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Periodic Bedrock Ridges at Oxia Planum and Chryse Planitia, Mars: evidence for widespread aeolian erosion of an ancient surface by regional paleowinds
File(s)
Author(s)
Favaro, Elena A
Balme, Matthew R
McNeil, Joseph D
Fawdon, Peter
Davis, Joel M
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
Periodic Bedrock Ridges (PBRs) are repeating, symmetrical, wind-transverse, bedrock-abraded linear ridges that occur on Mars as parallel sets. Here, we extend our previous survey of PBRs at Oxia Planum – the landing site of ESA's ExoMars Rosalind Franklin rover – to include three additional sites along the margins of the circum-Chryse basin to understand patterns in PBR orientation and occurrence. We analyzed PBR crestline orientation at each study site and found them to be consistent across this large region, but their orientations do not align with global circulation model winds, suggesting contemporary winds are not responsible for PBR development. Furthermore, we used observations of landscape-level stratigraphic relationships at Oxia Planum to constrain the formation age of PBRs to be late Noachian to early Amazonian. Their consistent orientations and age suggest that the Chryse-margin PBRs formed concurrently and represent modification of an ancient palaeosurface. In addition, we find a tendency for PBRs to preferentially occur in regions where Fe/Mg-rich phyllosilicate minerals were detected in hyperspectral remote sensing data. We conclude that regional scale aeolian processes formed the circum-Chryse PBRs, and that exposed bedrock with Fe/Mg-rich phyllosilicate detections were either more susceptible to PBR formation, or better preserve PBRs than other regional lithologies.
Date Issued
2024-01-15
Date Acceptance
2023-11-28
Citation
Earth and Planetary Science Letters, 2024, 626
URI
URL
DOI
ISSN
0012-821X
Publisher
Elsevier BV
Journal / Book Title
Earth and Planetary Science Letters
Volume
626
Copyright Statement
© 2023 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
License URL
Identifier
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.epsl.2023.118522
Publication Status
Published
Article Number
118522
Date Publish Online
2023-12-12