EPSC Abstracts Vol. 6, EPSC-DPS2011-1591-1, 2011 EPSC-DPS Joint Meeting 2011 c Author(s) 2011 SHARAD observations of recent geologic features on Mars N. E. Putzig (1), R. J. Phillips (1), J. W. Holt (2), I. B. Smith (2), L. M. Carter (3), and R. Seu (4) for the SHARAD Team. (1) Southwest Research Institute, Colorado, USA (
[email protected]), (2) University of Texas at Austin, Texas, USA, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Maryland, USA, (4) Sapienza University of Rome, Italy. Abstract NPLD stratigraphy consists of packets of brightly reflective layers alternating with relatively non- The Shallow Radar (SHARAD) instrument on the reflective zones, and these sequences can be Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) observes a correlated to orbit cycles, suggesting an age of ~4.2 variety of recent features on Mars, including deposits Ma [2]. In detail, the radar shows unconformities, of water ice at both poles and in the mid-latitudes, either within the reflective sequences or at their boundaries (Fig. 1). A history of alternating periods solid CO2 in the south polar region, and volcanics in the tropics and mid-latitudes. SHARAD’s view of of non-uniform deposition and erosion is recorded by subsurface layers sheds light on the history of these structures. In the upper ~500 m, discontinuities deposition and erosion in these terrains, with that trace to troughs observable at the surface map implications for the cycle of volatile exchange and out paths of trough migration over time. The for recent volcanism. poleward migration and SHARAD-observed thickness variations adjacent to the migration path are consistent with a mechanism of katabatic winds 1.