North polar trough formation due to in-situ erosion as a source of young ice in mid-latitudinal mantles on Mars

Abstract The clockwise spiral of troughs marking the Martian north polar plateau forms one of the planet’s youngest megastructures. One popular hypothesis posits that the spiral pattern resulted as troughs underwent poleward migration. Here, we show that the troughs are extensively segmented into en...

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Autores principales:	J. Alexis P. Rodriguez, Kenneth L. Tanaka, Ali M. Bramson, Gregory J. Leonard, Victor R. Baker, Mario Zarroca
Formato:	article
Lenguaje:	EN
Publicado:	Nature Portfolio 2021
Materias:	Medicine R Science Q
Acceso en línea:	https://doaj.org/article/f0dd340fae024a79a215c320dc7519e8
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spelling	oai:doaj.org-article:f0dd340fae024a79a215c320dc7519e82021-12-02T17:04:36ZNorth polar trough formation due to in-situ erosion as a source of young ice in mid-latitudinal mantles on Mars10.1038/s41598-021-83329-32045-2322https://doaj.org/article/f0dd340fae024a79a215c320dc7519e82021-03-01T00:00:00Zhttps://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-83329-3https://doaj.org/toc/2045-2322Abstract The clockwise spiral of troughs marking the Martian north polar plateau forms one of the planet’s youngest megastructures. One popular hypothesis posits that the spiral pattern resulted as troughs underwent poleward migration. Here, we show that the troughs are extensively segmented into enclosed depressions (or cells). Many cell interiors display concentric layers that connect pole- and equator-facing slopes, demonstrating in-situ trough erosion. The segmentation patterns indicate a history of gradual trough growth transversely to katabatic wind directions, whereby increases in trough intersections generated their spiral arrangement. The erosional event recorded in the truncated strata and trough segmentation may have supplied up to ~25% of the volume of the mid-latitude icy mantles. Topographically subtle undulations transition into troughs and have distributions that mimic and extend the troughs’ spiraling pattern, indicating that they probably represent buried trough sections. The retention of the spiral pattern in surface and subsurface troughs is consistent with the megastructure’s stabilization before its partial burial. A previously suggested warm paleoclimatic spike indicates that the erosion could have occurred as recently as ~50 Ka. Hence, if the removed ice was redeposited to form the mid-latitude mantles, they could provide a valuable source of near-surface, clean ice for future human exploration.J. Alexis P. RodriguezKenneth L. TanakaAli M. BramsonGregory J. LeonardVictor R. BakerMario ZarrocaNature PortfolioarticleMedicineRScienceQENScientific Reports, Vol 11, Iss 1, Pp 1-12 (2021)
institution	DOAJ
collection	DOAJ
language	EN
topic	Medicine R Science Q
spellingShingle	Medicine R Science Q J. Alexis P. Rodriguez Kenneth L. Tanaka Ali M. Bramson Gregory J. Leonard Victor R. Baker Mario Zarroca North polar trough formation due to in-situ erosion as a source of young ice in mid-latitudinal mantles on Mars
description	Abstract The clockwise spiral of troughs marking the Martian north polar plateau forms one of the planet’s youngest megastructures. One popular hypothesis posits that the spiral pattern resulted as troughs underwent poleward migration. Here, we show that the troughs are extensively segmented into enclosed depressions (or cells). Many cell interiors display concentric layers that connect pole- and equator-facing slopes, demonstrating in-situ trough erosion. The segmentation patterns indicate a history of gradual trough growth transversely to katabatic wind directions, whereby increases in trough intersections generated their spiral arrangement. The erosional event recorded in the truncated strata and trough segmentation may have supplied up to ~25% of the volume of the mid-latitude icy mantles. Topographically subtle undulations transition into troughs and have distributions that mimic and extend the troughs’ spiraling pattern, indicating that they probably represent buried trough sections. The retention of the spiral pattern in surface and subsurface troughs is consistent with the megastructure’s stabilization before its partial burial. A previously suggested warm paleoclimatic spike indicates that the erosion could have occurred as recently as ~50 Ka. Hence, if the removed ice was redeposited to form the mid-latitude mantles, they could provide a valuable source of near-surface, clean ice for future human exploration.
format	article
author	J. Alexis P. Rodriguez Kenneth L. Tanaka Ali M. Bramson Gregory J. Leonard Victor R. Baker Mario Zarroca
author_facet	J. Alexis P. Rodriguez Kenneth L. Tanaka Ali M. Bramson Gregory J. Leonard Victor R. Baker Mario Zarroca
author_sort	J. Alexis P. Rodriguez
title	North polar trough formation due to in-situ erosion as a source of young ice in mid-latitudinal mantles on Mars
title_short	North polar trough formation due to in-situ erosion as a source of young ice in mid-latitudinal mantles on Mars
title_full	North polar trough formation due to in-situ erosion as a source of young ice in mid-latitudinal mantles on Mars
title_fullStr	North polar trough formation due to in-situ erosion as a source of young ice in mid-latitudinal mantles on Mars
title_full_unstemmed	North polar trough formation due to in-situ erosion as a source of young ice in mid-latitudinal mantles on Mars
title_sort	north polar trough formation due to in-situ erosion as a source of young ice in mid-latitudinal mantles on mars
publisher	Nature Portfolio
publishDate	2021
url	https://doaj.org/article/f0dd340fae024a79a215c320dc7519e8
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North polar trough formation due to in-situ erosion as a source of young ice in mid-latitudinal mantles on Mars

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