Temporal changes in the geographic distribution, elevation, and potential origin of the Martian outflow channels
Digital Document
Collection(s) |
Collection(s)
|
---|---|
Content type |
Content type
|
Resource Type |
Resource Type
|
Genre |
Genre
|
Language |
Language
|
Persons |
---|
Origin Information |
|
---|
Description / Synopsis |
Description / Synopsis
Presented at the Lunar and Planetary Institute Workshop, November 15-17, 1993, Houston, Texas.
Observational evidence of outflow channel activity on Mars suggests that water was abundant in the planet's early crust. However, with the decline in the planet's internal heat flow, a freezing front developed within the regolith that propagated downward with time and acted as a thermodynamic sink for crustal H2O. One result of this thermal evolution is that, if the initial inventory of water on Mars was small, the cryosphere may have grown to the point where all the available water was taken up as ground ice. Alternatively, if the inventory of H2O exceeds the current pore volume of the cryosphere, then Mars has always possessed extensive bodies of subpermafrost groundwater. We have investigated the relative age, geographic distribution, elevation, and geologic setting of the outflow channels in an effort to accomplish the following: (1) identify possible modes of origin and evolutionary trends in their formation; (2) gain evidence regarding the duration and spatial distribution of groundwater in the crust; and (3) better constraint estimates of the planetary inventory of H2O. |
---|
Publication Title |
Publication Title
|
---|---|
Publication Number |
Publication Number
LPI Technical Report 93-06, Part 1
|
Publication Genre |
Publication Genre
|
Note |
|
---|
Identifier URI |
Identifier URI
|
---|---|
Use and Reproduction |
Use and Reproduction
©1993. Lunar and Planetary Institute.
|
Rights Statement |
Rights Statement
|
Keywords |
Keywords
Ground Water
Lunar and Planetary Exploration
Thermodynamics
Spatial Distribution
Heat Transmission
Freezing
Regolith
Planetary Geology
Planetary Crusts
Permafrost
Mars Surface
Ice
|
---|