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Warner Et Al., 2011) Icarus 221 (2012) 20–42 Contents lists available at SciVerse ScienceDirect Icarus journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/icarus Topographic, spectral and thermal inertia analysis of interior layered deposits in Iani Chaos, Mars ⇑ E. Sefton-Nash a, , D.C. Catling b, S.E. Wood b, P.M. Grindrod c,d, N.A. Teanby a a School of Earth Sciences, University of Bristol, Wills Memorial Building, Queen’s Road, Bristol BS8 1RJ, UK b Department of Earth and Space Sciences, University of Washington, 4000 15th Avenue NE, Seattle, WA 98195, USA c Department of Earth Sciences, University College London, Gower Street, London WC1E 6BT, UK d Centre for Planetary Sciences, University College London, Gower Street, London WC1E 6BT, UK article info abstract Article history: We present an analysis of Interior Layered Deposits (ILDs) in Iani Chaos using visible, infrared, hyperspec- Received 18 February 2012 tral and topographic datasets acquired by instruments aboard NASA’s Mars Global Surveyor, Mars Odys- Revised 25 June 2012 sey, Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter and ESA’s Mars Express spacecraft. We focus on four main regions Accepted 26 June 2012 where ILDs outcrop in Iani Chaos. Deposits span a 2 km range of elevations and exhibit moderate to Available online 6 July 2012 high albedos, layering at sub-decameter scales, thermal inertias of 300–800 J mÀ2 KÀ1 sÀ1/2 and a range of surface textures. Thermal inertia calculations use slope and azimuth corrections from High Resolution Keywords: Stereo Camera (HRSC) topography. Spectral features in hyperspectral data acquired by NASA’s Compact Mars, surface Reconnaissance Imaging Spectrometer for Mars (CRISM) suggest that gypsum (CaSO 2H O) and kieserite Geological processes 4Á 2 Spectroscopy (MgSO4ÁH2O) are present in most deposits. We report absorptions typically exhibited by alunite 3þ Mineralogy (KAl3(SO4)2(OH)6) and jarosite KFe3 ðOHÞ6ðSO4Þ2 as well as a number of features that may be attribut- able to a wide range of mono- and polyhydrated sulphates and hydroxyl-sulphates bearing a number of cations, including Mg2+,Fe2+,Fe3+ and Ca2+. Spectral features similar to those of ammonium sulphates may also be present. Analysis of a HiRISE stereo DEM shows planar layering in some ILDs, favouring a sedimentary deposi- tion origin. Stratigraphic mapping of hydration and sulphate spectral features in flat ILDs in central Iani Chaos suggest that specific elevation intervals in the stratigraphic column were subject to different levels of hydration, perhaps during episodes of water table elevation. This is consistent with formation models for ILDs and hydrological modelling. Geomorphic characteristics of deposits in northern and southern Iani Chaos suggest their relatively recent exhumation and significant erosion by aeolian processes. We con- clude that any formation theory for ILDs in Iani Chaos should support mechanisms for different hydration states at different stratigraphic elevations and subsequent significant aeolian erosion, burial and re- exposure. Ó 2012 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction floods that carved Ares Vallis (Baker and Milton, 1974), a 1500 km outflow channel that has cut through Noachian and The martian circum-Chryse outflow channel systems appear to early Hesperian cratered plateaus (Pacifici et al., 2008), and be some of the most fluvially altered terrains on the planet. They connects northern Iani Chaos to the Chryse Basin (Fig. 1a). are generally sourced by chaotic terrains, which comprise frac- Morphological analyses of the mouth of Ares Vallis (Marchenko tured regions, jumbled blocks, mesas separated by channels and et al., 1998) and syngenetic erosional features in and surrounding low-elevation plains scattered with debris (Sharp, 1973). Areas of the channel (Warner et al., 2009, 2011) suggest that Ares Vallis was chaotic terrain towards the eastern end of the Valles Marineris sys- carved by multiple large-scale floods. Episodic fluid release is also tem are thought to show a diverse, multi-episodic outflow history supported by aquifer modelling of the Uzboi–Ladon–Margaritifer (Warner et al., 2009; Carr and Head, 2010). Iani Chaos, centred mesoscale outflow system (Harrison and Grimm, 2008). However, approximately at 342°E, 2°S, is of importance because it is thought the cause of the outflow process (generally considered to be a large to be a main source region for fluids produced in catastrophic release of water causing subsidence, collapse and, ultimately, the formation of chaotic terrain) is still poorly constrained. Hypotheses include melting of permafrost, or de-watering of hydrated sul- ⇑ Corresponding author. phates (Montgomery and Gillespie, 2005), during periods of war- E-mail address: [email protected] (E. Sefton-Nash). mer climate, magmatic activity or impact events. One alternative 0019-1035/$ - see front matter Ó 2012 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.icarus.2012.06.036 E. Sefton-Nash et al. / Icarus 