--> Abstract: Raised Curvilinear Features on Mars: Inverted Paleochannels in the Martian Stratigraphy; #90063 (2007)

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Raised Curvilinear Features on Mars: Inverted Paleochannels in the Martian Stratigraphy

 

Williams, Rebecca M. E.1 (1) Planetary Science Institute, Tucson, AZ

 

Bifurcating ridge networks, termed ‘raised curvilinear features' (RCFs), covering areas ranging from tens to hundreds of square kilometers have been identified at over one hundred sites on Mars in high resolution (<100 meters per pixel) images. Based on their similarity to terrestrial fluvial landforms, RCFs have been universally interpreted as resulting from aqueous flow. Many RCFs have diagnostic morphological attributes consistent with formation by continually flowing water now expressed in inverted relief. Channel floors on Mars likely became indurated primarily by cementation, with clast armoring potentially operating in a secondary role. Today, the valley systems are the products of the combined forces of burial, exhumation and erosion that resulted in the former channel floor now preserved as a topographic high. Two attributes of some RCFs, particularly those proximal to Valles Marineris, are consistent with precipitation-fed runoff to generate the volumes of liquid necessary for valley network formation: a) preservation of low-order tributaries (rarely observed on Mars), and b) drainage density values (0.9-2.3 km-1) among the highest reported for Martian fluvial landforms and similar to terrestrial stream systems of comparable scale. The suite of RCF morphologies preserved on Mars document a range of paleofluvial environments attesting to the complex fluvial history on the planet. In locations with multiple RCFs, they occur at different levels within the layered stratigraphy. The stratigraphic context of RCFs indicates that precipitation-fed runoff occurred in locations beyond the period of heavy impact cratering that ended 3.8 billion years ago.

 

AAPG Search and Discover Article #90063©2007 AAPG Annual Convention, Long Beach, California