Ages of Valles Marineris (Mars) landslides and implications for canyon history

• DOI: 10.1016/j.icarus.2004.06.013
• Publication Date: 2004-08-27T18:24:01Z
• Authors: C. Quantin; P. Allemand; N. Mangold; C. Delacourt
• Keywords: Chronology

The chronology of landslides of Valles Marineris, the equatorial trough system of Mars, has been investigated by a crater population study. Valles Marineris landslides have widespread debris aprons which offer a remarkable opportunity to study the crater population with high resolution images from Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) and from Mars Odyssey Thermal Emission Imaging System (THEMIS). Sixty-six ages were determined within Valles Marineris including 56 landslide ages and 10 ages of the previous termcanyonnext term floor. Results reveal that landslides of Valles Marineris system of previous termcanyonsnext term occurred during a widespread period of time between 3.5 Gy and 50 My. In some locations, the previous termcanyonnext term floor has an apparent age of 3.5 Gy suggesting that at least locally within Valles Marineris no major refreshing processes have occurred for 3.5 Gy. The temporal repetitivity of landslides implies that the triggering mechanisms of the landslides are reproducible in time. Landslides have the same features whatever their age. The dynamic of these landslides is probably the same either with intervention of water up to recently (the last 100 My) or without water since 3.5 Gy.