We used Mars Express High Resolution Stereo Camera images of the Tyrrhena Patera volcano to assign cratering model ages to material units defined in the VikingOrbiter‐based geologic mapping. Cratering model ages are generally consistent with their stratigraphy. We can identify three key intervals of major activity at Tyrrhena Patera: (1) formation of the volcanic edifice in the Noachian Period, ∼3.7–4.0 Ga, shortly following the Hellas impact (∼4 Ga) and coincident with the formation of Hadriaca Patera (∼3.9 Ga); (2) modification of the edifice and formation of the caldera rille and channels in the Hesperian Period, possibly extending into the Amazonian Period; and (3) a final stage of modification in the Late Amazonian Epoch, ∼0.8–1.4 Ga. Early‐ to mid‐Hesperian activity on Tyrrhena Patera is consistent with similar activity on Hadriaca Patera at ∼3.3–3.7 Ga. The most recent dateable event on Tyrrhena Patera is modification on the upper shield, caldera rille, and channel floors at ∼800 Ma. This coincidence of resurfacing in three units suggests a widespread process(es), which we speculate involved preferential (aeolian?) erosion of small craters on these flatter surfaces relative to the other units on the volcano. Alternatively, some combination of pyroclastic flow emplacement on the upper shield and fluvial activity in the caldera rille and channels, followed by differential aeolian erosion and deposition, could have produced the present surface. Regardless, major geologic resurfacing ended at Tyrrhena Patera nearly a billion years ago.
[1] High Resolution Stereo Camera (HRSC) images of Hadriaca Patera, Mars, in combination with Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC), Mars Orbiter Laser Altimeter (MOLA), and Thermal Infrared Imaging System (THEMIS) data sets, reveal morphologic details about this volcano and enable determination of a chronology of the major geologic events through new cratering age assessments. New topographic measurements of the Hadriaca edifice were also made from a HRSC-based high-resolution (125 m) digital terrain model (DTM) and compared to the MOLA DTM. We find evidence for a complex formation and erosional history at Hadriaca Patera, in which volcanic, fluvial, and aeolian processes were all involved. Crater counts and associated model ages suggest that Hadriaca Patera formed from early shield-building volcanic (likely explosive pyroclastic) eruptions at $3.7-3.9 Ga, with caldera formation no later than $3.5 Ga. A variety of geologic activity occurred in the caldera and on the northern flank and plains at $3.3-3.5 Ga, likely including pyroclastic flows (that partially filled a large crater NW of the caldera, and plains to the NE) and differential erosion/deposition by aeolian and/or fluvial activity. There were some resurfacing event(s) in the caldera and on the eastern flank at $2.4-2.6 Ga, in which the eastern flank's morphology is indicative of fluvial erosion. The most recent dateable geologic activity on Hadriaca Patera includes caldera resurfacing by some process (most likely differential aeolian erosion/deposition) in the Amazonian Period, as recent as $1.5 Ga. This is coincident with the resurfacing of the heavily channeled south flank by fluvial erosion. Unlike the Tharsis shields, major geologic activity ended at Hadriaca Patera over a billion years ago.
Abstract-A large number of micrometeorites (MMs) was recovered from glacier deposits located at the north-eastern passive margin of the Novaya Zemlya glacier sheet. Melted, scoriaceous, and unmelted micrometeorites (UMMs) are present. Unmelted micrometeorites are dominated mostly by chondritic matter, but also a few achondritic MMs are present. Here we report the discovery of four UMMs that, according to their texture, mineralogy, and chemistry, are identified as basaltic breccias. Mineral chemistry and Fe ⁄ Mn ratios of two basaltic micrometeorites indicate a possible relationship with eucrites and ⁄ or mesosiderites, whereas two others seem to have parents, which appear not to be present in our meteorite collections. The basaltic breccia UMMs constitute 0.5% of the total population of the Novaya Zemlya MM suite. This content should be lowered to 0.25% because the Novaya Zemlya MM collection appears to be biased with carbonaceous UMMs being underrepresented.
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