North polar region of Mars: imaging results from viking 2

During October 1976, the Viking 2 orbiter acquired approximately 700 high-resolution images of the north polar region of Mars. These images confirm the existence at the north pole of extensive layered deposits largely covered over with deposits of perennial ice. An unconformity within the layered deposits suggests a complex history of climate change during their time of deposition. A pole-girdling accumulation of dunes composed of very dark materials is revealed for the first time by the Viking cameras. The entire region is devoid of fresh impact craters. Rapid rates of erosion or deposition are implied. A scenario for polar geological evolution, involving two types of climate change, is proposed.     

Accumulation and erosion of Mars' south polar layered deposits

Mars' polar regions are covered with ice-rich layered deposits that potentially contain a record of climate variations. The sounding radar SHARAD on the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter mapped detailed subsurface stratigraphy in the Promethei Lingula region of the south polar plateau, Planum Australe. Radar reflections interpreted as layers are correlated across adjacent orbits and are continuous for up to 150 kilometers along spacecraft orbital tracks. The reflectors are often separated into discrete reflector sequences, and strong echoes are seen as deep as 1 kilometer. In some cases, the sequences are dipping with respect to each other, suggesting an interdepositional period of erosion. In Australe Sulci, layers are exhumed, indicating recent erosion.     

Mars north polar deposits: stratigraphy, age, and geodynamical response

The Shallow Radar (SHARAD) on the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter has imaged the internal stratigraphy of the north polar layered deposits of Mars. Radar reflections within the deposits reveal a laterally continuous deposition of layers, which typically consist of four packets of finely spaced reflectors separated by homogeneous interpacket regions of nearly pure ice. The packet/interpacket structure can be explained by approximately million-year periodicities in Mars' obliquity or orbital eccentricity. The observed approximately 100-meter maximum deflection of the underlying substrate in response to the ice load implies that the present-day thickness of an equilibrium elastic lithosphere is greater than 300 kilometers. Alternatively, the response to the load may be in a transient state controlled by mantle viscosity. Both scenarios probably require that Mars has a subchondritic abundance of heat-producing elements.     

Radar sounding of the Medusae Fossae Formation Mars: equatorial ice or dry, low-density deposits?

The equatorial Medusae Fossae Formation (MFF) is enigmatic and perhaps among the youngest geologic deposits on Mars. They are thought to be composed of volcanic ash, eolian sediments, or an ice-rich material analogous to polar layered deposits. The Mars Advanced Radar for Subsurface and Ionospheric Sounding (MARSIS) instrument aboard the Mars Express Spacecraft has detected nadir echoes offset in time-delay from the surface return in orbits over MFF material. These echoes are interpreted to be from the subsurface interface between the MFF material and the underlying terrain. The delay time between the MFF surface and subsurface echoes is consistent with massive deposits emplaced on generally planar lowlands materials with a real dielectric constant of approximately 2.9 +/- 0.4. The real dielectric constant and the estimated dielectric losses are consistent with a substantial component of water ice. However, an anomalously low-density, ice-poor material cannot be ruled out. If ice-rich, the MFF must have a higher percentage of dust and sand than polar layered deposits. The volume of water in an ice-rich MFF deposit would be comparable to that of the south polar layered deposits.     

Density of Mars' south polar layered deposits

Both poles of Mars are hidden beneath caps of layered ice. We calculated the density of the south polar layered deposits by combining the gravity field obtained from initial results of radio tracking of the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter with existing surface topography from the Mars Orbiter Laser Altimeter on the Mars Global Surveyor spacecraft and basal topography from the Mars Advanced Radar for Subsurface and Ionospheric Sounding on the Mars Express spacecraft. The results indicate a best-fit density of 1220 kilograms per cubic meter, which is consistent with water ice that has approximately 15% admixed dust. The results demonstrate that the deposits are probably composed of relatively clean water ice and also refine the martian surface-water inventory.     

