European Space AgencyEuropean Mars Science and Exploration Conference: Mars Express & ExoMarsESTEC, Noordwijk, The Netherlands, 12 - 16 November, 2007ALLUVIAL FAN AND DELTA PROGRADATION IN MARTIAN CRATER LAKES
M. G. Kleinhans
1
, H. E. Van de Kasteele
2
, E. Kraal
3
.
1
Universiteit Utrecht. Faculty of Geosciences, PObox80115, 3508 TC Utrecht, The Netherlands.
2
No affiliation, Odijk, The Netherlands.
3
Virginia Tech GeoscienceDepartment, Blackburg, VA 24060, USA.m.kleinhans@geo.uu.nl
Setting and problem:
Numerous sedimentaryfans and fan deltas have been found on Mars
1
,indicating the presence of flowing water on thesurface. In principle the morphology anddimensions of the fans and deltas are stronglydetermined by the formative boundary conditions,and not so much by the details of the sedimenttransport that formed them. Upstream boundaryconditions are the flow discharge and sedimentinput
2
and the downstream boundary condition is thelake water level (or the lack thereof which results ina fan rather than a fan delta). The lake water leveldepends on the water input, the crater dimensionsand infiltration, evaporation or overflow. So far theoverall volumes of fans and deltas have been used toinfer flow discharge and flow duration
2
. We aim toinfer combinations of these boundary conditionsfrom detailed morphology and report preliminaryresults with an analytical method.
Analytical method:
We describe idealisedsedimentary bodies by a cone, the subaerial fan witha given gradient of, say, 0.05, on top of ahorizontally truncated cone, the subaqueous deltawith a given gradient of, say, 0.1-0.6 (up to theangle of repose of the sediment) (Figure 1a). Bythese volumes we derive an analytical cubicequation for the volume of the idealised delta or fan(valid for both). The necessary input parameters arethe fan surface gradient (from observations ordependent on sediment transport capacity) and theclinoform gradient (from observations or at most theangle of repose of unconsolidated noncohesivesediment). The lake level determines the elevationof the break in gradient (the shoreline). Theshoreline position is determined by the sedimentinput (given or calculated
2
), its duration, and thelake level.The lake level is calculated from the inputdischarge and the crater dimensions. The cratervolume can be calculated from empirical powerfunctions for crater depth (from diameter) and cross-sectional profile
3
. We integrated the profiles toobtain the volume of the lake. Given a water input,the lake level rises at a variable rate over time(Figure 1b). A unique shape, shoreline position andheight of a fan or delta is now calculated by thestandard solution (first root) of the cubic equation(Figure 1c). If this solution is negative then there isnot enough sediment to form a subaerial part and thesystem is drowned and deposited as a simple cone.
Results:
The calculations are presented for theexample of figure 18d in ref.1, which is a lobed fandelta in a crater of diameter D=64km and depthd=1.9km. We reconstructed a flow discharge of 250000 m
3
/s and a sediment input of 0.011 km
3
/day(reported elsewhere
4
). The rate of water level risedeclines because the crater widens (figure 1b).When the water level is still low, the delta is longbut not high, but while the water level rises thesedimentation cannot keep up so that the shorelineretreats, the delta height increases but its lengthdiminishes (figure 1c). The end result for this andmany other reasonable combinations of water andsediment input is a steep fan wherein the clinoformsare buried. This result suggests that some fansobserved in Martian craters may have formed asdrowned deltas. The most important uncertainty ishow much water is lost through infiltration,evaporation and through the crater rim.
References:
[1] Irwin, R.P., A.D. Howard, R.A.Craddock, and J.M. Moore (2005),
JGR 110
, E12S15,doi:10.1029/2005JE002460. [2] Kleinhans, M.G.(2005), JGR 110, E12003, doi:10.1029/2005JE002521.[3] Garvin, J.B. and J.J. Frawley (1998),
GRL 25,
24,4405-4408. [4] Kraal, E. et al. AGU fall meeting 2007
Figure 1a.
Fan delta described by top cone on truncated cone. Shoreline position (circle) depends on water and sedimentinput and on lake level history, while the latter depends on water input and crater dimensions.
b.
Water level rise for a crater of diameter D=64km, depth d=1.9km for a flow discharge of 250000m
3
/s.
c.
Resulting delta evolution in a simple basin: the delta drowns (same vertical scale as b) and the shoreline (circles) retreats.
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