Bedform migration on Mars: Current results and future plans

Bridges, N.; Geissler, P. E.; Silvestro, S.; Banks, M. E.

doi:10.1016/j.aeolia.2013.02.004

Cited by 80 publications

(74 citation statements)

References 130 publications

(236 reference statements)

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“…2). Migration rates of most Meridiani dunes are near the averages from global studies (~0.7 m/Earth-year) (Bridges et al, 2013;Banks et al, 2014), but several outliers showed evidence for rapid sediment transport. Some of these detections are likely due to spatially-heterogeneous short-term diurnal and seasonal winds.…”

Section: Regional Aeolian Activitymentioning

confidence: 81%

“…Alternatively, image pairs with a small temporal separation (e.g., 1 Marsyear) or large offsets in lighting conditions were not ideal for change detection. These dunes may be migrating at a rate below the HiRISE detection limit for the given time span and image resolution (e.g.,<0.4 m/Earth-year for a 25 cm/pixel image pair separated by one Mars-year (Bridges et al, 2013)). Most activity was detected as meter-scale morphologic changes requiring properly co-registered, high-resolution HiRISE data (Fig.…”

Section: Regional Aeolian Activitymentioning

confidence: 99%

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Aeolian dune sediment flux heterogeneity in Meridiani Planum, Mars

et al. 2017

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It is now known unambiguously that wind-driven bedform activity is occurring on the surface of Mars today, including early detections of active sand dunes in Meridiani Planum's Endeavour crater. Many of these reports are only based on a few sets of observations of relatively isolated bedforms and lack regional context. Here, we investigate aeolian activity across central Meridiani Planum and test the hypothesis that dune sites surrounding Endeavour crater are also active and part of region-wide sediment migration driven by northwesterly winds. All 13 dune fields investigated clearly showed evidence for activity and the majority exhibited dune migration (average rates of 0.6 m/Earth-year). Observations indicate substantial geographic and temporal heterogeneity of dune crest fluxes across the area and per site. Locations with multiple time steps indicate dune sand fluxes can vary by a factor of five, providing evidence for short periods of rapid migration followed by near-stagnation. In contrast, measurements at other sites are nearly identical, indicating that some dunes are in a steady-state as they migrate. The observed sediment transport direction was consistent with a regional northeasterly-to-northwesterly wind regime, revealing more variations than were appreciated from earlier, more localized studies. Craters containing shallow, degraded, flat-floored interiors tended to have dunes with high sediment fluxes/activity, whereas local kilometer-scale topographic obstructions (e.g., central peaks, yardangs) were found to be inversely correlated with dune mobility. Finally, the previous, more limited detections of dune activity in Endeavour crater have been shown to be representative of a broader, region-wide pattern of dune motion.

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Section: Regional Aeolian Activitymentioning

confidence: 81%

Section: Regional Aeolian Activitymentioning

confidence: 99%

Aeolian dune sediment flux heterogeneity in Meridiani Planum, Mars

et al. 2017

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“…2B) is the signature of TARs (48,51,52). TARs may form as a result of coarse-grain armoring, giant saltation trajectories, or deposition of dust transported in suspension (52)(53)(54)(55), and are distinct from the large ripples in activity and morphology: (i) activity of TARs has not been detected (46,56), (ii) their wavelengths are generally larger and more widely distributed (e.g., Table S2), (iii) they have symmetric topographic profiles (54), and (iv) they tend to have a much higher albedo than the dark, active, mafic sands. Thus, the large martian ripples are distinct from TARs.…”

Section: S15 Additional Evidence In Favor Of the Wind-drag Hypothesismentioning

confidence: 99%

Large wind ripples on Mars: A record of atmospheric evolution

Lapôtre

Ewing

Lamb

et al. 2016

Science

161

357

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Wind blowing over sand on Earth produces decimeter-wavelength ripples and hundred-meter– to kilometer-wavelength dunes: bedforms of two distinct size modes. Observations from the Mars Science Laboratory Curiosity rover and the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter reveal that Mars hosts a third stable wind-driven bedform, with meter-scale wavelengths. These bedforms are spatially uniform in size and typically have asymmetric profiles with angle-of-repose lee slopes and sinuous crest lines, making them unlike terrestrial wind ripples. Rather, these structures resemble fluid-drag ripples, which on Earth include water-worked current ripples, but on Mars instead form by wind because of the higher kinematic viscosity of the low-density atmosphere. A reevaluation of the wind-deposited strata in the Burns formation (about 3.7 billion years old or younger) identifies potential wind-drag ripple stratification formed under a thin atmosphere.

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“…They generally form perpendicularly to the wind flow and migrate downwind, characteristics which enable their use to infer wind conditions on planetary surfaces (e.g., Bridges et al, 2013). On Earth, aeolian impact ripples consist in long and straight undulations with typical spacing between crests of $10 cm and presenting asymmetric profiles (Bagnold, 1941;Sharp, 1963).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Migrating meter-scale bedforms on Martian dark dunes: Are terrestrial aeolian ripples good analogues?

et al. 2017

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a b s t r a c tUsing automatic bedform mapping, principal component analysis and clustering we present a multiscale morphodynamic survey of dunes and meter-scale ripples on Herschel crater, Mars. The main purpose of this study is to assess if the morphology and temporal evolution of Martian meter-scale ripples is comparable to the morphodynamic characteristics of terrestrial aeolian impact ripples.We demonstrate that the spatial variations of the mapped dune patterns are correlated with substrate topography, which also influences the spatial distribution of the height and celerity of dunes' slipfaces. This topographic forcing is also patent on the spatial distribution of the ripples, thus proving that a multiscale coupling of active bedforms exists on Herschel under the present surface conditions.We found that Martian meter-scale ripples are morphologically distinct from terrestrial aeolian ripples, presenting a lower degree of straightness. Only $3% of the mapped ripples can be considered sinuous or straight bedforms. Moreover, we conclude that this two-dimensional sub-population is restricted to well define dune settings, where factors that promote the elongation of the meter-scale ripples were identified: gravity transport on higher slopes, bedform obliquity and flow convergence on the leeward side of dunes. We also report that the different sets of ripples that were mapped and segmented do not present a transverse migration. Therefore we conclude that terrestrial aeolian ripples are not good analogues for Martian meter-scale bedforms, either in terms of morphology or dynamic evolution.

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Bedform migration on Mars: Current results and future plans

Cited by 80 publications

References 130 publications

Aeolian dune sediment flux heterogeneity in Meridiani Planum, Mars

Aeolian dune sediment flux heterogeneity in Meridiani Planum, Mars

Large wind ripples on Mars: A record of atmospheric evolution

Migrating meter-scale bedforms on Martian dark dunes: Are terrestrial aeolian ripples good analogues?

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