Seasonal erosion and restoration of Mars' northern polar dunes

Despite radically different environmental conditions, terrestrial and martian dunes bear a strong resemblance, indicating that the basic processes of saltation and grainfall (sand avalanching down the dune slipface) operate on both worlds. Here, we show that martian dunes are subject to an additional modification process not found on Earth: springtime sublimation of Mars' CO(2) seasonal polar caps. Numerous dunes in Mars' north polar region have experienced morphological changes within a Mars year, detected in images acquired by the High-Resolution Imaging Science Experiment on the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. Dunes show new alcoves, gullies, and dune apron extension. This is followed by remobilization of the fresh deposits by the wind, forming ripples and erasing gullies. The widespread nature of these rapid changes, and the pristine appearance of most dunes in the area, implicates active sand transport in the vast polar erg in Mars' current climate.     

Subsurface radar sounding of the south polar layered deposits of Mars

The ice-rich south polar layered deposits of Mars were probed with the Mars Advanced Radar for Subsurface and Ionospheric Sounding on the Mars Express orbiter. The radar signals penetrate deep into the deposits (more than 3.7 kilometers). For most of the area, a reflection is detected at a time delay that is consistent with an interface between the deposits and the substrate. The reflected power from this interface indicates minimal attenuation of the signal, suggesting a composition of nearly pure water ice. Maps were generated of the topography of the basal interface and the thickness of the layered deposits. A set of buried depressions is seen within 300 kilometers of the pole. The thickness map shows an asymmetric distribution of the deposits and regions of anomalous thickness. The total volume is estimated to be 1.6 x 10(6) cubic kilometers, which is equivalent to a global water layer approximately 11 meters thick.     

Periodic insolation variations on Mars

Previously unrecognized insolation variations on Mars are a consequence of periodic variations in eccentricity, first established by the theory of Brouwer and Van Woerkom (1950). Such annual insolation variations, characterized by both 95,000-year and 2,000,000-year periodicities, may actually be recorded in newly discovered layered deposits in the polar regions of Mars. An additional north-south variation in seasonal insolation, but not average annual insolation, exists with 51,000-year and 2,000,000-year periodicities.     

Radar soundings of the subsurface of Mars

The martian subsurface has been probed to kilometer depths by the Mars Advanced Radar for Subsurface and Ionospheric Sounding instrument aboard the Mars Express orbiter. Signals penetrate the polar layered deposits, probably imaging the base of the deposits. Data from the northern lowlands of Chryse Planitia have revealed a shallowly buried quasi-circular structure about 250 kilometers in diameter that is interpreted to be an impact basin. In addition, a planar reflector associated with the basin structure may indicate the presence of a low-loss deposit that is more than 1 kilometer thick.     

A closer look at water-related geologic activity on Mars

Water has supposedly marked the surface of Mars and produced characteristic landforms. To understand the history of water on Mars, we take a close look at key locations with the High-Resolution Imaging Science Experiment on board the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, reaching fine spatial scales of 25 to 32 centimeters per pixel. Boulders ranging up to approximately 2 meters in diameter are ubiquitous in the middle to high latitudes, which include deposits previously interpreted as finegrained ocean sediments or dusty snow. Bright gully deposits identify six locations with very recent activity, but these lie on steep (20 degrees to 35 degrees) slopes where dry mass wasting could occur. Thus, we cannot confirm the reality of ancient oceans or water in active gullies but do see evidence of fluvial modification of geologically recent mid-latitude gullies and equatorial impact craters.     

Fracture-controlled paleo-fluid flow in Candor Chasma, Mars

Color observations from the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment on board the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter reveal zones of localized fluid alteration (cementation and bleaching) along joints within layered deposits in western Candor Chasma, Mars. This fluid alteration occurred within the subsurface in the geologic past and has been exposed at the surface through subsequent erosion. These findings demonstrate that fluid flow along fractures was a mechanism by which subsurface fluids migrated through these layered deposits. Fractured layered deposits are thus promising sites for investigating the geologic history of water on Mars.     

Annual heat balance of martian polar caps: viking observations

The Infrared Thermal Mappers aboard the two Viking orbiters obtained solar reflectance and infrared emission measurements of the Martian north and south polar regions during an entire Mars year. The observations were used to determine annual radiation budgets, infer annual carbon dioxide frost budgets, and constrain spring season surface and atmospheric properties with the aid of a polar radiative model. The results provide further confirmation of the presence of permanent CO(2)frost deposits near the south pole and show that the stability of these deposits can be explained by their high reflectivities. In the north, the observed absence of solid CO(2) during summer was primarily the result of enhanced CO(2) sublimation rates due to lower frost reflectivities during spring. The results suggest that the present asymmetric behavior of CO(2)frost at the Martian poles is caused by preferential contamination of the north seasonal polar cap by atmospheric dust.     

