JOURNAL OF GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH, VOL. 105, NO.

El, PAGES 1623-1650, JANUARY 25, 2000

New views of Mars eolian activity, materials, and surface

properties: Three vignettes from the Mars Global
Surveyor Mars Orbiter Camera
Kenneth S. Edgett and Michael C. Malin
Malin SpaceScienceSystems,Inc., San Diego, California

Abstract. Prior to the Mars Global Surveyor(MGS) mission,a very generalview had
emergedin which Martian surfacematerialswere seenas consistingof a mixture of bright
dust, dark sand, and rocks.The configurationof thesematerials and the winds that
transportand depositsandand dust have been thoughtto be directlylinked to the albedo
patternsthat have been observedon Mars for centuries.High spatialresolutionimages
(1.4-20 m/pixel)obtainedby the MGS Mars Orbiter Camera(MOC) betweenSeptember
15, 1997, and July 4, 1999, provide new information about the physicalnature of the
windblownmaterial on the Martian surfaceand showthat the pre-MGS view was much
too simple.In additionto bright dust and dark sand,MOC imagesshowevidenceof
bright sedimentthat can be transportedby saltation(e.g., sand)and dark material that
canbe transportedin suspension (e.g., silt). New viewsof eolianwind streaksin Daedalia
Planum showthat part of this region, thought to be mantled by bright dust basedupon
Viking and Mariner observations, is insteadcoveredby a thin veneer of bright,windblown
sand.MOC imagesof SinusSabaeusand parts of SyrtisMajor, two regionsthoughtto be
sandybasedupon Viking era observations,exhibit thick mantlesthat are inferred to
consistof fine-grainedsedimentdepositedfrom eolian suspension.Low albedowind
streaks in western Arabia Terra are also dark mantles, and their associationwith eroded
crater floors and megaripples/dunes on thesefloors suggestthat theseparticularwind
streaksare depositsof silt-sizedmaterial that was only briefly suspendedbefore settlingto
the surface.MOC imagesalso showevidencethat some eolian dunesare activeon Mars
today(i.e., in 1998 and 1999);the evidencefor activityis largelybaseduponwind- and
avalanche-induced streakssuperposedon or eroded into seasonalfrost on high-latitude
dune fields.MOC imagesshowthat someother dunesare inactive,but the albedo of
dunesrelative to surroundingterrain is not a good indicator of dune activitybecausesome
inactivedunesare not mantled by dust.Inactive dunesare best identified by superposed
featuressuchas impact craters,landslidedeposits,and yardangs.

1. Introduction remote sensingobservations) to an excellentpredictionof the

natureof the Mars Pathfinderlandingsite(althoughit wasalso
The physicalnature, mobility,and configurationof Martian recognizedthat knowledgeof the geomorphologyof scabland
surfacematerials(e.g., regolith, eolian sediment,bedrock), and j6kulhlaup flood terrains on Earth were also a major
and the assumptions that are made about them, are criticalto contributor to the successfulpredictions)[Golombeket al.,
the interpretation of Martian geomorphology,spectroscopy, 1997b, !999].
climate,and selectionof spacecraftlandingsites[e.g.,Pollack This paper is aboutour initial analysis(throughJuly 1999),
et al., 1981;Amidson et al., 1989a;Mustard et al., 1993; Greeley basedupon•--1.5yearsof workingwith new,highspatialres-
et al., 1993;Golombeket al., 1997a;Christensen et al., 1998].In olution Mars Global Surveyor(MGS) Mars Orbiter Camera
the two decadesjust prior to the Mars Global Surveyormis- (MOC) images,that suggests that predictingor determining
sion,severalassumptions about the nature of Martian surface the nature of the Martian surfaceon the basisof pre-MGS
materialswere widelyheld becausetheseassumptions fit most modelsand assumptions will not alwaysprovide an adequate
of the observations that had beenmadeusingearlier spacecraft interpretationof the nature of the planet'ssurfaceproperties.
and telescopicdata. These assumptions, (that bright surfaces For example,one of the top 10 regionsfavored by the Mars
on Mars (outsidethe polar frosts)generallyindicatecoatings Pathfinderteam during the latter phaseof a searchin 1994-
and mantles of dust, that low albedo surfacesare free of dust, 1995 for a suitable landing site was the low albedo surface
and that low albedo surfaces are maintained over time via immediatelysouthof TrouvelotCrater (16øN,13øW)in west-
saltationof dark sandthat causesthe ejectionof bright dust) ern Arabia Terra (Figure 1) lEdgert,1995;Golombek,1995,p.
7; Golombeket al., 1997a]. The Trouvelot site was suggested
seemed,for example,to havecontributed(via interpretationof
duringthe courseof a 1994 landingsiteworkshopbecausethe
surfacehasa low albedoand the assumptionwasmade,based
Copyright2000 by the American GeophysicalUnion. upon prior Mariner and Viking data analysisexperience(as
Paper number 1999JE001152. discussedby Edgettet al. [1994] for a different proposedlow
0148-0227/00/1999JE001152509.00 albedolandingsite), that the surfaceshouldbe one of active
1623
1624 EDGETT AND MALIN: MGS MOC MARS EOLIAN OBSERVATIONS

