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The Origin of Fluvial Valleys and Early Geologic History, Aeolis Quadrangle

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The Origin of Fluvial Valleys and Early Geologic History, Aeolis Quadrangle JOURNAL OF GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH, VOL. 95, NO. Bll, PAGES 17,289-17,308, OCTOBER 10, 1990 The OriginOf FluvialValleys And EarlyGeologic History, Aeolis Quadrangle, Mars G. ROBERT BRAKENRIDGE Su•ficialProcesses Laboratory, Department of Geography,Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire In southernAeolis Quadrangle in easternMars, parallel slope valleys, flat-floored branching valleys, V- shapedbranching valleys, and flat-floored straight canyons dissect the heavilycratered plateau sequence. Associatedknife-like ridges are interpretedas fissure eruption vents, and thin, dark, stratiform outcrops are interpretedas exhumed igneous sills or lavaflows. Ridgedlava plains are also common but are not themselves modifiedby fluvialprocesses. I mapped 56 asymmetricscarps or ridgesthat are probable thrust faults. These faultsexhibit an orientationvector mean of N63ow + 11o (95% confidenceinterval), and they transect the lava plainsand the olderplateau sequence units. By comparison,the vectormean for the 264 valleysmapped is N48ow + 12o, witha largerdispersion about the mean. The similar orientations displayed by thrustfault and valley axessuggest that valley locationsare partlycontrolled by preexistingthrust faults and related fracture systems.Most valleysare alsoarranged orthogonally to, and alongthe perimeterof, the ridgedplains. A possiblemodel for valley developmentis: (1) freshlyoutgassed water became entombed as frost, snow, and ice within the crateredterrains during heavy bombardment and the accompanyingdeposition of impactejecta, volcanicash, and eolian materials, (2) effusivevolcanism and lava sill emplacementheated subsurface ice in the vicinity of the ridgedplains, and faults and fracturesprovided zones of increasedpermeability for water transportto the surface,and (3) headwardsapping at thermal springs,thermokarst subsidence, and limited downvalleyfluid flows thencarved and modifiedthe valleys. INTRODUCTION by conductionthrough modeled ice-covered rivers is slow, and latent heat is added to the system by water freezing (for a Ever sincetheir discoveryduring the 1972 Mariner 9 planetary terrestrialexample, see Corbin and Benson[1983]). The limiting mission, the ancient fluvial valley networks of Mars have been factorfor fluvial activityon Mars is waterrelease, and not water describedas relict from an earlier warmer and denseratmosphere persistenceas an erosive fluid once discharged[Wallace and [Sharp and Malin, 1975; Masursky et al., 1977; Chapman and Sagan, 1978; Cart, 1983]. Water releasescould be related to a Jones, 1977; Pollack, 1979; Cess et al., 1980; Pollack and Yung, hydrologicalcycle anda denseatmosphere, but otheralternatives 1980; Mars Channel Working Group, 1983; Kahn, 1985; Pollack are (1) solar heating and melting of dust-rich snow and ice et al., 1987]. If this inference is true, then these dry valleys depositedunder high obliquityorbital conditions[Jakosky and constitute spectacular evidence for planetary-scale climatic Cart, 1987; Clow, 1987], or (2) geothermallyheated waters change. Liquid water is not presently stable anywhere on the reachingthe surfacethrough fractures and faults [Brakem'idge et planer'ssurface, and the operationof an Earth-like hydrological al., 1985; Wilhelms, 1986;Brakenridge, 1987, 1988; Gulick et cycle on Mars requiresa much warmer atmosphereand one very aI., 1988; Wilhelmsand BaMwin, 1989]. Given thesealternatives, much denserthan the 7-mbar atmosphereof today [Pollack et al., the inferenceof an earlydense paleoatmosphere may be in error. 1987]. Also, the valleys are nearly restrictedto heavily cratered Do the ancientvalley networkscompel inference of a large landscapesdating from the Heavy Bombardmentperiod of early amountof climaticchange, or may othergenetic models, without solarsystem history [Pieri, 1976; Cart and Clow, 1981]. During climatic change,suffice? The presentreport demonstratesthat this period,the Sun'sluminosity may have beenonly 70% of its Martian valleys in Aeolis Quadrangleexhibit spatial patterns, presentvalue [Gough, 1981]. It is therefore unlikely that the stratigraphicrelationships, and morphologiesthat are compatible valleys are the direct result of an earlier, more favorable climate with genesisthrough volcanism-induced hot springdischarges. associatedwith solarevolution. Large amountsof climaticchange The followingsections (1) summarizeknown geologic events that are most easily explained by depletion of an early dense occurredduring the time periodof valley evolution(2) document atmosphererich in CO2, H20, or someother greenhouse gas [e.g. detailedstratigraphic and spatialrelationships of Aeolisvalleys to Cart, 