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Chapitre D'ouvrage Année : 2018

The Exotic Processes Driving Ephemeral Seasonal Surface Change on Mars

Résumé

Contrary to Earth, the main component of the martian atmosphere—CO2—condenses at the surface during the local winter and sublimates again during the spring. A number of active geomorphological processes are associated with this exotic seasonal surface–atmosphere exchange. We use the term exotic to convey that this can occur on Mars, but is not known on Earth. These active geomorphological processes are most commonly reported in the polar regions, but these processes could also be active today at lower latitudes. Another main difference between Mars and Earth is the surface pressure (∼10 mbar instead of ∼1 bar). This regime leads to exotic mechanisms of surface destabilization, caused by the sparseness of the atmosphere when it interacts with the soil. In this chapter we review the currently active seasonal processes on Mars, where surface changes occur on a timescale less than 1 martian year. We describe the geomorphological characteristics and the exotic processes proposed to form these features. Our review covers the following active features: depressions in the polar cap (“Swiss cheese” terrain), cold geysers, dark fans and dark spots, ice cracks, dark streaks, dark and bright banding (“fried eggs”), gullies, and “recurring slope lineae.” We will also describe the models proposed to explain these activities, such as the Kieffer model or the Knudsen pump.
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Dates et versions

hal-01966064 , version 1 (27-12-2018)

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Frédéric Schmidt, Ganna Portyankina. The Exotic Processes Driving Ephemeral Seasonal Surface Change on Mars. Dynamic Mars. Recent and Current Landscape Evolution of the Red Planet, Elsevier, pp.157-186, 2018, ⟨10.1016/B978-0-12-813018-6.00005-4⟩. ⟨hal-01966064⟩
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