Figure 1. Global contextof the regionsand MOC imagesdiscussedin this paper. Black rectanglesindicate
the locationof imagesusedin the figuresindicated.Map is a Viking orbiterimagemosaicsimplecylindrical
projectionproductfrom the U.S. GeologicalSurvey.

sandtransportthat would keep local rocksclean of adhering indicate an absenceof dust, and usuallyimplied the presence
dust. Both the Imager for Mars Pathfinder and Alpha Proton of sand that could saltate and keep the surface relatively
X-ray Spectrometerexperimentteams expresseddesire for a "clean" of bright dust [e.g.,Saganand Pollack, 1969;Saganet
landing site in which rockswould be plentiful and their sur- al., 1973; Thomaset al., 1981; Peterfreund,1981; Christensen,
faces clean and fresh with little or no coatingsor adhering 1983; Thomas,1984; Lee, 1984;Arvidsonet al., 1989a;Edgett
brightdust[Golombek,1995;Golombeket al., 1997a].The only and Christensen, 1994].Bright surfaceswere interpretedto be
MOC image obtained to date which givessome idea of what dust-coatedor, in the case of regional-scalefeatures such as
the dark material southof Trouvelot Crater actuallylookslike Tharsis and Arabia, dust-mantled[e.g., Kieffer et al., 1977;
indicatesthat the assumptionsthat led to suggestionof this Zimbelmanand Kieffer, 1979;McCord et al., 1982; Christensen,
regionasa landingsitewerewrong.Figure2a shows Trouvelot 1986a;Arvidsonet al., 1982, 1989a;Bettset al., 1995].Certainly,
Crater and the location of MOC image SP2-53203,taken in not everyoneagreed with these interpretationsand the as-
September1998. Figure 2b is a subframeof SP2-53203located sumptionsthat followedfrom them: analysisof somePhobos2
outsideTrouvelot Crater on the floor of an adjacent crater and Earth-based telescopicinfrared spectra suggestedthat
surface.Accordingto the assumptions that led to suggestionof
high albedoregionsshowtoo muchheterogeneityto be attrib-
the region south of Trouvelot as a landing site, the surface
uted solely to the recent accumulationof global dust storm
shownin Figure2b shouldlooksandyandrocky.Instead,the
fallout [Murchieet al., 1993;Mer•nyi et al., 1996]; dark collars
area appearsto be coveredby a smoothmantle that roundsthe and wind streaks on the Tharsis volcanoes seemed to indicate
otherwisesteep rims of small impact cratersin the scene.No
transport of material that (it was suggested)could not be
recent bedforms,a useful indicator of saltation, are present,
explainedif thesevolcanoeswere thickly mantled by dust but
althoughmanfledridgeson the floorsof somecratersmightbe
could be if sandwere present[Lee et al., 1982;Bridges,1994];
bedformsthat predate the depositionof the dark, mantling
material. The observationpresentedin Figure 2 is not unique and a seriesof conferenceabstractsby Strickland[1986a, b,
to the surfaceimmediatelyadjacentto Trouvelot Crater; sec- 1992a, b] repeatedlyattemptedto point out discrepancies in
tion 5 describes evidence that all of the low albedo wind streak the bright dust mantle interpretationsof Christensen[1986a]
surfacesin western Arabia Terra appear to be similar to this andArvidsonet al. [1989a].
one. The imagesobtained by MGS MOC show that the earlier
The studyreported here was prompted by the initially sur- impressionsof Mars were, indeed,too simple.In this paper,we
prising (to us, at least) obse•ations that some low albedo explorethroughthree shortstudies,or vignettes,recent MOC
surfaceson Mars, as in Figure 2b, are not sandyeolian envi- imagesthat indicatethat not all regional-scalebright (albedo
ronmentsand that other early MOC imagesshoweda plethora >0.26) surfacesare necessarily mantledby dust,not all region-
of bright eolian bedforms[Malin et al., 1998, p. 1682; Thomas al-scaledark (albedo <0.20) surfacesare sandyand/or rocky,
et al., 1999], thus indicatingthat dust is not the only bright, and relative albedo alone cannot be used to distinguishthe
wind-transportablematerial on the planet's surface.Prior to status of a sand dune or dune field as "active" or "inactive" in
the MGS mission,dark surfaceswere usually interpreted to the modern environment.
 EDGETT AND MALIN: MGS MOC MARS EOLIAN OBSERVATIONS 1625

