Morphological analogies between permafrost land features on Mars and Earth
Abstract
The ancient continental-scale glaciation (Budd et al., 1986) on Mars explains the presence of several geomorphological forms of ice-debris complexes (Bhardwaj et al., 2016a) and other permafrost landforms. These ice-debris complexes, also known as glacier-like forms (GLFs), and permafrost landforms are present in a widespread region of Mars' subpolar latitudes (Bhardwaj et al., 2016a). Our understanding of the ongoing glacial and periglacial processes in Martian subpolar latitudes is still majorly incomplete, mainly due to the absence of full and repeat coverage of these latitudes at high spatial resolutions. However, GLFs show significant analogy with the terrestrial ice-debris complexes, thus allowing for the scope of comparative inferences. In the past couple of decades, there has been a significant influx of high-resolution remotely-sensed images of Mars (Bhardwaj et al., 2019). Another encouraging fact is that these images are freely available to researchers. Using similar resolution images available on Google Earth for the ice-debris complexes or permafrost landforms in high-altitude and high-latitude terrain on Earth can give us a starting point to study the morphological analogies. In the present research, we have taken a classic geomorphologic approach (Hamilton et al., 1995; Humlum, 1982) for identifying and characterising several of such GLFs in the subpolar Martian latitudes using recent HiRISE images and in the Himalaya using Google Earth images. The presence of permafrost in general and ice-debris complexes in particular in the Himalayan mountains is still one of the least explored topics. A careful observation of high-resolution images confirms a widespread and widely unreported presence of periglacial landforms such as rock glaciers and other ice-debris complexes in these mountains. To establish any geomorphological analogy, well-preserved and undisturbed terrestrial specimens are preferable and high Himalayan terrain encompasses such landscapes in ample, away from any anthropogenic interference (Bhardwaj et al., 2016b). We generated the first complete basin-scale inventory of such ice-debris complexes in the Western Himalaya for the 1100 sq. km Baspa River basin and observed the striking geomorphologic analogy between terrestrial and Martian GLFs. We identified and mapped 73 ice-debris complexes or periglacial features covering a wide area of around 15.17 sq. km. In addition to typical lobate rock glaciers, we also identified several protalus ramparts in both Martian as well as Himalayan images. A similar approach was adopted for Swedish Arctic mountain permafrost observations and monitoring. We identified solifluction lobes on the mountain slopes with similar dimensions and morphologies as the ones observed on the HiRISE images of Martian subpolar latitudes. We performed visual and thermal observations on these landforms to provide a first-hand information on their qualification as a Martian analogue. As the future scope, we intend to include Digital Terrain Model (DTM) derivatives and morphometry, and feature tracking to our analyses of these landforms on Mars and on Earth. Such studies are relevant to: (a) model Martian landscape evolution, (b) understand and predict the presence and phase state of water on Mars, and (c) understand the past climatic shifts. References: Bhardwaj, A., Martin-Torres, F.J. (2016a). Identification and Mapping of Glacier-Like Forms (GLFs) Near Martian Subpolar Latitudes. The Sixth International Conference on Mars Polar Science and Exploration, At Reykjavik, Iceland, Volume: LPI Contribution No. 1926, id.6046 Bhardwaj, A., Sam, L., Martin-Torres, F.J. (2016b). Rock glaciers as proxies for identifying terrestrial and analogous Martian permafrost. Günther, F. and Morgenstern, A. (Eds.), XI. International Conference On Permafrost - Book of Abstracts, 20-24 June 2016, Potsdam, Germany. Bibliothek Wissenschaftspark Albert Einstein, doi:10.2312/GFZ.LIS.2016.001 Bhardwaj, A., Sam, L., Martin-Torres, F.J., Zorzano, M.P. (2019). Are slope streaks indicative of global-scale aqueous processes on contemporary Mars? Reviews of Geophysics, 57. Budd, W. F., Jenssen, D., Leach, J. H. I., Smith, I. N., & Radok, U. (1986). The north polar ice cap of Mars as a steady-state system. Polarforschung, 56(1/2), 43-63. Hamilton, S. J., & Whalley, W. B. (1995). Rock glacier nomenclature: a re-assessment. Geomorphology, 14(1), 73-80. Humlum, O. (1982). Rock glacier types on Disko, central West Greenland. Geografisk Tidsskrift-Danish Journal of Geography, 82(1), 59-66.
- Publication:
-
43rd COSPAR Scientific Assembly. Held 28 January - 4 February
- Pub Date:
- January 2021
- Bibcode:
- 2021cosp...43E.402S