Large wind ripples on Mars: A record of atmospheric evolution
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Abstract
Wind blowing over sand on Earth produces decimeter-wavelength ripples and hundred-meter– to kilometer-wavelength dunes: bedforms of two distinct size modes. Observations from the Mars Science Laboratory Curiosity rover and the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter reveal that Mars hosts a third stable wind-driven bedform, with meter-scale wavelengths. These bedforms are spatially uniform in size and typically have asymmetric profiles with angle-of-repose lee slopes and sinuous crest lines, making them unlike terrestrial wind ripples. Rather, these structures resemble fluid-drag ripples, which on Earth include water-worked current ripples, but on Mars instead form by wind because of the higher kinematic viscosity of the low-density atmosphere. A reevaluation of the wind-deposited strata in the Burns formation (about 3.7 billion years old or younger) identifies potential wind-drag ripple stratification formed under a thin atmosphere.
Publication type | Article |
---|---|
Publication Subtype | Journal Article |
Title | Large wind ripples on Mars: A record of atmospheric evolution |
Series title | Science |
DOI | 10.1126/science.aaf3206 |
Volume | 353 |
Issue | 6294 |
Year Published | 2016 |
Language | English |
Publisher | AAAS |
Contributing office(s) | Astrogeology Science Center |
Description | 3 p. |
First page | 55 |
Last page | 58 |
Other Geospatial | Mars |
Online Only (Y/N) | N |
Additional Online Files (Y/N) | N |
Google Analytic Metrics | Metrics page |