Geology topics

J.A.P. Rodriguez

Publications and source records attributed to J.A.P. Rodriguez.

9 recordsLinked to original sources

USGS2011

Secondary chaotic terrain formation in the higher outflow channels of southern circum-Chryse, Mars

Higher outflow channel dissection in the martian region of southern circum-Chryse appears to have extended from the Late Hesperian to the Middle Amazonian Epoch. These outflow channels were excavated within the upper 1. km of the cryolithosphere, where no liquid water is expected to have existed during these geologic epochs. In accordance with previous work, our examination of outflow channel floor morphologies suggests the upper crust excavated by the studied outflow channels consisted of a thin (a few tens of meters) layer of dry geologic materials overlying an indurated zone that extends to the bases of the investigated outflow channels (1. km in depth). We find that the floors of these outflow channels contain widespread secondary chaotic terrains (i.e., chaotic terrains produced by the destruction of channel-floor materials). These chaotic terrains occur within the full range of outflow channel dissection and tend to form clusters. Our examination of the geology of these chaotic terrains suggests that their formation did not result in the generation of floods. Nevertheless, despite their much smaller dimensions, these chaotic terrains are comprised of the same basic morphologic elements (e.g., mesas, knobs, and smooth deposits within scarp-bound depressions) as those located in the initiation zones of the outflow channels, which suggests that their formation must have involved the release of ground volatiles. We propose that these chaotic terrains developed not catastrophically but gradually and during multiple episodes of nested surface collapse. In order to explain the formation of secondary chaotic terrains within zones of outflow channel dissection, we propose that the regional Martian cryolithosphere contained widespread lenses of volatiles in liquid form. In this model, channel floor collapse and secondary chaotic terrain formation would have taken place as a consequence of instabilities arising during their exhumation by outflow channel dissection. Within relatively warm upper crustal materials in volcanic settings, or within highly saline crustal materials where cryopegs developed, lenses of volatiles in liquid form within the cryolithosphere could have formed, and/or remained stable.In addition, our numerical simulations suggest that low thermal conductivity, dry fine-grained porous geologic materials just a few tens of meters in thickness (e.g., dunes, sand sheets, some types of regolith materials), could have produced high thermal anomalies resulting in subsurface melting. The existence of a global layer of dry geologic materials overlying the cryolithosphere would suggest that widespread lenses of fluids existed (and may still exist) at shallow depths wherever these materials are fine-grained and porous. The surface ages of the investigated outflow channels and chaotic terrains span a full 500 to 700. Myr. Chaotic terrains similar in dimensions and morphology to secondary chaotic terrains are not observed conspicuously throughout the surface of Mars, suggesting that intra-cryolithospheric fluid lenses may form relatively stable systems. The existence of widespread groundwater lenses at shallow depths of burial has tremendous implications for exobiological studies and future human exploration. We find that the clear geomorphologic anomaly that the chaotic terrains and outflow channels of southern Chryse form within the Martian landscape could have been a consequence of large-scale resurfacing resulting from anomalously extensive subsurface melt in this region of the planet produced by high concentrations of salts within the regional upper crust. Crater count statistics reveal that secondary chaotic terrains and the outflow channels within which they occur have overlapping ages, suggesting that the instabilities leading to their formation rapidly dissipated, perhaps as the thickness of the cryolithosphere was reset following the disruption of the upper crustal thermal structure produced during outflow channel ex

Icarus↗

USGS2010

The sedimentology and dynamics of crater-affiliated wind streaks in western Arabia Terra, Mars and Patagonia, Argentina

Wind streaks comprise recent aeolian deposits that have been extensively documented on Venus, Earth and Mars. Martian wind streaks are among the most abundant surface features on the planet and commonly extend from the downwind margins of impact craters. Previous studies of wind streaks emerging from crater interior deposits suggested that the mode of emplacement was primarily related to the deposition of silt-sized particles as these settled from plumes. We have performed geologic investigations of two wind streaks clusters; one situated in western Arabia Terra, a region in the northern hemisphere of Mars, and another in an analogous terrestrial site located in southern Patagonia, Argentina, where occurrences of wind streaks emanate from playas within maar craters. In both these regions we have identified bedforms in sedimentary deposits on crater floors, along wind-facing interior crater margins, and along wind streaks. These observations indicate that these deposits contain sand-sized particles and that sediment migration has occurred via saltation from crater interior deposits to wind streaks. In Arabia Terra and in Patagonia wind streaks initiate from crater floors that contain lithic and evaporitic sedimentary deposits, suggesting that the composition of wind streak source materials has played an important role in development. Spatial and topographic analyses suggest that regional clustering of wind streaks in the studied regions directly correlates to the areal density of craters with interior deposits, the degree of proximity of these deposits, and the craters' rim-to-floor depths. In addition, some (but not all) wind streaks within the studied clusters have propagated at comparable yearly (Earth years) rates. Extensive saltation is inferred to have been involved in its propagation based on the studied terrestrial wind streak that shows ripples and dunes on its surface and the Martian counterpart changes orientation toward the downslope direction where it extends into an impact crater. ?? 2009 Elsevier B.V.

