valley networks, which exhibit a broad spatial correlation with the magnetic anomalies. A possible interpretation is that the formation of magnetic anomalies and the valley networks was favored in the tropics where melting of water ice and snow was a stronger source of both surface valley erosion and groundwater recharge during the earliest history of the planet. This would be consistent with models in which hydrothermal alteration of crustal rocks played a role in producing the unusually strong martian magnetic anomalies. 相似文献
14.
Magnetic component anomaly maps were made from five mapping cycles of the Mars Global Surveyor's magnetometer data. Our goal was to find and isolate positive and negative anomaly pairs which would indicate magnetization of a single source body. From these anomalies we could compute the direction of the magnetizing vector and subsequently the location of the magnetic pole existing at the time of magnetization. We found nine suitable anomaly pairs and from these we computed paleo-poles that were nearly equally divided between north, south and mid-latitudes. These results suggest that during the existence of the martian main magnetic field it experienced several reversals and excursions. 相似文献
15.
Recent geomorphic, remote sensing, and atmospheric modeling studies have shown evidence for abundant ground ice deposits in the martian mid-latitudes. Numerous potential water/ice-rich flow features have been identified in craters in these regions, including arcuate ridges, gullies, and small flow lobes. Previous studies (such as in Newton Basin) have shown that arcuate ridges and gullies are mainly found in small craters (∼2-30 km in diameter). These features are located on both pole-facing and equator-facing crater walls, and their orientations have been found to be dependent on latitude. We have conducted surveys of craters >20 km in diameter in two mid-latitude regions, one in the northern hemisphere in Arabia Terra, and one in the southern hemisphere east of Hellas basin. In these regions, prominent lobes, potentially ice-rich, are commonly found on the walls of craters with diameters between ∼20-100 km. Additional water/ice-rich features such as channels, valleys, alcoves, and debris aprons have also been found in association with crater walls. In the eastern Hellas study region, channels were found to be located primarily on pole-facing walls, whereas valleys and alcoves were found primarily on equator-facing walls. In the Arabia Terra study region, these preferences are less distinct. In both study regions, lobate flows, gullies, and arcuate ridges were found to have pole-facing orientation preferences at latitudes below 45° and equator-facing orientation preferences above 45°, similar to preferences previously found for gullies and arcuate ridges in smaller craters. Interrelations between the features suggest they all formed from the mobilization of accumulated ice-rich materials. The dependencies of orientations on latitude suggest a relationship to differences in total solar insolation along the crater walls. Differences in slope of the crater wall, differences in total solar insolation with respect to wall orientation, and variations in topography along the crater rim can explain the variability in morphology of the features studied. The formation and evolution of these landforms may best be explained by multiple cycles of deposition of ice-rich material during periods of high obliquity and subsequent modification and transport of these materials down crater walls. 相似文献
16.
Details are presented of an improved technique to use atmospheric absorption of magnetically reflecting solar wind electrons to constrain neutral mass densities in the nightside martian upper thermosphere. The helical motion of electrons on converging magnetic field lines, through an extended neutral atmosphere, is modeled to enable prediction of loss cone pitch angle distributions measured by the Magnetometer/Electron Reflectometer (MAG/ER) experiment on Mars Global Surveyor at 400 km altitude. Over the small fraction of Mars' southern hemisphere (∼2.5%) where the permanent crustal magnetic fields are both open to the solar wind and sufficiently strong as to dominate the variable induced martian magnetotail field, spherical harmonic expansions of the crustal fields are used to prescribe the magnetic field along the electron's path, allowing least-squares fitting of measured loss cones, in order to solve for parameters describing the vertical neutral atmospheric mass density profile from 160 to 230 km. Results are presented of mass densities in the southern hemisphere at 2 a.m. LST at the mean altitude of greatest sensitivity, 180 km, continuously over four martian years. Seasonal variability in densities is largely explained by orbital and latitudinal changes in dayside insolation that impacts the nightside through the resulting thermospheric circulation. However, the physical processes behind repeatable rapid, late autumnal cooling at mid-latitudes and near-aphelion warming at equatorial latitudes is not fully clear. Southern winter polar warming is generally weak or nonexistent over several Mars years, in basic agreement with MGS and MRO accelerometer observations. The puzzling response of mid-latitude densities from 160° to 200° E to the 2001 global dust storm suggests unanticipated localized nightside upper thermospheric lateral and vertical circulation patterns may accompany such storms. The downturn of the 11-year cycle of solar EUV flux is likely responsible for lower aphelion densities in 2004 and 2006 (Mars years 27 and 28). 相似文献
17.
We conducted a systematic, global survey using Thermal Emission Imaging System Infrared (THEMIS IR) coverage (∼100 m/pixel) to search for large alluvial fans in impact craters on Mars. Our survey has focused on large fans (apron areas greater than ∼40 km2, usually located in craters greater than 20 km in diameter) due to the resolution of the THEMIS images and Mars Orbiter Laser Altimeter (MOLA) coverage. We find that the host craters are found to have a distinctive diameter range from 30-150 km. The fans generally cluster in three geographic areas—southern Margaritifer Terra, southwestern Terra Sabaea, and southwestern Tyrrhena Terra, however several outliers do exist. The alluvial fans do not form in a particular orientation along the crater rim nor are they associated with the location of current high rim topography. Fan area magnitude and variability increase with crater diameter while fan concavity magnitude and variability increase with decreasing crater diameter. Smaller fan aprons in general have higher, more variable concavity. The source of the water forming these fans is uncertain given the challenges of accommodating the global distribution pattern and formation patterns within the craters. 相似文献
18.