..½

Figure 2. MOC imageof low albedosurfacejust outsidethe southrim of Trouvelot Crater. (a) Trouvelot
Crater, • 150 km across,dominatesthis Viking orbiter-basedcontextmap from the U.S. GeologicalSurvey.
The white box indicatesthe location of MOC image SP2-53203, the black box showsthe location of the
subframeshownhere. Trouvelot Crater is locatedin westernArabia Terra at 16øN,13øW.(b) Subframeof
MOC image SP2-53203,showingsmooth-surfacedlow albedo mantle coveringterrain and roundingtopo-
graphicfeatureswithin the low albedo region south of Trouvelot. Image is illuminated from the left.

2. Background dunes,drifts, and ripplesseen in imagesobtainedby orbiting

and landed spacecraft[e.g., Cuttsand Smith, 1973; Sharpand
Over the past few decades,assumptionsabout dark and
Malin, 1984; Greeleyet al., 1999].
bright surfaceson Mars have centeredupon the observations
that eolian dust tends to be a relatively bright material, and For nearlyfour centuries,one of the intriguingpuzzlesabout
eolian sand tends to be dark. "Dust" is a term used to describe the Martian surfacehasbeen the nature of its bright and dark
the grainsthat are transportedby suspensionin the Martian regions.For mostof thistime, it seemedthat changesin albedo
atmosphere by dust storms, dust devils, and high-altitude occurredon a seasonalbasis;and for a while it was thought
winds;whereas"sand" is a term used to describegrainsthat that vegetationmight be the cause[e.g.,Lowell, 1896; Slipher,
can saltate and induce both the traction of coarser/denser 1962].As spacecraftbeganto explorethe planet, a geological
grainsandsuspension of finer material.In terrestrialliterature, interpretation emergedthat invokedeolian erosionand depo-
dust is often describedas grains that can be transported in sition of bright dust to explain the albedo patterns and ob-
long-termeolian suspension [e.g., Tsoarand Pye, 1987],or as a servedchanges[Rea, 1964;Saganand Pollack, 1969]. The ar-
U.S. government-regulated aerosol,PM•o (airborne particles rival of Mariner 9 duringa major globaldustobscurationevent
with aerodynamicdiameter <10 •m) [e.g.,Cahill et al., 1996]. in November 1971, followed by the gradual clearing of the
While traditional sedimentologydoes not describedust as a atmosphereand observationof rapid changesin surfacealbedo
distinctgrain size (i.e., there is "silt," particles3.9-62.5 •m, patterns[Saganet al., 1972, 1973], led to a generalmodel that
and there is "clay," particles<3.9 •m [Wentworth,1922]), in has dominated most of the research that has described Martian
the contextof Mars it is perhapsbest to define dust as being surfacepropertiesever since[e.g., Veverkaet al., 1977; Thomas
the extremelyfine-grainedmaterialthat canbe loftedhighinto and Veverka,1979;Thomaset al., 1981;Peterfreund,1981, 1985;
the atmosphere and give the sky its yellowish-browncolor Kiefferet al., 1981;Lee, 1984, 1986;Christensen, 1986a,b, 1988;
[Maki et al., 1999]. Such Martian dust is transportedvia long- Arvidsonet al., 1989a;Presleyand Arvidson, 1988; Zimbelman,
term suspension and is thoughtto consistof grainswith diam- 1990; Christensen and Moore, 1992; Greeleyet al., 1992;Edgett
eters <2 •m [Pollacket al., 1995; Tomaskoet al., 1999]. Went- and Christensen, 1994;Edgettand Blumberg,1994;Edgett,1997;
worth [1922] defined sand as consistingof particles with Golombeket al., 1997a; Edgettand Parker, 1998]. The basic
"diameters"in the range 62.5 to 2000 •m. No definitivemea- assumptions of thispre-MGS modelare asfollows:(1) changes
surementof particleson the Martian surfacehasproducedan in albedo patternsare causedby or related to the erosionand
observationof grains in this size range, but there is ample depositionof dust;(2) dustis bright and dust-coveredsurfaces
evidenceto infer the presenceof sand as expressedin eolian have relatively high albedos(>0.26); (3) sand is dark and
1626 EDGETT AND MALIN: MGS MOC MARS EOLIAN OBSERVATIONS

