Evidence for a Paleolake in Galaxias Chaos, NW Elysium Planitia, Mars

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Evidence for a Paleolake in Galaxias Chaos, NW Elysium Planitia, Mars

52nd Lunar and Planetary Science Conference 2021 (LPI Contrib. No. 2548) 2037.pdf Evidence for a paleolake in Galaxias Chaos, NW Elysium Planitia, Mars. J. W. Nussbaumer, Johannes Guten- berg University, Mainz, Germany Introduction: Galaxias Chaos is located on the northern border of the Elyisum volcanic complex. Chaos terrain (or chaotic terrain) is a planetary surface area where features such as ridges, cracks, and plains appear jumbled and enmeshed with one another (1). Some parts of chaotic terrains have not collapsed com- pletely—they are still formed into large mesas, so they may still contain water ice. Galaxias Chaos has been attributed to ground disturbance due to sublimation in Fig. 3: Mars Orbiter laser altimeter (MOLA) profile shallow subsurface ice-rich deposits (2). across the proposed paleolake in Fig. 2 shows typical cross-sectional profiles of lakes in Fig 4. A paleolake near the Hecates Tholus volcano Due to volcanic and thermal activity, a lake formed west of the Hecates volcano from water reservoirs or lakes from Jokulhlaups (3). A Jokulhlaup is a sudden outbreak of water under a layer of ice. The word "Jokulhlaup" is Icelandic language and means cata- strophic floods due to volcanic activity under glaciers. The leaked water flowed into a basin and formed a Fig. 1: Overview of the investigated area, the black rectangle lake. There are similarities between the edges of this represents the position of the hypothesized paleolake. flat surface and shoreline complexes in Fig. 4. These are cross sections through paleolakes in arid zones. Varying hills mark paleo water levels. Fig. 4: Cross-sectional profiles of paleolakes on Earth. References: [1] Wikipedia [2] Pedersen, G. B. M. and Head, J. W. (2011) Icarus 211, 316–329. [3] Mouginis Mark, P. (1985) Icarus 64, 265-284. [4] Gilbert, C. K. Fig. 2: Paleolake deposits west of Hecates Tholus vol- (1895) Journal of Geology, 3, 47-49. cano south of galaxias chaos. CTX image. The line marks the position of a MOLA profile (Fig. 3)..

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