William K. Hartmann 《Icarus》2005,174(2):294-320
This paper reviews and refines the technique of dating martian surfaces by using impact-crater isochrons (defined as size distributions of impact craters on undisturbed martian surfaces of specified ages). In the 1970s, this system identified not only abundant ancient martian volcanic surfaces, but also extensive lava plains with ages of a few 108 y-old; this dating was initially controversial but confirmed in the 1980s and 90s by martian meteorites. The present update utilizes updated estimates of the Mars/Moon cratering ratio (the most important calibration factor), improves treatment of gravity and impact velocity scaling effects, combines aspects of the crater size distribution data from earlier work by both Neukum and Hartmann, and for the first time applies a correction for loss of small meteoroids in the martian atmosphere from Popova et al. (2003, Meteorit. Planet. Sci. 38, 905-925). The updated isochrons are not radically different from the previous “2002 iteration” but fit observed data better and give somewhat older model ages for features dated from small craters (diameter D<100 m). Crater counts from young lava flows in various areas give good fits to the new isochrons over as much as 3 orders of magnitude in D, confirming the general isochron shape and giving crater retention ages in the range of some 106 to some 108 y, interpreted as lava flow ages. More complex, older units are also discussed. Uncertainties are greatest if only small craters (D?100 m) are used. Suggestions by other workers of gross uncertainties, due to local secondary craters and deposition/exhumation, are discussed; they do not refute our conclusions of significant volcanic, fluvial, and other geologic activity in the last few percent of martian geologic time or the importance of cratering as a tool for studying processes such as exhumation. Indeed, crater count data suggest certain very recent episodes of deposition, exhumation, and ice flow, possibly associated with obliquity cycles of ∼107 y timescale. Evidence from ancient surfaces suggests higher rates of volcanism, fluvial activity, glaciation, and other processes in Noachian/Hesperian time than in Amazonian time. 相似文献
19.
Abstract— The 45-km diameter Montagnais impact structure, Nova Scotia, Canada, is characterized by a positive, circular 8 mGal gravity anomaly associated with its central uplift. The negative gravity anomaly, which is expected for a complex crater of this size, is not observed within the structure, and magnetic data lack any well-defined, crater-related signature. The absence of a negative gravity anomaly implies that no low-density zone generally related to fracturing and brecciation exists. Since Montagnais appears well preserved, this zone has not been removed by erosion. Its formation may have been impeded due to the lack of competency in the target rocks. The crater was formed in a shallow marine environment where the lack of strength in the unconsolidated sediments may have prevented the preservation of voids and fractures that cause a negative gravity anomaly as observed over other impact craters. Additionally, the efficient absorption of impact energy by unconsolidated target material may have inhibited fracture/void development. Although the gravity signature of impact craters formed on land is well known, structures occurring in unconsolidated target material, such as continental shelf environments, constitute another signature that should also be recognized. 相似文献
20.
The nature of strong martian crustal field sources is investigated by mapping and modeling of Mars Global Surveyor magnetometer data near Apollinaris Patera, a previously proposed volcanic source, supplemented by large-scale correlative studies. Regional mapping yields evidence for positive correlations of orbital anomalies with both Apollinaris Patera and Lucus Planum, a nearby probable extrusive pyroclastic flow deposit that is mapped as part of the Medusae Fossae Formation. Iterative forward modeling of the Apollinaris Patera magnetic anomaly assuming a source model consisting of one or more uniformly magnetized near-surface disks indicates that the source is centered approximately on the construct with a scale size several times larger and comparable to that of the Apollinaris Patera free-air gravity anomaly. A significantly lower rms deviation is obtained using a two-disk model that favors a concentration of magnetization near the construct itself. Estimates for the dipole moment per unit area of the Lucus Planum source together with maximum thicknesses of ∼3 km based on topographic and radar sounding data lead to an estimated minimum magnetization intensity of ∼50 A/m within the pyroclastic deposits. Intensities of this magnitude are similar to those obtained experimentally for Fe-rich Mars analog basalts that cooled in an oxidizing (high fO2) environment in the presence of a strong (?10 μT) surface field. Further evidence for the need for an oxidizing environment is provided by a broad spatial correlation of the locations of phyllosilicate exposures identified to date using Mars Express OMEGA data with areas containing strong crustal magnetic fields and valley networks in the Noachian-aged southern highlands. This indicates that the presence of liquid water, which is a major crustal oxidant, was an important factor in the formation of strong magnetic sources. The evidence discussed here for magnetic sources associated with relatively young volcanic units suggests that a martian dynamo existed during the late Noachian/early Hesperian, after the last major basin-forming impacts and the formation of the northern lowlands. 相似文献