Experiments On Sublimating Carbon Dioxide Ice And Implications For Contemporary Surface Processes On Mars.

ABSTRACT: Carbon dioxide is Mars' primary atmospheric constituent and is an active driver of Martian surface evolution. CO₂ ice sublimation mechanisms have been proposed for a host of features that form in the contemporary Martian climate. However, there has been very little experimental work or quantitative modelling to test the validity of these hypotheses. Here we present the results of the first laboratory experiments undertaken to investigate if the interaction between sublimating CO₂ ice blocks and a warm, porous, mobile regolith can generate features similar in morphology to those forming on Martian dunes today. We find that CO₂ sublimation can mobilise grains to form (i) pits and (ii) furrows. We have documented new detached pits at the termini of linear gull

SUBMITTER: Mc Keown LE 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5660181 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature