Aram Chaos, the lumpy, bumpy floor of an ancient impact crater on Mars, formed as a result of catastrophic melting and outflow of a buried ice lake. A new study combines observations from satellite photos of the 280 kilometre wide and four kilometre deep crater plus models of the ice melting process and resulting catastrophic outflow. Manuel Roda has presented the results at the European Planetary Science Congress (EPSC) at UCL in London.
Chaotic terrains are enigmatic features, stretching up to hundreds of kilometres across, that are distinctive to Mars. The mechanism by which they formed has been poorly understood by scientists.
“About 3.5 billion years ago, the pristine Aram impact crater was partly filled with water ice that was buried under a two-kilometre thick layer of sediment. This layer isolated the ice from surface temperatures, but it gradually melted over a period of millions of years due to the heat released by the planet. The sediment overlying fluid water became unstable and collapsed,” said Roda.
The resulting massive expulsion of a hundred thousand cubic kilometres of liquid water was four times the volume of Lake Baikal, the largest freshwater lake on Earth. The water carved a valley of 10 kilometres wide and 2 kilometres deep in about one month and a chaotic pattern of blocks was left in the Aram crater.
“An exciting consequence is that rock-ice units are possibly still present in the subsurface. These never achieved the melting conditions, or melted only a lower thin layer, insufficient to result in a full collapse event. Buried ice lakes testify of Mars rapidly turning into a cold, frozen planet, but with lakes buried in the subsurface. These lakes could provide a potentially favourable site for life, shielded from hazardous UV radiation at the surface,” said Roda.
The study was carried out by Roda and colleagues Tanja E. Zegers, Maarten G. Kleinhans and Rob Govers from Utrecht University and Jelmer H.P. Oosthoek of Jacobs University Bremen.
IMAGES
Figure 1 – View of Aram Chaos with elevation map. Aram Chaos is an impact crateron Mars. It is connected to Ares Vallis by a 10 km wide and 2 km deep outflow channel.
Figure 2 – Melting process Numerical modelling shows how the internal heat of the planet diffuses up into the crater with the ice layer. The 273K line indicates the melting point. After roughly 280 million years the sediment layer on the ice has become so thick that the water melts. The layer of rock on top of fluid water is unstable and would have broken up in reality.
Figure 3 – Prospective view of Aram Valley inlet The Aram Valley is a deep (2 km) V-shaped valley which connects Aram Chaos to the Ares Vallis. Credit: http://google.com/mars (Vertical exaggeration 3)
Figure 4 – Artist’s impression of the chaotization event in Aram Chaos Credits: Faculty of Geosciences, Utrecht University
SCIENCE CONTACTS
Manuel Roda
Utrecht University, Faculty of Geosciences
m.roda@uu.nl
Maarten Kleinhans
Utrecht University, Faculty of Geosciences
m.kleinhans@uu.nl
MEDIA CONTACTS
Monique Westrik
Utrecht University, Marketing & Communications Department
m.westrik@uu.nl
Evelien Harmsen
Marketing & Communications Department
e.harmsen@uu.nl
Anita Heward
EPSC 2013 Press Officer
anitaheward@btinternet.com
+44 (0)7756034243
NOTES FOR EDITORS
About the European Planetary Science Congress (EPSC)
EPSC is the major European meeting on planetary science. EPSC 2013 is taking place at University College London (UCL) from Sunday 8 September to Friday 13 September 2013. It is the first time that the Congress has been held in the UK. The 2013 programme includes around 75 sessions and workshops. Details of the Congress and a full schedule of EPSC 2013 scientific sessions and events can be found at the official website: http://www.epsc2013.eu/
EPSC 2013 is organised by Europlanet, UCL and Copernicus Meetings and the event is sponsored by the UK Space Agency, UCL, Astrium and the Science and Technology Facilities Council.
To celebrate EPSC coming to London, a ‘Festival of the Planets’ has been organised across the Capital in collaboration with partners including the Baker Street Irregular Astronomers, the Bloomsbury Theatre, the British Astronomical Association, the British Interplanetary Society, the Natural History Museum, the Open University, Queen Mary University of London, the Royal Astronomical Society, Royal Museums Greenwich and University College London. More information about the events can be found at: http://www.europlanet-eu.org/epsc2013/outreach-activities
Follow #epsc2013 @epsc2013 @europlanetmedia on Twitter
About Europlanet
Europlanet is a network of planetary scientists, whose aim is to bring together the disparate European community so that Europe can play a leading role in space exploration. Europlanet’s activities complement the mission activities of the European Space Agency through field work at planetary-analogue terrains on Earth, laboratory measurements, computer modelling and observations from ground-based telescopes. Founded in 2002 and funded by the European Commission from 2005-2012, Europlanet has evolved into a community-based organisation that will carry on this work and plan for future missions and mission support.
www.europlanet-eu.org
About UCL (University College London)
Founded in 1826, UCL was the first English university established after Oxford and Cambridge, the first to admit students regardless of race, class, religion or gender and the first to provide systematic teaching of law, architecture and medicine.
UCL is among the world’s top universities, as reflected by its performance in a range of international rankings and tables. According to the Thomson Scientific Citation Index, UCL is the second most highly cited European university and the 15th most highly cited in the world.
UCL has nearly 27,000 students from 150 countries and more than 9,000 employees, of whom one third are from outside the UK. The university is based in Bloomsbury in the heart of London, but also has two international campuses – UCL Australia and UCL Qatar. Its annual income is more than £800 million. www.ucl.ac.uk | Follow us on Twitter @uclnews | Watch our YouTube channel YouTube.com/UCLTV
