GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH LETTERS, VOL. 30, NO. 6, 1304, doi:10.1029/2002GL016547, 2003
Nature and hydrological relevance of the Shalbatana complex underground cavernous system
Department of Earth and Planetary Science, University of Tokyo,
Tokyo, Japan
Lunar and Planetary Laboratory, University of Arizona,
Tucson, Arizona, USA
Abstract
[1] The geomorphology of the North East trending long fractured depression between the Ganges Chasma and the Shalbatana Vallis headwater source region is examined and interpreted to be the result of collapse of part of an extensive underground cavernous system. We propose that this cavernous system undermines at least a valley, which extends from the vicinities of the Ganges Chasma and terminates in the Shalbatana Vallis headwater source region and the Aromatum Chaos. We believe that the origin of this cavernous system was related to the formation and interconnection of discrete cavernous bodies and propose a hypothesis, which involves the interaction of permafrost and intrusive magmatism to explain their formation. The Shalbatana Vallis headwater source is interpreted as produced by a Noachian impact crater and surface collapse over part of the underground cavernous system. Finally, we propose that the water sources, which were involved in the excavation of the Shalbatana and Ravis outflow channels might have included water segregated from the permafrost through interaction of intrusive magmatism and permafrost, water drained from a paleolake in the Ganges Chasma and water released from the catastrophic evacuation of confined aquifers.
Received 30 October 2002; revised 28 January 2003; accepted 6 February 2003; published 22 March 2003.
Index Terms: 1625 Global Change: Geomorphology and weathering (1824, 1886); 1655 Global Change: Water cycles (1836); 1749 History of Geophysics: Volcanology, geochemistry, and petrology; 1823 Hydrology: Frozen ground; 1832 Hydrology: Groundwater transport.
Citation: , Nature and hydrological relevance of the Shalbatana complex underground cavernous system, Geophys. Res. Lett., 30(6), 1304, doi:10.1029/2002GL016547, 2003.