sand-covered surfaceshavelow albedos(<0.20); (4) following 1999.The MOC was designedto providepicturesof sufficient
eachglobaldust"storm,"brightdustsettlesnearlyeverywhere resolution(1.4-20 m/pixel)that they bridgethe gapbetween
to form a layerthat is at least"opticallythick" (i.e., ---40brm); what can be discerned about the Martian surface from a lander
and (5) dark surfaceslosethisdustcoveringandmaintaina low and what can be learned from other orbital and Earth-based
albedoovertime becausethey are sandy,and sandsaltatesand instruments[Malin et al., 1992].MGS beganorbitingMars in
launchesdust into suspensionso that it can be removed.No September1997[Albeeet al., 1998].Periodsof imagingactivity
particularresearcherhasspecifically statedthat dustsettlesout includethe Aerobraking1 phase(September15, 1997,to Feb-
the atmospheresuchthat it coatsall of the Martian surfacefor ruary 18, 1998), SciencePhasingOrbits 1 (March 28 to April
at leastsomeshortperiod,but this generalview is reflectedin 29, 1998), SciencePhasingOrbits 2 (June 2 to September12,
discussions of the similar compositionsof dust in the soilsat 1998), the MOC Calibration and Fixed High-Gain Antenna
the two Viking and Mars Pathfinderlandingsites[e.g.,Clark et phases(February28 to March 27, 1999),and the first3 months
al., 1982;Arvidsonet al., 1989b;Riederet al., 1997],the obser- of the Mapping Phase(April 3 to July4, 1999).
vation that dustwas settlingupon the Sojournerrover during BecauseMOC imagesare still relativelynew, different au-
its earliestdayson the planet [RoverTeam, 1997],and general thorsof differentpapershave had difficultydetermininghow
discussions of eolian wind streaks,dunes,and mantles [e.g., best to identify thesedata in their reports.MOC imagesare
Thomaset al., 1981;Christensen, 1986a;Edgettand Blumberg, identified accordingto the eight-characterfile names (e.g.,
1994, pp. 452-453]. Evidence for "cleaning"of bright dust AB103001.img)usedin NASA PlanetaryData System(PDS)
from low albedosurfacesin SolisLacusand SyrtisMajor after data products.For clarity,we add a hyphenafter the firstthree
globalduststormshasbeen describedby Lee [1984,1986]and characters in the file name, because the first three characters
Christensen [1986a, 1988]. Christensen [1988] suggestedthat indicatethe missionphase,while the remainingfive characters
global dust storm fallout might not be spatiallyuniform but indicatethe identificationnumberof the imageasit wasorig-
that insteadthere might be a hemisphericaldifferencesuch inally commandedto the spacecraft.An exampleof a MOC
that dusttendsto be strippedfrom the southernlatitudesand image identification from the Aerobraking Phase is AB1-
depositedat northern latitudes in the modern environment. 03001,here AB1 refersto the Aerobraking1 Phase,030 refers
Strickland[1986a]and Murchieet al. [1993]indicatedthat the to the 30th orbit as definedby periapsiscountedfrom the time
high albedo regions,particularlyArabia Terra, might not be of Mars orbit insertion, and 01 indicates that it was the first
the location of modern, net depositionof dust becausesuch MOC imagecommandedfor that orbit. An exampleof a MOC
fallout would not explain sharp color/albedo and spectral imageidentificationfrom the MappingPhaseof the missionis
boundarieswithin the region. M02-02711; this number indicatesthe 2711th MOC image
The pre-MGS notion that low albedo surfaceshave at least commandedduringthe M02 phaseof the mission,whichcor-
