Megafloods and Global Paleoenvironmental Change On

spe453-03 1st pages The Geological Society of America Special Paper 453 2009 Megafl oods and global paleoenvironmental change on Mars and Earth Victor R. Baker* Department of Hydrology and Water Resources, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona 85721-0011, USA ABSTRACT The surface of Mars preserves landforms associated with the largest known water fl oods. While most of these megafl oods occurred more than 1 Ga ago, recent spacecraft images document a phase of outburst fl ooding and associated volcanism that seems no older than tens of millions of years. The megafl oods that formed the Martian outfl ow channels had maximum discharges comparable to those of Earth’s ocean currents and its thermohaline circulation. On both Earth and Mars, abrupt and episodic operations of these megascale processes have been major factors in global climatic change. On relatively short time scales, by their infl uence on oceanic circulation, Earth’s Pleistocene megafl oods probably (1) induced the Younger Dryas cooling of 12.8 ka ago, and (2) initi- ated the Bond cycles of ocean-climate oscillation with their associated Heinrich events of “iceberg armadas” into the North Atlantic. The Martian megafl oods are hypoth- esized to have induced the episodic formation of a northern plains “ocean,” which, with contemporaneous volcanism, led to relatively brief periods of enhanced hydrological cycling on the land surface (the “MEGAOUTFLO Hypothesis”). This process of episodic short-duration climate change on Mars, operating at intervals of hundreds of millions of years, has parallels in the Neoproterozoic glaciation of Earth (the “Snowball Earth Hypothesis”). Both phenomena are theorized to involve abrupt and spectacular planet-wide climate oscillations, and associated feedbacks with ocean circulation, land- surface weathering, glaciation, and atmospheric carbon dioxide. The critical factors for megascale environmental change on both Mars and Earth seem to be associated tecton- ics and volcanism, plus the abundance of water for planetary cycling. Some of the most important events in planetary history, including those of the biosphere, seem to be tied to cataclysmic episodes of massive hydrological change. INTRODUCTION an ice-rich permafrost zone (Clifford, 1993; Clifford and Parker, 2001). Results from recent spacecraft missions have generally Earth and Mars are the only two planets known to have corroborated a theory, fi rst presented by Baker et al. (1991), that geological histories involving vigorous surface cycling of water periodically Mars’ cold, dry, stable state has been perturbed by between reservoirs of ice, liquid, and vapor. Although the current massive outbursts of water and gas, leading to a cool, wet atmo- state of the Martian surface is exceedingly cold and dry, there are sphere in contact with standing bodies of water (lakes, seas, or extensive reservoirs of polar ice and ground ice (Boynton et al., even a temporary “ocean”). Labeled “the episodic ocean hypoth- 2002), plus probable immense quantities of groundwater beneath esis” by Carr (1996), the Baker et al. (1991) theory was initially considered to be outrageous (Kerr, 1993). The prevailing theo- *[email protected] retical view of Mars until relatively recently has been that Mars Is Baker, V.R., 2009, Megafl oods and global paleoenvironmental change on Mars and Earth, in Chapman, M.G., and Keszthelyi, L., eds., Preservation of random megascale events on Mars and Earth: Infl uence on geologic history: Geological Society of America Special Paper 453, p. 25–36, doi: 10.1130/2009.453(03). For permission to copy, contact [email protected]. ©2009 The Geological Society of America. All rights reserved. 25 spe453-03 1st pages 26 Baker continuously Dead and Dry Except during the Noachian (MID- and Milton, 1974), mostly during later periods of Martian history, DEN). (The Noachian is the “early Mars” epoch, extending from after termination of the heavy bombardment phase at ~3.9 Ga. 4.5 to ~3.8 Ga ago). The MIDDEN hypothesis is fi nally being The huge peak discharges implied by the size and morphology of recognized as inconsistent with numerous important aspects of the outfl ow channels (Baker et al., 1992) are explained by several Martian geology, including extensive evidence for very recent models (Table 2). A popular view is that a warm, wet climate water-related landforms (e.g., Baker, 2001, 2004, 2005). In light phase during the heavy bombardment was followed by a pro- of the new evidence, the original Baker et al. (1991) hypothesis gressively thickening ice-rich permafrost zone during subsequent has been regenerated as MEGAOUTFLO: “Mars Episodic Gla- cold and dry Martian history. The outfl ow channels result from cial Atmospheric Oceanic Upwelling by Thermotectonic FLood releases of subsurface water that was confi ned by this process Outburst” (Baker et al., 2000; see also, Kargel, 2004). (Carr 1979, 2000; Clifford and Parker 2001). Certainly, there is On Earth the oceans are integral to long-term climate strong evidence, notably from impact crater morphologies (Carr change. Their currents distribute heat between the equator and 1996), that much of the Martian surface is underlain by a thick the poles. For example, the Gulf Stream fl ows at discharges of up ice-rich permafrost zone, a “cryolithosphere” (Kuzmin et al. to 100 sverdrups (Sv), involving relatively slow moving water 1988). However, the geological record shows that volcano-ice- 1 km in depth and 50–75 km wide. (The sverdrup, equivalent water interactions are commonly associated with outburst fl ood to 1 × 106 m3/s, is the unit of discharge for both ocean currents channels. Thus episodic heat fl ow and volcanism (Baker et al. and megafl oods.) As northward-fl owing Atlantic Ocean seawa- 1991) affords an alternative to the linear model of progressive ter evaporates and becomes more saline, it increases in density, pressurization of confi ned water by cryosphere thickening. The eventually sinking in the northern Atlantic. This process forms MEGAOUTFLO hypothesis envisions long periods (perhaps on a portion of the great global thermohaline circulation pattern, the order of 108 a) during which Mars has a stable atmosphere which acts as a conveyor belt for heat in the oceans. However, that is cold and dry like that of today, with nearly all its water this global-scale circulation pattern was disrupted during the last trapped as ground ice and underlying groundwater. The stable glaciation when megafl oods (fl oods with peak discharges on the state is punctuated by relatively short-duration (perhaps 104 or order of a Sv or more) introduced relatively low-density, fresh- 105 a) episodes of quasistable conditions that are warmer and water lids over large areas of ocean surface. The resulting dis- wetter than those at present. ruption of sea-surface temperatures and density structure drasti- The energy for the immense outfl ow channel fl oods could cally altered the meridional transport of heat on a global scale. have been supplied by the thermal and tectonic effects of Earth’s global climate was altered on time scales of decades immense mantle plumes. In this MEGAOUTFLO scenario, gas to centuries (Broecker et al., 1989; Barber et al., 1999). Thus hydrate in the Martian permafrost zone is destabilized by epi- both Earth and Mars have aspects of their long-term hydrologi- sodes of very high heat fl ow (and associated volcanism), thereby cal cycles that involve the cataclysmic-fl ood triggering of major releasing radiatively active gas from the lower permafrost zone epochs of global paleoenvironmental change. (2 to 3 km depths). This process could involve carbon dioxide or methane (Kargel et al., 2000; Max and Clifford, 2001; Tanaka et MEGAFLOODS al., 2001). The dissolved gas from the underlying groundwater and the gas released from ice in the permafrost zone would con- High-energy megafl oods are planetary-scale phenomena, tribute to explosively pressurized slurries of water and sediments associated with glacier outburst settings, glacial lake spillways, in massive outbursts (Komatsu et al., 2000). In the atmosphere and the immense outfl ow channels of Mars (Baker, 2002). Paleo- these radiatively active gases can generate a transient greenhouse hydraulic analyses of these fl oods show that their peak discharges that would coincide with the immense pondings of water pro- can be comparable to those of ocean currents (Table 1). Collec- duced by the outburst fl oods. tively, discharges from all the Martian outfl ow channels may Exceptionally young outfl ow channels and associated vol- have totaled as much as 100–1000 Sv (Baker et al., 1991). These canism occur in both the Cerberus plains and the Tharsis regions values imply total released reservoir volumes of 105–10 7 km3 of Mars (Hartmann and Berman, 2000; Mouginis-Mark 1990; of water, using scaling relationships for terrestrial superfl oods Tanaka et al., 2005). Data from the Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) (Baker et al., 1993). The higher volumes from these preliminary show that localized water releases, interspersed with lava fl ows, calculations match the volume of water estimated from Martian occurred approximately within the last 10 Ma (Berman and Hart- topography to have ponded on the surface of the planet, mainly mann 2002, Burr et al. 2002). The huge discharges associated with in a temporary “ocean” on its northern plains (Parker et al., 1993; these fl oods and the temporally related volcanism should have Head et al., 1999). introduced considerable water into active hydrological circulation on Mars. The remarkable evidence for very recent outburst fl oods Martian Outburst Flooding (Burr et al., 2002) suggests that a relatively small MEGAOUT- FLO episode occurred recently on Mars. Evidence for extensive The Martian outfl ow channels involve the immense upwell- sulfate salts on the Martian surface (Paige, 2005) is also consis- ing of cataclysmic fl ood fl ows from subsurface sources (Baker tent with this model, in that the SO2 and water generated from spe453-03 1st pages Megafl oods and global paleoenvironmental change 27 TABLE 1.

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