Geomorphology↗

USGS2010

Late Hesperian plains formation and degradation in a low sedimentation zone of the northern lowlands of Mars

The plains materials that form the martian northern lowlands suggest large-scale sedimentation in this part of the planet. The general view is that these sedimentary materials were transported from zones of highland erosion via outflow channels and other fluvial systems. The study region, the northern circum-polar plains south of Gemini Scopuli on Planum Boreum, comprises the only extensive zone in the martian northern lowlands that does not include sub-basin floors nor is downstream from outflow channel systems. Therefore, within this zone, the ponding of fluids and fluidized sediments associated with outflow channel discharges is less likely to have taken place relative to sub-basin areas that form the other northern circum-polar plains surrounding Planum Boreum. Our findings indicate that during the Late Hesperian sedimentary deposits produced by the erosion of an ancient cratered landscape, as well as via sedimentary volcanism, were regionally emplaced to form extensive plains materials within the study region. The distribution and magnitude of surface degradation suggest that groundwater emergence from an aquifer that extended from the Arabia Terra cratered highlands to the northern lowlands took place non-catastrophically and regionally within the study region through faulted upper crustal materials. In our model the margin of the Utopia basin adjacent to the study region may have acted as a boundary to this aquifer. Partial destruction and dehydration of these Late Hesperian plains, perhaps induced by high thermal anomalies resulting from the low thermal conductivity of these materials, led to the formation of extensive knobby fields and pedestal craters. During the Early Amazonian, the rates of regional resurfacing within the study region decreased significantly; perhaps because the knobby ridges forming the eroded impact crater rims and contractional ridges consisted of thermally conductive indurated materials, thereby inducing freezing of the tectonically controlled waterways associated with these features. This hypothesis would explain why these features were not completely destroyed. During the Late Amazonian, high-obliquity conditions may have led to the removal of large volumes of volatiles and sediments being eroded from Planum Boreum, which then may have been re-deposited as thick, circum-polar plains. Transition into low obliquity ~5. myr ago may have led to progressive destabilization of these materials leading to collapse and pedestal crater formation. Our model does not contraindicate possible large-scale ponding of fluids in the northern lowlands, such as for example the formation of water and/or mud oceans. In fact, it provides a complementary mechanism involving large-scale groundwater discharges within the northern lowlands for the emplacement of fluids and sediments, which could have potentially contributed to the formation of these bodies. Nevertheless, our model would spatially restrict to surrounding parts of the northern plain either the distribution of the oceans or the zones within these where significant sedimentary accumulation would have taken place. ?? 2010 Elsevier Inc.

Icarus↗

USGS2007

Possible ancient giant basin and related water enrichment in the Arabia Terra province, Mars

A circular albedo feature in the Arabia Terra province was first hypothesized as an ancient impact basin using Viking-era information. To test this unpublished hypothesis, we have analyzed the Viking era-information together with layers of new data derived from the Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) and Mars Odyssey (MO) missions. Our analysis indicates that Arabia Terra is an ancient geologic province of Mars with many distinct characteristics, including predominantly Noachian materials, a unique part of the highland-lowland boundary, a prominent paleotectonic history, the largest region of fretted terrain on the planet, outflow channels with no obvious origins, extensive exposures of eroded layered sedimentary deposits, and notable structural, albedo, thermal inertia, gravity, magnetic, and elemental signatures. The province also is marked by special impact crater morphologies, which suggest a persistent volatile-rich substrate. No one characteristic provides definitive answers to the dominant event(s) that shaped this unique province. Collectively the characteristics reported here support the following hypothesized sequence of events in Arabia Terra: (1) an enormous basin, possibly of impact origin, formed early in martian history when the magnetic dynamo was active and the lithosphere was relatively thin, (2) sediments and other materials were deposited in the basin during high erosion rates while maintaining isostatic equilibrium, (3) sediments became water enriched during the Noachian Period, and (4) basin materials were uplifted in response to the growth of the Tharsis Bulge, resulting in differential erosion exposing ancient stratigraphic sequences. Parts of the ancient basin remain water-enriched to the present day. ?? 2007 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Icarus↗

