Martian Gullies and their Earth Analogues
CONTAINS OPEN ACCESS
Gullies on Mars resemble terrestrial gullies involved in the transport of abundant material down steep slopes by liquid water. However, liquid water should not be stable at the Martian surface. The articles in this volume present the two main opposing theories for Martian gully formation: climate-driven melting of surficial water-ice deposits and seasonal dry-ice sublimation. The evidence presented ranges from remote-sensing observations, to experimental simulations, to comparison with Earth analogues. The opposing hypotheses imply either that Mars has been unusually wet in the last few million years or that it has remained a cold dry desert – both with profound implications for understanding the water budget of Mars and its habitability. The debate questions the limits of remote-sensing data and how we interpret active processes on extra-terrestrial planetary surfaces, even beyond those on Mars, as summarized by the review paper at the beginning of the book.
Thermal inertia variations from gully and mass-wasting activity in Gasa crater, Mars
Correspondence: [email protected]
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Published:January 01, 2019
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CiteCitation
Tanya N. Harrison, Livio L. Tornabene, Gordon R. Osinski, Susan J. Conway, 2019. "Thermal inertia variations from gully and mass-wasting activity in Gasa crater, Mars", Martian Gullies and their Earth Analogues, S. J. Conway, J. L. Carrivick, P. A. Carling, T. de Haas, T.N. Harrison
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Abstract
Gasa crater has been the most active site observed on Mars to date, making it of particular interest for studying the process(es) behind gully formation and activity. In this study, we investigate whether differences in thermal inertia across different segments of gully systems, combined with morphological and colour observations with High-Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE), can provide some constraints on the physical characteristics associated with recent activity within gullies in Gasa. We also investigate thermophysical differences between slopes in Gasa dominated by gully activity compared to those predominantly modified by dry mass-wasting processes. We find that Gasa crater exhibits clear variations in thermal inertia across its walls, controlled by the material properties and the types of dominant mass movement processes occurring on each wall. The youthful gully-fan lobes display thermal inertia values c. 20–40 J m−2 K−1 s−1/2 higher than adjacent older eroded and dust-covered lobes. The talus aprons from mass wasting in Gasa have thermal inertia values c. 60–80 J m−2 K−1 s−1/2 higher than gully aprons. The results of this study thus suggest that thermal imaging can inform us on surface change detection on Mars.