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GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH LETTERS, VOL. 30, NO. 6, 1321, doi:10.1029/2002GL016704, 2003

Recent debris flows on Mars: Seasonal observations of the Russell Crater dune field

D. Reiss

Institute of Space Sensor Technology and Planetary Exploration, German Aerospace Center (DLR), Berlin, Germany


R. Jaumann

Institute of Space Sensor Technology and Planetary Exploration, German Aerospace Center (DLR), Berlin, Germany


Abstract

Debris flows occur on slopes in the Russell Crater dune field. The morphology of the erosion features resembles terrestrial viscous slurry flows (mudflows) and suggests that a flow of fine-grained material mixed with liquid water might have been responsible for their formation. Seasonal MGS-TES and -MOC imagery based observations of the dune field show (1) an annual frosting and defrosting cycle and (2) that liquid H2O could be stable within a limited time period in the summer of the southern hemisphere. These observations lead to the conclusion that debris flows in the Russell Crater dune field may form under current climatic conditions by episodic or seasonal melting of small amounts of autumn/winter condensed water ice.

Published 26 March 2003.

Index Terms: 1860 Hydrology: Runoff and streamflow; 6207 Planetology: Solar System Objects: Comparative planetology; 6225 Planetology: Solar System Objects: Mars.

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Citation: Reiss, D., and R. Jaumann (2003), Recent debris flows on Mars: Seasonal observations of the Russell Crater dune field, Geophys. Res. Lett., 30(6), 1321, doi:10.1029/2002GL016704.