Alignments of volcanic features in the southern hemisphere of Mars produced by migrating mantle plumes

Leone, Giovanni

doi:10.1016/j.jvolgeores.2015.10.028

Cited by 69 publications

(34 citation statements)

References 80 publications

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“…It occurs in the vicinity of two craters, Roddenberry (diameter 139 km) and Green (182 km). These two craters, as well as the nearby Maunder (91 km, to the east of Roddenberry) show distinct lava flows (Leone, ). Their spatial extent and detailed characteristics remain to be studied, possibly in relation to their magnetic field anomalies.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A New Model of the Crustal Magnetic Field of Mars Using MGS and MAVEN

et al. 2019

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While devoid of an active magnetic dynamo field today, Mars possesses a remanent magnetic field that may reach several thousand nanoteslas locally. The exact origin and the events that have shaped the crustal magnetization remain largely enigmatic. Three magnetic field data sets from two spacecraft collected over 13 cumulative years have sampled the Martian magnetic field over a range of altitudes from 90 up to 6,000 km: (a) Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) magnetometer (1997–2006), (b) MGS Electron Reflectometer (1999–2006), and (c) Mars Atmosphere and Volatile EvolutioN (MAVEN) magnetometer (2014 to today). In this paper we combine these complementary data sets for the first time to build a new model of the Martian internal magnetic field. This new model improves upon previous ones in several aspects: comprehensive data coverage, refined data selection scheme, modified modeling scheme, discrete‐to‐continuous transformation of the model, and increased model resolution. The new model has a spatial resolution of ∼160 km at the surface, corresponding to spherical harmonic degree 134. It shows small scales and well‐defined features, which can now be associated with geological signatures.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A New Model of the Crustal Magnetic Field of Mars Using MGS and MAVEN

et al. 2019

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“…The direct observation of lava flows through high resolution CTX and HiRISE imagery, combined with a global geomorphological and mineralogical analysis of the surface of Mars, was fundamental to understand the volcanic origin of Valles Marineris, of several other circum-Chryse outflow channels, and of all the valley networks once thought to be fluvial networks (Leverington, 2004(Leverington, , 2007(Leverington, , 2009(Leverington, , 2011Leone, 2014Leone, , 2016. The same approach will be used here to better understand the origin of Mangala Valles.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Mangala Valles, Mars: A reassessment of formation processes based on a new geomorphological and stratigraphic analysis of the geological units

Leone¹

2017

Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal Research

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Mangala Valles has always been viewed as the typical outflow channel formed by catastrophic floods of water. A new analysis has shown that the geomorphological traces of fluvial or lacustrine processes within Mangala Valles can be better explained by fluid lava flooding the channels and filling pre-existing impact craters. As for the circum-Chryse outflow channels, where no clear source of water or mechanism able to replenish water at its hydraulic head is observed, there is no geologic trace of a sudden removal of a volume of water (ice) necessary to carve Mangala Valles. Neither maars nor rootless cones, typical volcanic features indicative of interaction between lava and ground ice, were found. Past works suggested that the formation of Mangala Valles occurred in late Amazonian age when the climate of Mars was similar to that seen today, that is absolutely not liquid water friendly. The present work shows how the origin of Mangala Valles may go back to Noachian or even Pre-Noachian when other studies have concluded that the climate was not liquid water friendly. Even assuming limited periods of obliquity favourable to liquid water in the history of Mars, which is at odds with the widespread presence of unaltered olivine and jarosite, it is very difficult to find plausible mechanisms of aquifer recharge or signs of catastrophic water release at the Notch of Mangala Valles that could feed the multiple episodes, or even a single episode, of fluvial flooding suggested in the literature. This evidence and other analysis will show that the presence of water and, eventually, ground ice is not incontrovertible in the equatorial regions and should not be given for granted as commonly done so far in the literature. The geomorphological analysis of the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) images provided in this paper, combined with THEMIS and MOLA data, show how Mangala Fossa, from which Mangala Valles originated as a breakout, is an erosional channel formed by the flow of lava in a original tube coming from Daedalia Planum rather than a tectonic graben or the sign of a dike rupturing to the surface.