221 (2012) 20–42 21 MOLA elevation (m) N (a) Ares Valles -4000 0 4000 10°N Chryse Chaos Hydaspis Hydraotes Chaos Aram Chaos Chaos Meridiani 0° b Planum Iani Aureum Chaos Opportunity Rover Chaos landing site Arsinoes Chaos Margaritifer Ganges Chasma & Chaos Aurorae Pyrrhae Chaos Chaos Chaos 10°S Morava 200km Valles Marineris Valles Valles & Chaos Eos Chasma 330°E 340°E 350°E 1°N 1°N 50km 50km (b) (c) −1500 0°N B 0°N −2000 FRT0000A85F −2500 A FRT00006954 FRT00008158 Latitude FRT00007E16 −3000 C (m) MOLA 128ppd elevation −3500 D FRT0000848C FRT0000B4C8 FRT0000C034 −4000 CRISM cube footprint Extent of light-toned deposit -5°N -5°N 341°E 345°E 341°E 345°E Longitude Fig. 1. Setting of Iani Chaos and interior layered deposits. (a) Relief-shaded and colourised 128 pixel per degree MOLA elevation data of the region East of the Valles Marineris. The area outlined by the dashed white box is displayed as panel ‘b’. (b) The location of the interior layered deposits in Iani Chaos that were mapped (blue) with the location of CRISM cubes used in this study (yellow). The main mapping areas are labelled A–D. The background is a THEMIS daytime infrared mosaic. Dashed white boxes show the location of panels in Fig. 2. (c) 128 pixel per degree MOLA topography for the same geographic extent as panel b. (For interpretation of the references to colour in this figure legend, the reader is referred to the web version of this article.) school of thought attributes outflow channels to very fluid lavas (Nedell et al., 1987), deposition in meltwater by sub-ice volcanoes (Leverington, 2011). In any case, evidence suggests that Iani Chaos (Chapman and Tanaka, 2001; Komatsu et al., 2004) or large scale probably acted as a reservoir and conduit for processes involving deposition by springs (Rossi et al., 2008). More recent theories in- fluid sourced from outflow events until the mid-Hesperian. The clude formation by diagenesis of aeolian sediments during episodic resulting landscape is a mixture of jumbled blocks, mesas, groundwater upwelling (Murchie et al., 2009; Andrews-Hanna channels and low elevation landscapes littered with debris. Interior et al., 2010), acid weathering of dust and sand trapped with volca- layered deposits (ILDs) are exposed in these terrains. nic aerosols in massive ice deposits during successive periods of ILDs have been an enigmatic feature of the martian sedimentary high obliquity (Niles and Michalski, 2009), and build up of ground- record, since their mineralogy and morphology appear to have water precipitates facilitated by topographic pumping (Grindrod been mediated by the presence of fluids. ILDs have been proposed and Balme, 2010). In many theories, ILDs are proposed to have to be fluvial (Ori and Mosangini, 1998), glacial or lacustrine (Malin undergone diagenesis during conditions that enable the stability and Edgett, 2000) sediments. Other works concluded that they of liquid water or brines. The final stage of ILD formation is thought could have formed by sub-aerial volcanic deposition (Peterson, to generally be aeolian erosion during the recent Amazonian 1981; Lucchitta, 1990), dust deposition on ice-covered lakes (Warner et al., 2011). 22 E. Sefton-Nash et al. / Icarus 221 (2012) 20–42 A D 10km 10km B C 10km 10km Fig. 2. The main ILD-bearing regions in Iani Chaos, which we designate A–D. The areas covered by each panel are shown as white dashed boxes in Fig. 1. Images are the nadir channel of HRSC (spatial resolution of 12.5 m/pixel). Sources are as follows: A – H4134_0000_ND3, H0923_0000_ND3 and H0934_0000_ND3. B – H0934_0000_ND3. C – H0901_0000_ND3. D – H0934_0000_ND3. Where multiple products are listed, they have been mosaicked. 2. ILDs in Iani Chaos Imaging Spectrometer (THEMIS) aboard NASA’s Mars Odyssey. Both of these datasets have been previously used for mapping ILDs ILDs in Iani Chaos show layering on multiple scales (Bridges in Iani Chaos (Glotch and Rogers, 2007). We also include pan-chro- et al., 2008; Warner et al., 2011), exhibit higher thermal inertias matic images at 12.5–175 m/pixel from the High Resolution Stereo than surrounding terrains (Glotch and Rogers, 2007) and are some- Camera (HRSC) aboard ESA’s Mars Express and mono-chromatic times topped by dark ‘cap’ units, similar to those in Juventae Chas- images from the Context Imager (CTX, 5 m/pixel) and High Resolu- ma (Catling et al., 2006), Aram Chaos (Catling and Moore, 2003; tion Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE, 0.25–0.5 m/pixel) instru- Glotch and Rogers, 2007), Mawrth Vallis (Loizeau et al., 2010) ments aboard NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. ILD boundaries and Valles Marineris (Komatsu et al., 2004). ILDs are almost always were mapped at the resolution of the available imagery using a associated with detections of sulphate minerals, which are often geographic information system. Regions containing significant ILDs hydrated (Bibring et al., 2006; Bishop et al., 2009; Gendrin et al., are shown as the filled blue areas labelled A–D in Figs.
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