Polar Volatiles on Mars--Theory versus Observation: Excess solid carbon dioxide is probably present in the north residual cap

The residual frost caps of Mars are probably water-ice. They may be the source of the water vapor associated with seasonal polar hoods. A permanent reservoir of solid CO(2) is also probably present within the north residual cap and may comprise a mass of CO(2) some two to five times that of the present atmosphere of Mars. The martian atmospheric pressure is probably regulated by the temperature of the reservoir and not by the annual heat balance of exposed solid CO(2) (37). The present reservoir temperature presumably reflects a long-term average of the polar heat balance. The question of a large permanent north polar cap is reexamined in light of the Mariner 9 data. The lower general elevation of the north polar region compared to the south and the resulting occurrence in the north of a permanent CO(2) deposit are probably responsible for the differences in size and shape of the two residual caps. The details of the processes involved are less apparent, however. It might be argued that the stability of water-ice deposits depends on both insolation and altitude. The present north and south residual caps should be symmetrically located with respect to such a hypothetical stability field. However, the offset of the south cap from the geometrical pole, the non-symmetrical outline of the north cap, and the apparently uniform thickness of the thin, widespread water-ice all argue against control by simple solid-vapor equilibrium of water under present environmental conditions. We think that the present location of the water-ice may reflect, in part, the past location of the permanent CO(2) reservoir. The extreme stability of polar water-ice deposits increases the likelihood that past environmental conditions may be recorded there. Detailed information on elevations in the vicinity of the residual caps is needed before we can further elucidate the nature and history of the residual caps. This, along with measurements of polar infrared emission, should be given high priority in future missions to Mars. Two conclusions follow from the limitation of the mass of solid CO(2) on Mars at present to two to five times the mass of CO(2) in the atmosphere. If all of this CO(2) was entirely sublimated into the atmosphere as a result of hypothetical astronomical or geophysical effects, the average surface pressure would increase to 15 to 30 mbar. Although such a change would have considerable significance for eolian erosion and transportation, there seems to be little possibility that a sufficiently earthlike atmosphere could result for liquid water to become an active erosional agent, as postulated by Milton (38). The pressure broadening required for a green-house effect requires at least 10 to 20 times more pressure (39). If liquid water was ever active in modifying the martian surface, it must have been at an earlier epoch, before the present, very stable CO(2)/H(2)O system developed. There can be no intermittent earthlike episodes now. Furthermore, the present abundance of CO(2) on Mars may be an indicator of the cumulative evolution of volatiles to the surface of the planet (40). Thus, even the possibility of an earlier earth-like episode is dimmed. On Mars, the total CO(2) definitely outgassed has evidently been about 60 +/- 20 g/cm(2). On the earth, about 70 +/- 30 kg/cm(2) of CO(2) have been released to the surface (41). Hence, the total CO(2) devolved by Mars per unit area is about 0.1 percent of that evolved by the earth. Thus, the observational limits we place on solid CO(2) presently located under the north residual cap also may constitute considerable constraints on the total differentiation and devolatilization of the planet. If they are valid, it would seem unlikely that Mars has devolatilized at all like the earth, or ever experienced an earthlike environment on its surface.     

Mars surface diversity as revealed by the OMEGA/Mars Express observations

The Observatoire pour la Minéralogie, l'Eau, les Glaces, et l'Activité (OMEGA) investigation, on board the European Space Agency Mars Express mission, is mapping the surface composition of Mars at a 0.3- to 5-kilometer resolution by means of visible-near-infrared hyperspectral reflectance imagery. The data acquired during the first 9 months of the mission already reveal a diverse and complex surface mineralogy, offering key insights into the evolution of Mars. OMEGA has identified and mapped mafic iron-bearing silicates of both the northern and southern crust, localized concentrations of hydrated phyllosilicates and sulfates but no carbonates, and ices and frosts with a water-ice composition of the north polar perennial cap, as for the south cap, covered by a thin carbon dioxide-ice veneer.     