1987]. This denseatmosphere might have temporarily kept tectonic features and volcanic landforms; and (3) describe local theplanet warm, despite a faintersun [Pollack et aI., 1987]. evidencefor onevalley network's episodic growth by subsidence, Calculationsfor ice-coveredriver flows on Mars [Cart, 1983] headwardsapping, and downvalleyfluid flows. suggestthat fluvial features could form at present if sustained GEOLOGICUNITS IN AEOLISQUADRANGLE waterdischarge at the surfacewere to somehowoccur. Heat loss Two disparate landscapesexist on Mars. One is heavily Copyright1990 by the AmericanGeophysical Union. crateredand is dissectedby relict valleys,and the otheris lightly crateredor uncrateredand is undissected. Aeolis Quadrangleis Papernumber 90JB00540. astride the planet-wide boundarybetween thesetwo landscapes 0148-0227/90/90JB-00540505.00 (Figure 1). The southern,heavily crateredlandscape was created 17,289 17,290 BRAKENRIDGE,AEOLIS QUADRANGLE, MARS North indicatesthat most preserved ridged plains formed near the endo! I I ,] I • I • • !. ] . [ ,,I ] heavybombardment [Barlow, 1988]. An earlyHesperian age for mostundissected ridged plains has _ - 60 been usedto constrainvalley genesisin time. The following chronologyis inferredby 'Fanaka[1986] in his globalsummary: 50 (1) Noachiandeposition of plateausequence strata, (,2) late 40 Nochian fluvial dissection,and (3) early Hesperianembayment ElysiumPlanitia I• .Qlympus30 andpartial burial of the plateausequence materials by extruded lvlons lavas. This places a discreteinterval of plains volcanism subsequentto extensivefluvial valley development[Tanaka, 1986] and also impliesthat any climatefavorable to valley developmenthad ended by Hesperiantime: mostlandforms of thisand younger age are not dissected. However, any chronology ;•:• • z:•• • :'-:• • 10 , ,•,• AmazonisPlanitiamust be reconstructedfrom the preservedgeologic record, and 20 '.:-:.• ..:.:':-:':':':':'. •P;:•2>;' ••:;• ;, • • ': preservationfactors should also be considered. Wilheims [1987, p. 279]models lava plains on the Moon as the visible results of ...................:....... :e'.•e• '.•m• :•:• ß '-x•S••••P• •/•.-• --[ increasedpreservation, not increasedextrusion, as large-impact rates declined at the end of heavy bombardment. A similar geneticmodel for ridgedlava plain preservation may apply to •... • •,•.•:•. Mars. In thisrespect, the mapsof Scottand Tanaka [1986] and Greeleyand Guest [1987]also include widely scattered, older ridgedlava plains of Noachianage. These authors infer, as well, 240 210 180 150 120 that interbeddedflow volcanicsare a common internal component Fig. 1. Mapof majorlandscapes near Aeolis Quadrangle and their of the plateausequence. Extensive plains volcanism may, inte•edages, as redrawn from Barlow [1988]. The dark shading indicates therefore,have beenunderway during Noachian time, but such surfacesFormed during h•avy bombardment, the lighter shading indicates volcanismwas not widelypreserved before the earlyHesperian. surfacesformed n•ar the endot heavybombardmere (similar crater size TableI givesthis alternative process history reconstruction. The &equencydistribution, but lower crater densities), and the white areas are reconstructionagrees with the preserved stratigraphy described by lighfiycraigred or uncrat•redsurlhccs Formed after the end ot th• h•avy bombardmereflux, approximately3.2 Ga. The agesot OlympusMons Tanaka[1986] and with the craterstatistic results of Gurnis and•hree volcanos in ElysiumPlanitia are alsoshowfl. [1981] andBarlow [1988]. It impliesthat fluvial valley developmentand ridged plain volcanism overlapped in time. Directcrater dates on valley networksby Baker and Partridge duringthe finalstage of planetaryaccretion (the late heavy [1986]also indicate that valley networks range from Noachian bombardment),and local examplesoccur of denselycratered throughearly Hesperian in ageand thus independently support surfacesexhibiting lunar-like preservation of small craters [e.g., plainsvolcanism and valley development ascoeval processes. Cart, 1981,p. 69]. In contrast,the northern plains landscape is post-heavybombardment in age, and may consist of sedimentary VALLEY CLASSIFICATION plainsand/or lava flows. The cause of theplanetary dichotomy representedby thesetwo landscapesremains controversial Valleys developed on plateau sequenceunits exhibit [Wilhelmsand Squyres 1984; Wise et al., 1979]. semicirculartheater-shaped headwalls and steep valley sides, Martiantime stratigraphy is divided into the Noachian System, relativelyfew andshort tributaries, and aligned straight segments theHesperian System, and the Amazonian System [Tanaka, 1986] suggestiveof faultor fracturecontrol [Sharp and Malin, 1975]. In (seealso Table 1). Eachsystem is furthersubdivided into series, contrastto runoff-createdvalleys on the Earth,drainage densities eachwith mapped reference units. The heavily cratered landscape
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