ISSN:
1573-0794
Source:
Springer Online Journal Archives 1860-2000
Topics:
Geosciences
,
Physics
Notes:
Abstract Folds up to 50 km across have been identified on Arsia Mons aureole. Tharsis Province, Mars. The structures, located on Mars for the first time, are close to Aganippe Fossa and other huge faults which have behaved as left-lateral shear zones and then as extensional features. A tectonic scheme is proposed to explain the folds as shear-induced structures. Folding reveals a layered sequence in the aureole, and that is taken as a definitive evidence for its deposition by ice. If at least some of the Tharsis volcanoes aureoles are basal moraines, their study is critical, as they could contain a record of Mars paleoclimatic fluctuations. Martian past frozen lakes or oceans have been proposed, and some sediments found on the northern plains could have been deposited on the bottom of those basins. If this is so, those formations should be layered sequences and could also bear the traces of tectonic stresses, detectable as folds on Viking imagery. Correlation of these two kinds of evidence seems a promising line to tackle the Martian paleoclimatic problem.
Type of Medium:
Electronic Resource
URL:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/BF00056428
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