Outgassing History and Escape of the Martian Atmosphere and Water Inventory

Abstract

The evolution and escape of the martian atmosphere and the planet's water inventory can be separated into an early and late evolutionary epoch. The first epoch started from the planet's origin and lasted $\sim$500 Myr. Because of the high EUV flux of the young Sun and Mars' low gravity it was accompanied by hydrodynamic blow-off of hydrogen and strong thermal escape rates of dragged heavier species such as O and C atoms. After the main part of the protoatmosphere was lost, impact-related volatiles and mantle outgassing may have resulted in accumulation of a secondary CO${}_2$ atmosphere of a few tens to a few hundred mbar around $\sim$4--4.3 Gyr ago. The evolution of the atmospheric surface pressure and water inventory of such a secondary atmosphere during the second epoch which lasted from the end of the Noachian until today was most likely determined by a complex interplay of various nonthermal atmospheric escape processes, impacts, carbonate precipitation, and serpentinization during the Hesperian and Amazonian epochs which led to the present day surface pressure.

arXiv comment49 pages, 14 figures

References in corpus (10)

• A low mass for Mars from Jupiter's early gas-driven migration
• Evolution of the Solar Activity over Time and Effects on Planetary Atmospheres: I. High-energy Irradiances (1-1700 A)
• Asteroids Were Born Big
• Planetary evaporation by UV & X-ray radiation: basic hydrodynamics
• Atmospheres of protoplanetary cores: critical mass for nucleated instability
• Hydrogen Greenhouse Planets Beyond the Habitable Zone
• The escape of heavy atoms from the ionosphere of HD209458b. I. A photochemical-dynamical model of the thermosphere
• The Dual Origin of the Terrestrial Atmosphere
• Transient conditions for biogenesis on low-mass exoplanets with escaping hydrogen atmospheres
• Impact regimes and post-formation sequestration processes: implications for the origin of heavy noble gases in terrestrial planets

Cited by in corpus (28)

• The Climate of Early Mars
• Warming early Mars with CO2 and H2
• The geological and climatological case for a warmer and wetter early Mars
• A coupled model of episodic warming, oxidation and geochemical transitions on early Mars
• Low paleopressure of the Martian atmosphere estimated from the size distribution of ancient craters
• What factors affect the duration and outgassing of the terrestrial magma ocean?
• Hot oxygen and carbon escape from the martian atmosphere
• The Role of N2 as a Geo-Biosignature for the Detection and Characterization of Earth-like Habitats
• Evidence for the volatile-rich composition of a 1.5-$R_{\oplus }$ planet
• Perspectives on atmospheric evolution from noble gas and nitrogen isotopes on Earth, Mars & Venus
• Climate Cycling on Early Mars Caused by the Carbonate-Silicate Cycle
• Loss and fractionation of noble gas isotopes and moderately volatile elements from planetary embryos and early Venus, Earth and Mars
• Stratigraphy of Aeolis Dorsa, Mars: stratigraphic context of the great river deposits
• N2-associated surface warming on early Mars
• Precipitation of Energetic Neutral Atoms and Induced Non-Thermal Escape Fluxes from the Martian Atmosphere
• Did Mars possess a dense atmosphere during the first ~400 million years?
• Geochemistry constrains global hydrology on Early Mars
• Estimating precipitation on early Mars using a radiative-convective model of the atmosphere and comparison with inferred runoff from geomorphology
• Impact inducted surface heating by planetesimals on early Mars
• Effect of O3 on the atmospheric temperature structure of early Mars
• The effect of varying atmospheric pressure upon habitability and biosignatures of Earth-like planets
• A primordial atmospheric origin of hydrospheric deuterium enrichment on Mars
• Interior Controls on the Habitability of Rocky Planets
• Non-thermal escape of the Martian CO${}_2$ atmosphere over time: constrained by Ar isotopes
• Properties of the Interstellar Medium along Sight Lines to Nearby Planet Hosting Stars
• Non-thermal production and escape of OH from the upper atmosphere of Mars
• Tidally driven tectonic activity as a parameter in exoplanet habitability
• Behaviors of Martian CO2-driven dry climate system and conditions for atmospheric collapses