Sedimentary processes of the Bagnold Dunes: Implications for the eolian rock record of Mars
File(s)
Author(s)
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
The Mars Science Laboratory rover Curiosity visited two active wind-blown sand dunes within Gale crater, Mars, which provided the first ground-based opportunity to compare Martian and terrestrial eolian dune sedimentary processes and study a modern analog for the Martian eolian rock record. Orbital and rover images of these dunes reveal terrestrial-like and uniquely Martian processes. The presence of grainfall, grainflow, and impact ripples resembled terrestrial dunes. Impact ripples were present on all dune slopes and had a size and shape similar to their terrestrial counterpart. Grainfall and grainflow occurred on dune and large-ripple lee slopes. Lee slopes were ~29° where grainflows were present and ~33° where grainfall was present. These slopes are interpreted as the dynamic and static angles of repose, respectively. Grain size measured on an undisturbed impact ripple ranges between 50 μm and 350 μm with an intermediate axis mean size of 113 μm (median: 103 μm). Dissimilar to dune eolian processes on Earth, large, meter-scale ripples were present on all dune slopes. Large ripples had nearly symmetric to strongly asymmetric topographic profiles and heights ranging between 12 cm and 28 cm. The composite observations of the modern sedimentary processes highlight that the Martian eolian rock record is likely different from its terrestrial counterpart because of the large ripples, which are expected to engender a unique scale of cross stratification. More broadly, however, in the Bagnold Dune Field as on Earth, dune-field pattern dynamics and basin-scale boundary conditions will dictate the style and distribution of sedimentary processes.
Date Issued
2017-12-07
Date Acceptance
2017-06-26
Citation
Journal of Geophysical Research: Planets, 2017, 122 (12), pp.2544-2573
ISSN
2169-9097
Publisher
AGU Publications
Start Page
2544
End Page
2573
Journal / Book Title
Journal of Geophysical Research: Planets
Volume
122
Issue
12
Copyright Statement
©2017. The Authors.
This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs License, which permits use and distribution in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited, the use is non-commercial and no modifications or adaptations are made.
This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs License, which permits use and distribution in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited, the use is non-commercial and no modifications or adaptations are made.
Sponsor
Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC)
Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC)
Grant Number
ST/J005169/1
ST/N000579/1
Subjects
Science & Technology
Physical Sciences
Geochemistry & Geophysics
aeolian
sand dunes
ripples
Gale crater
bed forms
Bagnold Dune Field
DIRECTIONALLY VARYING FLOWS
AEOLIAN DUNE
GALE CRATER
LONGITUDINAL DUNES
NUMERICAL SIMULATIONS
FIELD PATTERN
WIND RIPPLES
WHITE SANDS
NEW-MEXICO
AIR-FLOW
Publication Status
Published
Date Publish Online
2017-07-05