Large wind ripples on Mars: a record of atmospheric evolution
File(s)Lapotre_et_al_CombinedPDF.pdf (2.63 MB)
Accepted version
Author(s)
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
Wind blowing over sand on Earth produces decimeter-wavelength ripples and hundred-meter- to kilometer-wavelength dunes: bedforms of two distinct size modes. Observations from the Mars Science Laboratory Curiosity rover and the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter reveal that Mars hosts a third stable wind-driven bedform, with meter-scale wavelengths. These bedforms are spatially uniform in size and typically have asymmetric profiles with angle-of-repose lee slopes and sinuous crest lines, making them unlike terrestrial wind ripples. Rather, these structures resemble fluid-drag ripples, which on Earth include water-worked current ripples, but on Mars instead form by wind because of the higher kinematic viscosity of the low-density atmosphere. A reevaluation of the wind-deposited strata in the Burns formation (about 3.7 billion years old or younger) identifies potential wind-drag ripple stratification formed under a thin atmosphere.
Date Issued
2016-07-01
Date Acceptance
2016-05-31
Citation
Science, 2016, 353 (6294), pp.55-58
ISSN
1095-9203
Publisher
American Association for the Advancement of Science
Start Page
55
End Page
58
Journal / Book Title
Science
Volume
353
Issue
6294
Copyright Statement
© 2016, American Association for the Advancement of Science. This is the author’s version of the work. It is posted here by permission of the AAAS for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Science, vol. 353, no. 6294, 55-58, 1 July 2016, DOI: 10.1126/science.aaf3206.
Sponsor
Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC)
Grant Number
ST/N000579/1
Subjects
General Science & Technology
MD Multidisciplinary
Publication Status
Published