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“…Nothing different than something already observed at Gusev (McSween, Wyatt, et al, 2006; McSween, Ruff, 2006), Palos (Leverington, 2006), or elsewhere on Mars (Leone, 2016). After the initial post‐Mariner (Leighton et al, 1965) and post‐Viking views (Baird & Clark, 1984), there is now a growing literature that shows compelling evidence of lava as the main fluid carving the outflow channels and the fluvial networks (Hopper & Leverington, 2014; Leone, 2014, 2016, 2017, 2019; Leverington, 2004, 2007, 2009, 2011; Leverington & Maxwell, 2004). Such evidence is also supported by the scarcity of the sources that should have provided the amounts of water necessary to fill the lowlands with enough water to form an ocean.…”

Section: Arguments In Favor Of Lavamentioning

confidence: 74%

“…Thus, basaltic tephra deposits would be difficult to distinguish from eventual water molecules annealed in the cage of frozen CO 2 forming the polar caps. The midlatitude regions selected for the experiments of radar sounding were the Mamers Valles (23°E–39°N and 28°E–40°N) and Reull Vallis (103°E–41°S and 105°E–43°S) (Karlsson et al, 2015), both located in volcanic terrains covered by an eolian blanket of volcanic ashes transported by the wind and characterized by porosity comparable to that of tephra that may vary from a few centimeters to hundreds of meters of thickness depending on the topography (Leone, 2016). Both regions have much lower WEH than the polar regions (Christensen, 2006).…”

Section: Arguments Claiming Past Presence Of Watermentioning

confidence: 99%

“…All these problems suggested that water is not a viable fluid to explain the formation of Valles Marineris and of the other outflow channels (Leone, 2014; Leverington, 2011). Volumetric discrepancies were also found at Ladon Valles; the channel shows a minimum volume of ~4,000 km 3 whereas the source can account for only ~600 km 3 , and at Mamers Valles, the formation of which would have required a column of pure water 7.5 km deep at an unrealistic 100% constant porosity all over the aquifer (Leone, 2016).…”

Section: Arguments In Favor Of Lavamentioning

confidence: 99%

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The Absence of an Ocean and the Fate of Water all Over the Martian History

Leone

2020

Earth and Space Science

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Existing data returned in >40 years of planetary missions to Mars provided a good basis to understand that an ocean never existed on the surface of the planet during its whole history. The presence of environmental indicators like unaltered jarosite and olivine deposited by the early volcanic activity can be seen as evidence that liquid water was never abundant nor widespread on the surface of Mars since the pre-Noachian or Noachian at least. There is a dramatic mismatch with the water equivalent volume of the outflow channels sources with the volume needed to form an ocean. The ubiquitous presence of large volcanoes, with their huge lava fields exactly where liquid water was claimed to be abundant during the Noachian age, makes now very clear that lava and not water was involved in the formation of the outflow channels and the fluvial networks. As a consequence, cheaper robotic exploration might be favored with respect to the ambitious human exploration program planned for Mars. Unless enough water supplies will be brought to the equatorial regions from the poles through long pipelines, or from nearby asteroids through cargo ships, it will be very difficult to exploit the rich equatorial resources brought up from the mantle by the massive volcanism that characterized the early history of the planet. Digging deeply the equatorial regions searching for water would be too expensive, of uncertain reward, and thus unpractical. et al., 1997), on the other side of Chryse Planitia far away from the landing site of

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Alignments of volcanic features in the southern hemisphere of Mars produced by migrating mantle plumes

Cited by 69 publications

References 80 publications

A New Model of the Crustal Magnetic Field of Mars Using MGS and MAVEN

A New Model of the Crustal Magnetic Field of Mars Using MGS and MAVEN

Mangala Valles, Mars: A reassessment of formation processes based on a new geomorphological and stratigraphic analysis of the geological units

The Absence of an Ocean and the Fate of Water all Over the Martian History

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