Lunar and Planetary Science XLVIII (2017) 2340.pdf Morphology-derived Constraints on Martian Linear Gully Formation Mechanics. S. Diniega1, M. Bourke2,3, C.J. Hansen2, J. McElwaine4, J. Nield5, K. Morales6, M. Austria7. 1Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology (4800 Oak Grove, Pasadena, CA 91109;
[email protected]), 2Planetary Science Institute, 3Trinity College Dublin (Ireland), 4Durham University (UK), 5University of Southhampton (UK), 6University of Southern California, 7California Institute of Technology. Background: Since “linear gullies” (LG) were first is the small-scale present-day LG activity [7,8,18] identified on the martian surface [1], these long, rela- (Fig. 2) similar to/consistent with past activity? tively uniform-width troughs (Fig. 1) have engendered As dry ice does not naturally form on the Earth’s much debate about their formation mechanism. Alt- surface and no terrestrial analog has been identified for hough likened to terrestrial debris flows and originally the proposed dynamics involved in the formation of proposed to be formed by surface water flow due to martian linear gullies [13], we aim to constrain our meltwater following during a period of high obliquity conceptual model of LG formation and evolution via [2-5] or present-day atmospheric condensates [6], their observations of linear gullies on Mars – focusing on lack of debris aprons (and instead ending abruptly or their morphology and activity, and in particular differ- with pits; Fig. 1) and observation of present-day linear ences detected at the regional scale on Mars. Our aim gully activity [7,8] did not support this theory – in par- is to correlate differences in the LG activities and mor- ticular, phologies to regional environmental differences, and laboratory experiments were unable to generate from that (assuming a causal connection) to refine the similar morphology without a careful (and likely LG formation model.