MarsArticle Free Pass
- Basic astronomical data
- Early telescopic observations
- Mars as seen from Earth
- The atmosphere
- Character of the surface
- The interior
- Meteorites from Mars
- Martian moons
- Spacecraft exploration
- The question of life on Mars
- Human exploration
Tharsis and Elysium
The canyons of Valles Marineris terminate to the west near the crest of the Tharsis rise, a vast bulge on the Martian surface more than 8,000 km (5,000 miles) across and 8 km (5 miles) high at its centre. Near the top of the rise are three of the planet’s largest volcanoes—Ascraeus Mons, Arsia Mons, and Pavonis Mons—which tower 18, 17, and 14 km (11.2, 10.5, and 8.7 miles), respectively, above the mean radius. Just off the rise to the northwest is the planet’s tallest volcano, Olympus Mons, 700 km (400 miles) across and almost 22 km (14 miles) above the surrounding plains. To the north is the largest volcano in areal extent, Alba Patera. It is 2,000 km (1,250 miles) across but only 7 km (4.3 miles) in height. Between these giant landforms are several smaller volcanoes and lava plains. Tharsis itself is a vast pile of volcanic rock, and although it had largely formed by 3.7 billion years ago, it has been a centre of volcanic activity ever since.
The presence of the Tharsis rise has caused stresses within, and deformation of, the crust. A vast system of fractures radiating from Tharsis and compressional ridges arrayed around the rise are evidence of this process. The radial faulting around Tharsis appears to have contributed to the formation of the Valles Marineris system.
Another volcanic rise is located in the northern region of Elysium at about 215° W longitude. The Elysium rise is much smaller than Tharsis, being only 2,000 km across and 6 km (3.7 miles) high, and is also the site of several volcanoes.
Polar sediments, ground ice, and glaciers
At each pole is a stack of finely layered water-ice-rich sediments about 3 km (2 miles) thick and only a few tens of millions of years old. The layering is exposed around the periphery of the sediments and in valleys that spiral out from the poles. In winter the sediments are covered with carbon dioxide frost, but they are exposed in summer. At the north pole they extend southward to 80° latitude. At the south pole their extent is less clearly defined, but they appear to extend farther from the pole than in the north. The layering is believed to result from variations in the proportion of dust and ice, probably caused by changes in the tilt of the rotational axis (obliquity). At high obliquities water ice is driven off from the poles, probably causing the residual water-ice caps to disappear entirely and the ice to be deposited at lower latitudes. At low obliquities the water-ice caps are at their maximum. Obliquity variations also affect the incidence of dust storms and deposition of dust at the poles. The deposits have a young age because they have all accumulated since the last period of high obliquity when the previous sediments were removed. One peculiarity of the sediments at the north pole is that they are surrounded by, and perhaps rest upon, a vast dune field rich in the sulfate mineral gypsum.
Under present conditions, at latitudes higher than 40°, ground ice is permanently stable at depths less than 1 metre (3 feet) below the surface because temperatures there never get above the frost point. Above 60° latitude the ice is shallow enough to have been detected from orbit. Ice was also found just below the surface by the Phoenix lander at 68° N. At latitudes higher than 40°, recent impact craters have excavated the surface to depths of more than 2 metres (7 feet), revealing the ground ice. There are also numerous surface features caused by the presence of abundant ground ice. These include polygonally fractured ground similar to that found in terrestrial permafrost regions and a general softening of the terrain, probably caused by ice-abetted flow of the near-surface materials. A striking characteristic of the 40°–60°-latitude bands indicative of ice is the presence of debris aprons at the base of most steep slopes. Materials shed from the slopes appear to have flowed tens of kilometres away from the slopes, and ground-penetrating radar shows that the aprons contain large fractions of ice.
During periods of high obliquity, ice driven from the poles accumulated on the surface at lower latitudes, possibly to form glaciers. Modeling of atmospheric circulation suggests that the preferred sites for ice accumulation during these periods are the western slopes of the Tharsis volcanoes and northeast of the Hellas basin. All these locations are rich in flow features and morainelike landforms, which suggests that glaciers were indeed formerly present.
The north polar region also contains the largest area of sand dunes on Mars. The dunes, which occupy the northern part of the plain known as Vastitas Borealis, form a band that almost completely encircles the north polar remnant cap. Interlayering of sand and seasonal carbon dioxide snow can be seen in some locations, indicating that the dunes are active on at least a seasonal timescale.
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