Pacing Early Mars fluvial activity at Aeolis Dorsa: Implications for Mars Science Laboratory observations at Gale Crater and Aeolis Mons

Abstract

The impactor flux early in Mars history was much higher than today, so sedimentary sequences include many buried craters. In combination with models for the impactor flux, observations of the number of buried craters can constrain sedimentation rates. Using the frequency of crater-river interactions, we find net sedimentation rate \lesssim 20-300 μm/yr at Aeolis Dorsa. This sets a lower bound of 1-15 Myr on the total interval spanned by fluvial activity around the Noachian-Hesperian transition. We predict that Gale Crater's mound (Aeolis Mons) took at least 10-100 Myr to accumulate, which is testable by the Mars Science Laboratory.

Submitted to Icarus; minor changes from submitted version

References in corpus (3)

• Global modelling of the early Martian climate under a denser CO2 atmosphere: Water cycle and ice evolution
• Seasonal melting and the formation of sedimentary rocks on Mars, with predictions for the Gale Crater mound
• Localized precipitation and runoff on Mars

Cited by in corpus (8)

• Low paleopressure of the Martian atmosphere estimated from the size distribution of ancient craters
• Seasonal melting and the formation of sedimentary rocks on Mars, with predictions for the Gale Crater mound
• Persistent or repeated surface habitability on Mars during the Late Hesperian - Amazonian
• Stratigraphy of Aeolis Dorsa, Mars: stratigraphic context of the great river deposits
• Mars sedimentary rock erosion rates constrained using crater counts, with applications to organic matter preservation and to the global dust cycle
• Resolving the era of river-forming climates on Mars using stratigraphic logs of river-deposit dimensions
• Inverted Channel Belts and Floodplain Clays to the East of Tempe Terra, Mars: Implications for Persistent Fluvial Activity on Early Mars
• Geologic Constraints on Early Mars Climate