Stability of Mid-Latitude Excess Ice on Mars over 10s of Millions of Years
Abstract
Excess ice is common across the Martian mid-latitudes. Ice sheets in Arcadia Planitia and Utopia Planitia have been observed to be widespread, clean (excess ice), and porous based on radar studies. This is most consistent with buried snowfall. Here, we demonstrate that such ice could be on the order of 10s of Myr old. The ice must have formed thicker than currently observed to account for retreat during times of low obliquity and would be protected by a growing lag deposit containing transient pore-filling ice.
- Publication:
-
European Planetary Science Congress
- Pub Date:
- September 2017
- Bibcode:
- 2017EPSC...11..425B