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GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH LETTERS, VOL. 34, L19202, doi:10.1029/2007GL030530, 2007

Did ice streams shape the largest channels on Mars?

Edwin S. Kite

Department of Earth Sciences, Cambridge University, Cambridge, UK


Richard C. A. Hindmarsh

Physical Science Division, British Antarctic Survey, Natural Environment Research Council, Cambridge, UK


Abstract

The largest channels on Mars are the Northwestern Slope Valleys (NSVs) of Tharsis, which have previously been interpreted as the probable erosional trace of catastrophic flooding. It is argued here that ice-streaming within ancient ice sheets emplaced by atmospheric precipitation at high mean obliquity may instead account for these channels, explaining similarities between the region and terrestrial Pleistocene subglacial landscapes. An ice-sheet model shows extensive basal melting in and only in the NSV region, and ice streams which have significant erosive power.

Received 29 April 2007; accepted 10 August 2007; published 3 October 2007.

Keywords: ice streams; Mars paleoclimate; ice-sheet modelling.

Index Terms: 0730 Cryosphere: Ice streams; 0798 Cryosphere: Modeling; 5415 Planetary Sciences: Solid Surface Planets: Erosion and weathering; 5416 Planetary Sciences: Solid Surface Planets: Glaciation; 5462 Planetary Sciences: Solid Surface Planets: Polar regions.

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Citation: Kite, E. S., and R. C. A. Hindmarsh (2007), Did ice streams shape the largest channels on Mars?, Geophys. Res. Lett., 34, L19202, doi:10.1029/2007GL030530.