C.M. Rodrigue, 2015Geography, CSULB

Mars: Second Order Landscapes

Geography 441/541S/15

Dr. Christine M. Rodrigue

C.M. Rodrigue, 2015Geography, CSULB

Mars: Second Order Landscapes

• The Other Great Volcanic Rise– Elysium

– “Only” 6 km thick– “Only” 2,000 km across

C.M. Rodrigue, 2015Geography, CSULB

Second Order Landscapes

• Hecates Tholus• Elysium Mons• Albor Tholus

– MEX HRSC

C.M. Rodrigue, 2015Geography, CSULB

Mars: Second Order Landscapes

• The Volcanic Rises– Elysium

• Recent volcanic activity: Hecates

C.M. Rodrigue, 2015Geography, CSULB

Mars: Second Order Landscapes

• The Volcanic Rises– Elysium

• Glacial features on Hecates? Argued to be snow derived during an ice age produced by a greater obliquity

C.M. Rodrigue, 2015Geography, CSULB

Second Order: Valles Marineris

C.M. Rodrigue, 2015Geography, CSULB

Second Order: Valles Marineris

• By comparison– Viking VIS; USA overlay: R. Klein, Cornell

C.M. Rodrigue, 2015Geography, CSULB

Second Order: Valles Marineris

• Subsidiary chasmata– Viking VIS; Malin Space Science Systems

C.M. Rodrigue, 2015Geography, CSULB

Mars: Second Order Landscapes

• The Great Canyons– Valles Marineris

– Faulting/rifting– Not your ordinary grand canyon (east end is actually

higher than the middle)– Valles cut into layered material (sediments? lava?)– Extensional rifting (perhaps like East Africa? or not)– Some sign of shear faulting (like San Andreas?)– Pitting (suggests extension)– Alcoves (suggesting subsurface flow)– Landsliding widens the rifts– Massive jökulhlaup-like outflows

C.M. Rodrigue, 2015Geography, CSULB

Mars: Second Order Landscapes• The Great Canyons

– Valles Marineris– Looks like a canyon draining into Margaritifer and then Chryse– But look at the elevations of the central and eastern ends

C.M. Rodrigue, 2015Geography, CSULB

Mars: Second Order Landscapes

• The Great Canyons– Valles Marineris

– Layering in walls of Melas Chasma

– Dunes covering floor

C.M. Rodrigue, 2015Geography, CSULB

Mars: Second Order Landscapes

• The Great Canyons– Valles Marineris

– Layering in walls of Hebes Chasma– And in Candor Chasma below

C.M. Rodrigue, 2015Geography, CSULB

Mars: Second Order Landscapes

• The Great Canyons– Valles Marineris

– Layering in Coprates Chasma (HiRISE)

C.M. Rodrigue, 2015Geography, CSULB

Mars: Second Order Landscapes

• The Great Canyons– Valles Marineris

– Extensional rifting in Tithonium Chasma– Pitting (suggests extension)

C.M. Rodrigue, 2015Geography, CSULB

Mars: Second Order Landscapes

• The Great Canyons– Valles Marineris

– Extensional rifting in Coprates Chasma and Catena– Pitting (suggests extension)

C.M. Rodrigue, 2015Geography, CSULB

Mars: Second Order Landscapes

• Rifting elsewhere– Cerberus Fossæ

– Seem tectonic: faulting– Lava flow from a fissure?

C.M. Rodrigue, 2015Geography, CSULB

Mars: Second Order Landscapes

• The Great Canyons– Landslides

• South Candor Chasma

C.M. Rodrigue, 2015Geography, CSULB

Mars: Second Order Landscapes

• The Great Canyons– Landslides

• Noctis Labyrinthus

C.M. Rodrigue, 2015Geography, CSULB

Mars: Second Order Landscapes

• The Great Canyons– Melas, Candor, Ophir Chasmata

– Theatre-headed tributaries– Like Canyonlands, Utah– Sapping of groundwater

C.M. Rodrigue, 2015Geography, CSULB

Mars: Second Order Landscapes

• The Great Canyons– Ius Chasma

– Theatre-headed tributaries– Sapping of groundwater