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GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH LETTERS, VOL. 31, L15604, doi:10.1029/2004GL020359, 2004

Comparing morphologies of drainage basins on Mars and Earth using integral-geometry and neural maps

T. F. Stepinski

Lunar and Planetary Institute, Houston, Texas, USA


S. Coradetti

Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Science, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA


Abstract

We compare morphologies of drainage basins on Mars and Earth in order to confine the formation process of Martian valley networks. Basins on both planets are computationally extracted from digital topography. Integral-geometry methods are used to represent each basin by a circularity function that encapsulates its internal structure. The shape of such a function is an indicator of the style of fluvial erosion. We use the self-organizing map technique to construct a similarity graph for all basins. The graph reveals systematic differences between morphologies of basins on the two planets. This dichotomy indicates that terrestrial and Martian surfaces were eroded differently. We argue that morphologies of Martian basins are incompatible with runoff from sustained, homogeneous rainfall. Fluvial environments compatible with observed morphologies are discussed. We also construct a similarity graph based on the comparison of basins' hypsometric curves to demonstrate that hypsometry is incapable of discriminating between terrestrial and Martian basins.

Received 26 April 2004; accepted 2 July 2004; published 4 August 2004.

Index Terms: 1824 Hydrology: Geomorphology (1625); 1886 Hydrology: Weathering (1625); 5415 Planetology: Solid Surface Planets: Erosion and weathering; 6225 Planetology: Solar System Objects: Mars.

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Citation: Stepinski, T. F., and S. Coradetti (2004), Comparing morphologies of drainage basins on Mars and Earth using integral-geometry and neural maps, Geophys. Res. Lett., 31, L15604, doi:10.1029/2004GL020359.