some sand on them comes from two observations. The first is respondsapproximatelyto the month of June 1999.
that all eolian dunesknown prior to 1997 have low albedos,or
elsethey appearto be coveredby mantlesof bright dust [e.g.,
Cuttsand Smith,1973; Thomasand Weitz,1989;Edgett,1997]. 4. Vignette 1: Bright Sand in Western Daedalia
(In 1997,peoplebeganto noticebright dunesin someViking Planurn
orbiter imagesaswell as in the new MOC images[Edgettand
Parker,1998;Malin et al., 1998].)The secondis the observation 4.1. Background and Setting
in terrestrial eolian settingsand wind tunnels that saltating This section focuses on observations that lead to a conclu-
grains(sand)are mobilizedat a lowerthresholdfrictionveloc- sionthat a portion of westernDaedalia Planum,a regiononce
ity than clay and silt-sizedparticles[Iversenand White, 1982]. thought(basedupon Viking IRTM observations) to be man-
Once set into motion, saltatinggrainsimpact the surfaceand tled by brightdust,insteadappearsto be coveredby a relatively
can eject additionalgrains,including(if present) clay- and thin veneer of bright, windblown sand. The observationof
silt-sizedparticlesfrom either looseor crustedsoils[e.g.,Gil- small, bright eolian dunes elsewhereon Mars has been dis-
letteet al., 1974;Rice et al., 1996]. cussedin somedetail by Thomaset al. [1999] and will not be
In addition to visualwavelengthobservationsfrom orbiter further described here.
and lander cameras, thermal infrared radiometric measure- Much of our previousunderstandingof Martian eolianpro-
ments,particularlyfrom the Viking Infrared Thermal Mapper cessesdevelopedfrom observationof wind streaks.These are
(IRTM), havealsobeen usedto infer particlesizeson Mars. typically linear albedo features that extend downwind and
Thermal inertia and rock abundance are derived from IRTM taper distallyfrom a relativelycompacttopographicobstacle
data by modelingthe diurnal thermal and spectralresponse suchas a hill or impactcrater [Saganet al., 1973;Greeleyet al.,
(respectively) of the surfacerelativeto changes in temperature 1974a,b; Thomaset al., 1981]. They can be either bright or
[e.g., Kieffer et al., 1977; Christensen,1986a, b]. The thermal dark relative to the surroundingsurface,and they generally
inertia of high albedoregionshasbeen interpretedto indicate develop as turbulence associatedwith an obstaclealters the
the presenceof dustmantles,someof whichcouldbe up to 1 m pattern of entrainmentor depositionof wind-transportable
(or more) thick,while low albedoregionsappearto havepar- material.SomeMartian wind streakschangerapidly(overpe-
ticle sizesconsistentwith the presenceof coarsermaterials, riodsof weeks),while otherspersistfor manyyearswith little
includingsand and rock [Kiefferet al., 1977; Palluconi and observablechange.Such streakshave been used as indicators
Kieffer, 1981; Christensen, 1986a,b]. of regionaland globalboundarylayer atmosphericcirculation
conditions[Saganet al., 1973;Greeleyet al., 1993].Most Mar-
tian wind streaks are believed to result from one of three
3. Data
situations:
(1) dark,erosionalstreaksformby removalof bright
The three brief studiespresentedhere focusupon observa- dustfrom the lee of an obstacle;(2) brightdepositional
streaks
tionsdrawnfrom MGS MOC imagesobtainedthroughJuly4, form by the removalof a recentdustcoatingfrom all surfaces
 EDGETT AND MALIN: MGS MOC MARS EOLIAN OBSERVATIONS 1627