Coupled ferric oxides and sulfates on the Martian surface

The Mars Exploration Rover (MER), Opportunity, showed that layered sulfate deposits in Meridiani Planum formed during a period of rising acidic ground water. Crystalline hematite spherules formed in the deposits as a consequence of aqueous alteration and were concentrated on the surface as a lag deposit as wind eroded the softer sulfate rocks. On the basis of Mars Express Observatoire pour la Minéralogie, l'Eau, les Glaces et l'Activité (OMEGA) orbital data, we demonstrate that crystalline hematite deposits are associated with layered sulfates in other areas on Mars, implying that Meridiani-like ground water systems were indeed widespread and representative of an extensive acid sulfate aqueous system.     

Massive CO₂ ice deposits sequestered in the south polar layered deposits of Mars

Shallow Radar soundings from the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter reveal a buried deposit of carbon dioxide (CO(2)) ice within the south polar layered deposits of Mars with a volume of 9500 to 12,500 cubic kilometers, about 30 times that previously estimated for the south pole residual cap. The deposit occurs within a stratigraphic unit that is uniquely marked by collapse features and other evidence of interior CO(2) volatile release. If released into the atmosphere at times of high obliquity, the CO(2) reservoir would increase the atmospheric mass by up to 80%, leading to more frequent and intense dust storms and to more regions where liquid water could persist without boiling.     

Global distribution of neutrons from Mars: results from Mars odyssey

Global distributions of thermal, epithermal, and fast neutron fluxes have been mapped during late southern summer/northern winter using the Mars Odyssey Neutron Spectrometer. These fluxes are selectively sensitive to the vertical and lateral spatial distributions of H and CO2 in the uppermost meter of the martian surface. Poleward of +/-60 degrees latitude is terrain rich in hydrogen, probably H2O ice buried beneath tens of centimeter-thick hydrogen-poor soil. The central portion of the north polar cap is covered by a thick CO2 layer, as is the residual south polar cap. Portions of the low to middle latitudes indicate subsurface deposits of chemically and/or physically bound H2O and/or OH.     

Morphology and composition of the surface of Mars: Mars Odyssey THEMIS results

The Thermal Emission Imaging System (THEMIS) on Mars Odyssey has produced infrared to visible wavelength images of the martian surface that show lithologically distinct layers with variable thickness, implying temporal changes in the processes or environments during or after their formation. Kilometer-scale exposures of bedrock are observed; elsewhere airfall dust completely mantles the surface over thousands of square kilometers. Mars has compositional variations at 100-meter scales, for example, an exposure of olivine-rich basalt in the walls of Ganges Chasma. Thermally distinct ejecta facies occur around some craters with variations associated with crater age. Polar observations have identified temporal patches of water frost in the north polar cap. No thermal signatures associated with endogenic heat sources have been identified.     

Maps of subsurface hydrogen from the high energy neutron detector,Mars Odyssey

After 55 days of mapping by the High Energy Neutron Detector onboard Mars Odyssey, we found deficits of high-energy neutrons in the southern highlands and northern lowlands of Mars. These deficits indicate that hydrogen is concentrated in the subsurface. Modeling suggests that water ice-rich layers that are tens of centimeters in thickness provide one possible fit to the data.     

Spectral reflectance and morphologic correlations in eastern Terra Meridiani, Mars

The Mars Express Observatoire pour la Minéralogie, l'Eau, les Glaces, et l'Activité (OMEGA) hyperspectral image data covering eastern Terra Meridiani indicate the ubiquitous presence of molecular water in etched terrain materials that disconformably overlie heavily cratered terrains and underlie the hematite-bearing plains explored by the Opportunity rover. Identification of crystalline water in kieserite (MgSO4.H2O) is linked to materials exposed in a valley and plateau to the north of hematite-bearing plains. The mineralogical similarities between the etched terrain deposits examined with OMEGA data and the layered rocks examined by Opportunity imply that the ancient aqueous environments inferred from analyses of the rover data extend over regional scales.