USGS2007

Formation and disruption of aquifers in southwestern Chryse Planitia, Mars

We present geologic evidence suggesting that after the development of Mars' cryolithosphere, the formation of aquifers in southwestern Chryse Planitia and their subsequent disruption led to extensive regional resurfacing during the Late Hesperian, and perhaps even during the Amazonian. In our model, these aquifers formed preferentially along thrust faults associated with wrinkle ridges, as well as along fault systems peripheral to impact craters. The characteristics of degraded wrinkle ridges and impact craters in southwestern Chryse Planitia indicate a profound role of subsurface volatiles and especially liquid water in the upper crust (the upper one hundred to a few thousands of meters). Like lunar wrinkle ridges, the martian ones are presumed to mark the surface extensions of thrust faults, but in our study area the wrinkle ridges are heavily modified. Wrinkle ridges and nearby plains have locally undergone collapse, and in other areas they are associated with domical intrusions we interpret as mud volcanoes and mud diapirs. In at least one instance, a sinuous valley emanates from a modified wrinkle ridge, further indicating hydrological influences on these thrust-fault-controlled features. A key must be the formation of volatile-rich crust. Primary crustal formation and differentiation incorporated juvenile volatiles into the global crust, but the crustal record here was then strongly modified by the giant Chryse impact. The decipherable rock record here begins with the Chryse impact and continues with the resulting basin's erosion and infilling, which includes outflow channel activity. We propose that in Simud Vallis surface flow dissection into the base of the cryolithosphere-produced zones where water infiltrated and migrated along SW-dipping strata deformed by the Chryse impact, thereby forming an extensive aquifer in southwestern Chryse Planitia. In this region, compressive stresses produced by the rise of Tharsis led to the formation of wrinkle ridges. Zones of high fracture density within the highly strained planes of the thrust faults underlying the wrinkle ridges formed regions of high permeability; thus, groundwater likely flowed and gathered along these tectonic structures to form zones of elevated permeability. Volatile depletion and migration within the upper crustal materials, predominantly along fault systems, led to structurally controlled episodic resurfacing in southwestern Chryse Planitia. The erosional modification of impact craters in this region is linked to these processes. This erosion is scale independent over a range of crater diameters from a few hundred meters to tens of kilometers. According to our model, pressurized water and sediment intruded and locally extruded and caused crustal subsidence and other degradational activity across this region. The modification of craters across this wide range of sizes, according to our model, implies that there was intensive mobilization of liquid water in the upper crust ranging from about one hundred to several thousand meters deep. ?? 2007 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Icarus↗

USGS2006

Headward growth of chasmata by volatile outbursts, collapse, and drainage: Evidence from ganges chaos, Mars

The nature and significance of collapse processes in Capri, Eos, and Ganges Chasmata remain poorly understood. Using Ganges Chasma as a type locality, these chasmata are interpreted to be the result of clustering and assimilation of multiple chaotic terrains, which primarily formed by localized depressurization-induced or thermally-triggered dissociation of buried gas clathrate hydrates and explosive eruption of gas-saturated ground water. Such crustal destabilization could have been triggered by (1) deep fracture propagation from the Martian surface, (2) magmatic intrusions and associated heating and inflation-induced terrain fracturing, and/or (3) climatic thaw and thinning/weakening of the permafrost over the clathrate and gas-rich groundwater zones. Volume increases associated with release of gases contributed to the xpulsion of groundwater and fluidized sediments at the surface, thereby carving the higher outflow channels peripheral to the chasmata and the lower outflow channel floors of the chasmata and outflow channels. Copyright 2006 by the American Geophysical Union.