:
..

...

....

'7

•..•.

ß : .4fi . •-•'•..-•'.. ßß
..•.• ...:•.

.:...;•.:
.... :.......• •'..';2
......'•-.....-'•
'• • ":"'• .. -
..... ..........
....:....,•.,•
.....................
.•. .........
.• .....
.•,;:.:•.
.........................,.•....•
...ß .... ß
...... ,.. ...........................
Figure 3. Examplesof bright wind streaksthat appear to result from deflation of bright sediment(eolian
bedforms)on a crater floor. In the classification
schemeof Thomaset al. [1981],thesewould be "•pe II(b),
bright depositionalstreaks";however,no streaksof this typewere obse•ed in Mariner or Viking images;they
seemto be relativelysmalland only apparentin high-resolutionpictures.(a) Examplefrom the floor of Kasei
Vallis. Subframeof MOC image M00-1116, located near 30.2•N, 60.3•W, illuminated from the left. (b)
Example from upland south of Nirgal Vallis. Subframe of MOC image AB1-07907, located near 27.76•S,
44.33•W; illuminatedfrom the upper left. North is toward the top right in both images.

except the area protected in the lee of an obstacle,or (3) Some of the earliest observations of Martian wind streaks
leeside depositionof dark sedimentthat is assumedto have came from Daedalia Planum, a broad volcanicplain southwest
been deflatedfrom low albedomaterial (dune field or sand of Arsia Mons [Saganet al., 1972, 1973].This regionis covered
sheet)on the floor of a crater [Thomaset al., 1981].Examples by numerouslong lava flowsthat emanatefrom the vicinity of
of a fourth situation,bright materialthat appearsto havebeen Arsia Mons and extend from that volcano to hundreds, and in
deflatedfrom bright material on a crater floor, were not found somecasesthousands, of kilometerssouthandwestward(Fig-
in Viking orbiter images [Thomas et al., 1981], but several ure 4). Dark wind streaksleewardof smallcratersare common
exampleshave been seenin the new MOC images(Figure 3). in the region [l/everka et al., 1977]. Although wind tunnel

Figure 4. DaedaliaPlanurn,a plain createdin part by largelavaflowsrelatedto the volcanoArsia Mons (top
right), showsa numberof brightand darkpatternsbelievedto reflecteolianprocesses (removal,transport,and
deposition).The smallwhite box in the bottom left cornershowsthe outline of MGS MOC imageABl-10905.
The inset is an enlargementof the area around the MOC image. Base map is from U.S. GeologicalSurvey
photomosaicsof Viking orbiter images.
1628 EDGETT AND MALIN: MGS MOC MARS EOLIAN OBSERVATIONS

•-•- ••.--.....
.........
......
- • ............ ;..... m-'•. •'• ...... •-•,•-•••••,••••••
m• ,,--,-,-,,/•
. ... ,,,,,.,,,,,,,,
..., •:•½•..-,.•:•.•
'

.... • . . "'"'••••••

,.•B•-•0•0s-...-................. .." ,m
:...• ....
....•,. '•&•As•h.• . .• ... . •f•/.'. •,• •

. ,.: ........ .•.•

...... • .......... • ....

..•;:• .. •g'" ..

............... ...
.......
?':
-'---.
.........
,,•.......................
..............................
'.-•.% .............................
....,..
..................
...............
.................
.........
,......
...........
.............
ß
.....................
.............
.......
Figure 5. Rock abundancemap for western Daedalia Pla-
num. Arsia Mons is located right of center; Pavonis Mons
appearsin the top right. The locationof the MOC imagefrom
Figures6 and 7 (ABl-10905) is indicated.The shadedareas
indicate the largestcontiguousregion of low rock abundance
determined from the 60•N-60•S map derived from Viking
IRTM observations by Christensen[1986b]. The darkest
shadedregionshave rock abundance•4%. The lighter toned
area includes surfaces with rock abundance >4% and •6%.
Note that MOC image ABl-10905 occursnear the margin of
the zone with rock abundancein the 4-6% range.

