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.

Published Online March 15, 2001
Science DOI: 10.1126/science.1058701

Reports

Submitted on December 29, 2000
Accepted on March 2, 2001

Ancient Geodynamics and Global-Scale Hydrology on Mars

Roger J. Phillips 1, Maria T. Zuber 2, Sean C. Solomon 3, Matthew P. Golombek 4, Bruce M. Jakosky 5, W. Bruce Banerdt 4, David E. Smith 6, Rebecca M. E. Williams 1, Brian M. Hynek 1, Oded Aharonson 7, Steven A. Hauck II 1

1 McDonnell Center for the Space Sciences and Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Washington University, St. Louis, MO 63130, USA.
2 Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA; Earth Sciences Directorate, NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD 20771, USA.
3 Department of Terrestrial Magnetism, Carnegie Institution of Washington, Washington, DC 20015, USA.
4 Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91109, USA.
5 Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO 80309, USA.
6 Earth Sciences Directorate, NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD 20771, USA.
7 Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA.

Loading of the lithosphere of Mars by the Tharsis rise explains much of the global shape and long-wavelength gravity field of the planet, including a ring of negative gravity anomalies and a topographic trough around Tharsis, as well as gravity-anomaly and topographic highs centered in Arabia Terra and extending northward toward Utopia. The Tharsis-induced trough and antipodal high were largely in place by the end of the Noachian Epoch and exerted control on the location and orientation of valley networks. The release of carbon dioxide and water accompanying the emplacement of ~3 ( 108 km3 of Tharsis magmas may have sustained a warmer climate than at present, enabling the formation of ancient valley networks and fluvial landscape denudation in and adjacent to the large-scale trough.


THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
Volcanic spreading and lateral variations in the structure of Olympus Mons, Mars.
P. J. McGovern and J. K. Morgan (2009)
Geology 37, 139-142
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
A Sulfur Dioxide Climate Feedback on Early Mars.
I. Halevy, M. T. Zuber, and D. P. Schrag (2007)
Science 318, 1903-1907
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Interaction between local magma ocean evolution and mantle dynamics on Mars.
C. C. Reese, V. S. Solomatov, and C. P. Orth (2007)
Geological Society of America Special Papers 430, 913-932
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
The carbon cycle on early Earth--and on Mars?.
M. M Grady and I. Wright (2006)
Phil Trans R Soc B 361, 1703-1713
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
The Huygens-Hellas giant dike system on Mars: Implications for Late Noachian-Early Hesperian volcanic resurfacing and climatic evolution.
J.W. Head, L. Wilson, J. Dickson, and G. Neukum (2006)
Geology 34, 285-288
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
New Perspectives on Ancient Mars.
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 »
Igneous dikes on Mars revealed by Mars Orbiter Laser Altimeter topography.
R. A. Schultz, C. H. Okubo, C. L. Goudy, and S. J. Wilkins (2004)
Geology 32, 889-892
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Water solubility and diffusivity in olivine: its role in planetary tectonics.
K. Regenauer-Lieb, K. Regenauer-Lieb, and T. Kohl (2003)
Mineralogical Magazine 67, 697-715
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Sedimentary silica on Mars.
S. M. McLennan (2003)
Geology 31, 315-318
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Environmental Effects of Large Impacts on Mars.
T. L. Segura, O. B. Toon, A. Colaprete, and K. Zahnle (2002)
Science 298, 1977-1980
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Fluvial geomorphology.
E. S.J. Dollar (2002)
Progress in Physical Geography 26, 123-143
   PDF »
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 »


To Advertise     Find Products

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