Geophysical Research Letters↗

USGS2006

Nature and characteristics of the flows that carved the Simud and Tiu outflow channels, Mars

Geomorphic and topographic relations of higher and lower levels of dissection within the Simud and Tiu Valles outflow channels on Mars reveal new insights into their formational histories. We find that the water floods that carved the higher channel floors were primarily sourced from Hydaspis Chaos. The floods apparently branched into distributaries downstream that promoted rapid freezing and sublimation of water and limited discharge into the lowlands. In contrast, we suggest that the lower outflow channels were carved by debris flows from Hydraotes Chaos. Surges within individual debris flows possessed variable volatile contents and led to the deposition of smooth deposits marked by low relief longitudinal ridges. Lower outflow channel discharges resulted in widespread deposition within the Simud/Tiu Valles as well as within the northern plains of Mars. Copyright 2006 by the American Geophysical Union.

Geophysical Research Letters↗

USGS2005

Control of impact crater fracture systems on subsurface hydrology, ground subsidence, and collapse, Mars

Noachian layered materials are pervasively exposed throughout the highlands of Mars. The layered deposits, in places many kilometers thick, exhibit impact craters of diverse morphologic characteristics, ranging from highly degraded to pristine, most of which formed during the period of heavy bombardment. In addition, exhumed impact craters, ancient channels, and fluvial and alluvial fans are visible in the layered deposits through MOC imagery. These features are more abundant in Noachian terrains, which indicates relatively high erosion rates during ancient Mars that competed with heavy meteoritic bombardment. The Noachian layered materials are thus expected to contain numerous buried impact craters in various states of preservation. Here, we propose that impact craters (buried and exposed) and associated fracture systems dominate the basement structural fabric of the ancient highlands and that they have significantly influenced the hydrogeology. Diversity in the occurrence of high and low densities of impact craters and associated fracture systems controls the magnitude of the local effects of magmatic-driven hydrothermal activity. In and surrounding the Tharsis region, for example, the formation of chaotic terrains (the source regions of the circum-Chryse outflow channel system) and a large diversity of collapse structures, including impact crater moats and pit chains, appear to be the result of enhanced hydrothermal activity. Copyright 2005 by the American Geophysical Union.

Journal of Geophysical Research E: Planets↗

USGS2005

Outflow channel sources, reactivation, and chaos formation, Xanthe Terra, Mars

The undulating, warped, and densely fractured surfaces of highland regions east of Valles Marineris (located north of the eastern Aureum Chaos, east of the Hydraotes Chaos, and south of the Hydaspis Chaos) resulted from extensional surface warping related to ground subsidence, caused when pressurized water confined in subterranean caverns was released to the surface. Water emanations formed crater lakes and resulted in channeling episodes involved in the excavation of Ares, Tiu, and Simud Valles of the eastern part of the circum-Chryse outflow channel system. Progressive surface subsidence and associated reduction of the subsurface cavernous volume, and/or episodes of magmatic-driven activity, led to increases of the hydrostatic pressure, resulting in reactivation of both catastrophic and non-catastrophic outflow activity. Ancient cratered highland and basin materials that underwent large-scale subsidence grade into densely fractured terrains. Collapse of rock materials in these regions resulted in the formation of chaotic terrains, which occur in and near the headwaters of the eastern circum-Chryse outflow channels. The deepest chaotic terrain in the Hydaspis Chaos region resulted from the collapse of pre-existing outflow channel floors. The release of volatiles and related collapse may have included water emanations not necessarily linked to catastrophic outflow. Basal warming related to dike intrusions, thermokarst activity involving wet sediments and/or dissected ice-enriched country rock, permafrost exposed to the atmosphere by extensional tectonism and channel incision, and/or the injection of water into porous floor material, may have enhanced outflow channel floor instability and subsequent collapse. In addition to the possible genetic linkage to outflow channel development dating back to at least the Late Noachian, clear disruption of impact craters with pristine ejecta blankets and rims, as well as preservation of fine tectonic fabrics, suggest that plateau subsidence and chaos formation may have continued well into the Amazonian Period. The geologic and paleohydrologic histories presented here have important implications, as new mechanisms for outflow channel formation and other fluvial activity are described, and new reactivation mechanisms are proposed for the origin of chaotic terrain as contributors to flooding. Detailed geomorphic analysis indicates that subterranean caverns may have been exposed during chaos formation, and thus chaotic terrains mark prime locations for future geologic, hydrologic, and possible astrobiologic exploration. ?? 2004 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Icarus↗