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Internal Structure and Early Thermal Evolution of Mars from Mars Global Surveyor Topography and Gravity
Maria T. Zuber,14*
Sean C. Solomon,2
Roger J. Phillips,3
David E. Smith,4
G.
Leonard Tyler,5
Oded Aharonson,1
Georges Balmino,6
W. Bruce Banerdt,7
James W. Head,8
Catherine L. Johnson,2
Frank G. Lemoine,4
Patrick J. McGovern,2
Gregory A. Neumann,14
David D. Rowlands,4
Shijie Zhong1
Topography and gravity measured by the Mars Global
Surveyor have enabled determination of the global crust and upper
mantlestructure of Mars. The planet displays two distinct crustal
zonesthat do not correlate globally with the geologic dichotomy: aregion of crust that thins progressively from south to north andencompasses much of the southern highlands and Tharsis provinceand a
region of approximately uniform crustal thickness that includesthe
northern lowlands and Arabia Terra. The strength of the lithospherebeneath the ancient southern highlands suggests that the northernhemisphere was a locus of high heat flow early in martian history.The
thickness of the elastic lithosphere increases with time ofloading in
the northern plains and Tharsis. The northern lowlandscontain
structures interpreted as large buried channels that areconsistent
with northward transport of water and sediment to thelowlands before
the end of northern hemisphere resurfacing.
1 Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and
Planetary Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge,
MA 02139, USA.
2 Department of Terrestrial
Magnetism, Carnegie Institution of Washington, Washington, DC 20015, USA.
3 Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences,
Washington University, St. Louis, MO 63130, USA.
4 Earth Sciences Directorate, NASA/Goddard Space
Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD 20771, USA.
5 Center
for Radio Astronomy, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94035-9515,
USA.
6 Groupe de Recherches de Geodesie Spatiale,
Toulouse, France.
7 Jet Propulsion Laboratory,
Pasadena, CA 91109, USA.
8 Department of Geological
Sciences, Brown University, Providence, RI 02912, USA.
*
To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail:
zuber{at}mit.edu
Present address: Lunar and Planetary Institute,
Houston, TX 77058. USA.
S. C. Solomon, O. Aharonson, J. M. Aurnou, W. B. Banerdt, M. H. Carr, A. J. Dombard, H. V. Frey, M. P. Golombek, S. A. Hauck II, J. W. Head III, et al. (2005)
Science
307, 1214-1220
|Abstract »|Full Text »|PDF »
Global geologic context for rock types and surface alteration on Mars.
(2004)
Geology
32, 645-648
Lithospheric flexure and the origin of the dichotomy boundary on Mars.
(2003)
Geology
31, 271-274
Mars: a review and synthesis of general environments and geological settings of magma-H2O interactions.
J. W. Head III and L. Wilson (2002)
Geological Society, London, Special Publications
202, 27-57
|Abstract »|PDF »
Layered, massive and thin sediments on Mars: possible Late Noachian to Late Amazonian tephra?.
M. G. Chapman (2002)
Geological Society, London, Special Publications
202, 273-293
|Abstract »|PDF »
Huge, CO2-charged debris-flow deposit and tectonic sagging in the northern plains of Mars.
