|
Detailed Reference Information |
Kiefer, W.S. (2005). Buried mass anomalies along the hemispheric dichotomy in eastern Mars: Implications for the origin and evolution of the dichotomy. Geophysical Research Letters 32: doi: 10.1029/2005GL024260. issn: 0094-8276. |
|
Gravity observations indicate the presence of buried, high-density material along the hemispheric dichotomy in eastern Mars. This material is unrelated to present-day topography and is probably the result of localized thinning of the crust. This thinning may be the result of an epoch of edge-driven convection that occurred shortly after the dichotomy formed. Initiation of edge-driven convection requires that lateral variations in lithospheric structure be created on a timescale that is shorter than the conductive cooling time for the lithosphere, a few tens of million years at most. This timescale cannot be achieved if the dichotomy boundary is created solely by large-scale convective flow. Formation or modification of the boundary by large impact basins such as Utopia can create the required lithospheric structure in a geologic instant. This suggests that large impacts were important in shaping the dichotomy, at least on a regional scale. |
|
|
|
BACKGROUND DATA FILES |
|
|
Abstract |
|
|
|
|
|
Keywords
Planetary Sciences, Solid Surface Planets, Gravitational fields, Planetary Sciences, Solid Surface Planets, Tectonics, Planetary Sciences, Solar System Objects, Mars, Tectonophysics, Dynamics of lithosphere and mantle, general, Tectonophysics, Dynamics, convection currents, and mantle plumes |
|
Publisher
American Geophysical Union 2000 Florida Avenue N.W. Washington, D.C. 20009-1277 USA 1-202-462-6900 1-202-328-0566 service@agu.org |
|
|
|