Wroclaw 2014 (Ramsdale)

 Martian Cryosphere Workshop |Wrozław | 10-12 February 2014

Mapping the northern plains of Mars: origins, evolution and response to climate change. Preliminary results from Arcadia Planitia.

Ramsdale, J.D.1, Balme, M.R., Conway, S.J., Costard, F., Gallagher, C., Gasselt, S. van., Hauber, E., Johnsson, A.E., Kereszturi, A., Platz, T., Séjourné, A., Skinner, J.A., Jr., Reiss, D., Swirad, Z..

1 Dept. Physical Sciences, Open University, Walton Hall, Milton Keynes, MK7 6AA (jason.ramsdale@open.ac.uk).

An ISSI team has been assembled for a new geomorphological mapping study of the main lowland provinces that compose the northern plains of Mars. The project features three strategically-defined latitudinal swaths that cover some critical physiographic and geologic boundaries. The aim is to identify not only the range of geologically recent, ice-related landforms, but also their association with subtly-expressed geological units.  We present preliminary results for the Arcadia Planitia study area: a 250 km wide strip centred on -170° longitude. We have used CTX (5-6 m/pixel) and HRSC (colour and nadir, ~12.5-50 m/pixel) images for the majority of the mapping, supported by higher resolution HiRISE (25 cm/pixel) and MOC (~2 m/pixel) images. We present our preliminary findings on the spatial distribution of landforms thought to be indicative of ground-ice in the regolith and the types of materials in which these forms occur.