Note to users. If you're seeing this message, it means that your browser cannot find this page's style/presentation instructions -- or possibly that you are using a browser that does not support current Web standards. Find out more about why this message is appearing, and what you can do to make your experience of our site the best it can be.

Science 21 November 2008:
Vol. 322. no. 5905, pp. 1235 - 1238
DOI: 10.1126/science.1164246
Prev | Table of Contents | Next

Reports

Radar Sounding Evidence for Buried Glaciers in the Southern Mid-Latitudes of Mars

John W. Holt,1* Ali Safaeinili,2 Jeffrey J. Plaut,2 James W. Head,3 Roger J. Phillips,4 Roberto Seu,5 Scott D. Kempf,1 Prateek Choudhary,1 Duncan A. Young,1 Nathaniel E. Putzig,4 Daniela Biccari,5 Yonggyu Gim2

Lobate features abutting massifs and escarpments in the middle latitudes of Mars have been recognized in images for decades, but their true nature has been controversial, with hypotheses of origin such as ice-lubricated debris flows or glaciers covered by a layer of surface debris. These models imply an ice content ranging from minor and interstitial to massive and relatively pure. Soundings of these deposits in the eastern Hellas region by the Shallow Radar on the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter reveal radar properties entirely consistent with massive water ice, supporting the debris-covered glacier hypothesis. The results imply that these glaciers formed in a previous climate conducive to glaciation at middle latitudes. Such features may collectively represent the most extensive nonpolar ice yet recognized on Mars.

1 Institute for Geophysics, Jackson School of Geosciences, University of Texas, Austin, TX 78758, USA.
2 Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91109, USA.
3 Department of Geological Sciences, Brown University, Box 1846, Providence, RI 02912, USA.
4 Southwest Research Institute, Boulder, CO 80302, USA.
5 INFOCOM Department, University of Rome "La Sapienza," 00184 Rome, Italy.

* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: jack{at}ig.utexas.edu

Read the Full Text


THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
Distribution of Mid-Latitude Ground Ice on Mars from New Impact Craters.
S. Byrne, C. M. Dundas, M. R. Kennedy, M. T. Mellon, A. S. McEwen, S. C. Cull, I. J. Daubar, D. E. Shean, K. D. Seelos, S. L. Murchie, et al. (2009)
Science 325, 1674-1676
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »


To Advertise     Find Products

Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)