Geophysical limitations on the erosion history within Arabia Terra
The Arabia Terra region, an area of ~1 × 10[superscript 7] km[superscript 2] lying south of the hemispheric dichotomy boundary and centered at (25E, 5N), is a unique physiographic province with topography and crustal thickness intermediate between those of the southern highlands and northern lowland...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | en_US |
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American Geophysical Union (AGU)
2012
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| Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/74249 https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2652-8017 |
| _version_ | 1826193891818209280 |
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| author | Evans, Alex J. Andrews-Hanna, Jeffrey C. Zuber, Maria |
| author2 | Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences |
| author_facet | Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences Evans, Alex J. Andrews-Hanna, Jeffrey C. Zuber, Maria |
| author_sort | Evans, Alex J. |
| collection | MIT |
| description | The Arabia Terra region, an area of ~1 × 10[superscript 7] km[superscript 2] lying south of the hemispheric dichotomy boundary and centered at (25E, 5N), is a unique physiographic province with topography and crustal thickness intermediate between those of the southern highlands and northern lowlands. Previous workers have identified numerous morphological indicators suggestive of erosion. Using altimetry data returned by the Mars Orbiter Laser Altimeter (MOLA) on the Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) along with gravity data from the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO), we place geophysical constraints on the amount of erosion permitted within Arabia Terra. Admittance estimates using a multitaper, spatiospectral localization approach provide a best fit to the observations through degree 50 at an elastic lithosphere thickness of 15 km. The elevation difference between Arabia Terra and the highlands would require as much as 5 km of erosion in certain areas to yield the current topography, neglecting the effects of subsequent flexure. However, incorporating flexural rebound requires substantially more erosion, up to 25 km, in order to reproduce the elevation and crustal thickness deficit of Arabia Terra. Such a large amount of erosion would result in exterior flexural uplift surpassing 1 km and gravity anomalies exceeding observations by ∼60 mGal. Consequently, it is unlikely that Arabia Terra was formed from surface erosion alone. We determine that no more than 3 × 10[superscript 7] km[superscript 3] of material could have been removed from Arabia Terra, while 1.7 × 10[superscript 8] km[superscript 3] of erosion is required to explain the observed crustal thickness. |
| first_indexed | 2024-09-23T09:46:57Z |
| format | Article |
| id | mit-1721.1/74249 |
| institution | Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
| language | en_US |
| last_indexed | 2024-09-23T09:46:57Z |
| publishDate | 2012 |
| publisher | American Geophysical Union (AGU) |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | mit-1721.1/742492022-09-26T13:40:23Z Geophysical limitations on the erosion history within Arabia Terra Evans, Alex J. Andrews-Hanna, Jeffrey C. Zuber, Maria Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences Evans, Alex J. Andrews-Hanna, Jeffrey C. Zuber, Maria The Arabia Terra region, an area of ~1 × 10[superscript 7] km[superscript 2] lying south of the hemispheric dichotomy boundary and centered at (25E, 5N), is a unique physiographic province with topography and crustal thickness intermediate between those of the southern highlands and northern lowlands. Previous workers have identified numerous morphological indicators suggestive of erosion. Using altimetry data returned by the Mars Orbiter Laser Altimeter (MOLA) on the Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) along with gravity data from the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO), we place geophysical constraints on the amount of erosion permitted within Arabia Terra. Admittance estimates using a multitaper, spatiospectral localization approach provide a best fit to the observations through degree 50 at an elastic lithosphere thickness of 15 km. The elevation difference between Arabia Terra and the highlands would require as much as 5 km of erosion in certain areas to yield the current topography, neglecting the effects of subsequent flexure. However, incorporating flexural rebound requires substantially more erosion, up to 25 km, in order to reproduce the elevation and crustal thickness deficit of Arabia Terra. Such a large amount of erosion would result in exterior flexural uplift surpassing 1 km and gravity anomalies exceeding observations by ∼60 mGal. Consequently, it is unlikely that Arabia Terra was formed from surface erosion alone. We determine that no more than 3 × 10[superscript 7] km[superscript 3] of material could have been removed from Arabia Terra, while 1.7 × 10[superscript 8] km[superscript 3] of erosion is required to explain the observed crustal thickness. 2012-10-25T16:27:29Z 2012-10-25T16:27:29Z 2010-05 2009-07 Article http://purl.org/eprint/type/JournalArticle 0148-0227 2156-2202 http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/74249 Evans, A. J., J. C. Andrews-Hanna, and M. T. Zuber. “Geophysical Limitations on the Erosion History Within Arabia Terra.” Journal of Geophysical Research 115.E5 (2010). ©2010 American Geophysical Union https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2652-8017 en_US http://dx.doi.org/ 10.1029/2009je003469 Journal of Geophysical Research Planets Article is made available in accordance with the publisher's policy and may be subject to US copyright law. Please refer to the publisher's site for terms of use. application/pdf American Geophysical Union (AGU) MIT web domain |
| spellingShingle | Evans, Alex J. Andrews-Hanna, Jeffrey C. Zuber, Maria Geophysical limitations on the erosion history within Arabia Terra |
| title | Geophysical limitations on the erosion history within Arabia Terra |
| title_full | Geophysical limitations on the erosion history within Arabia Terra |
| title_fullStr | Geophysical limitations on the erosion history within Arabia Terra |
| title_full_unstemmed | Geophysical limitations on the erosion history within Arabia Terra |
| title_short | Geophysical limitations on the erosion history within Arabia Terra |
| title_sort | geophysical limitations on the erosion history within arabia terra |
| url | http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/74249 https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2652-8017 |
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