experimentsand terrestrialfield studiesby Greeleyet al. [1974a,

b] suggestedthat the geomorphicexpressionof the streaksin
Daedalia Planumwasmost easilyexplainedby wind transport
of bright sandand nondepositionor erosionof this sandin the
lee of obstacles,the view that emerged over time held that
these streaksresultedfrom eolian erosionof bright dust, not
saltationof bright sand[Thomaset al., 1981].This view devel-
oped, in part, becausethe albedo, thermal inertia, and rock
abundance modeled from Viking IRTM observationsalso
seemedto support the interpretation that dust coversthe re-
gion [Palluconiand Kieffer,1981;Christensen, 1986a,b]. At the
---60 km/pixelscale,most of westernDaedalia Planum has an
albedo of---0.30, a rock abundance of <6%, and a thermal
inertiaof ---110J m-2 s-ø'5K-l [Christensen
andMoore,1992].
Relative to the rest of Mars, in fact, western Daedalia Planum
containsthe largest contiguousarea of modeled rock abun-
dance-<4% (Figure 5).
4.2. Observations
"' 3km
In January1998,MOC took one of the few pictures(through
July4, 1999) that providesa detailedview of severaldark wind
streaksin Daedalia Planum. There are few good picturesof Figure 6. Bright, windblown sediment among dark lava
smallwind streaksbecause(1) uncertaintiesin predictedMGS flows, craters, and wind streaks in MOC image ABl-10905.
North is up; illuminationis from the left. The imagecenter is
orbits usuallycauseimagesthat are targetedfor small craters near 18.82øS,136.84øW.
and wind streaksto missthesefeaturesand (2) the MOC field
of view is typicallymuch smallerthan the length of the wind
streaks when the streak is oriented in an east-west direction
(e.g., duringthe MappingPhase,MOC canonly coveran area 136.9øW.The crater and streak are superposedon a volcanic
---3km wide on the surface).Figure 4 showsthe locationof the surface(Figure 6). In the top half of the image,the marginsof
---7 m/pixel 1998 observation(image ABl-10905), which was two moderatelythick aa or block flowsface one anotheracross
targeted on a specific crater and wind streak at 18.9øS, a lower, smoother surface that includes a discontinuous,sinu-
 EDGETT AND MALIN: MGS MOC MARS EOLIAN OBSERVATIONS 1629

ous channel.The aa flows showthe repetitive surficialridges surfaces,and at any given time, the blanketson aa flows are
and lobed, budded marginstypical of suchflows on relatively thicker.Under conditionsof continuous(or nearlycontinuous)
low slopes.The absenceof suchfeatureson the lower surface erosion,pahoehoesurfaceslose mantles abruptly (they are
might reflect a more fluid emplacementor that the adjacent either mantled, or they are not) primarily becausethe low
flows bury the marginsof the lower flow and hence that the relief permitsthe mantle to be quite thin before it is completely
surfacefeatures are more representativeof medial processes removed.Aa surfaceslose mantlesat progressivelyslowerand
(e.g., channeloverflowsand leveebreakouts). slower rates as it becomes harder and harder for erosional
The area has a mottled albedo that can be seen to follow processesto gain accessto the mantle materials.It is probably
small-scaletopographywithin the flows (Figures 6 and 7). impossiblefor an aa flow to be completelyexhumed.In the
Brightmaterialmostlycoversthe lowest-lyingflow surface,and Martian example(Figure 6) the lower, smoothersurfaceap-
the swaleson adjacent,higherlava surfacesin the central third pearsto be more thoroughlycoveredthan the higher, rougher
of the frame are partiallyfilled. Suchdepressions are substan- surfaces,exactlyoppositeof the relationshipsseenin exhuma-
tially lessfilled on the northern flow, and the southernflow has tion but consistentwith an area into or throughwhich saltating
fewer swalesand lessobviousin-filling. The continuousejecta sediment has moved.
depositof the large crater in Figures 6 and 7a appearsto be The albedo and thermal inertia derivedfrom Viking IRTM
normal north and west of the crater, extendingup to 1.5 crater resultspresenta bit of a puzzleif the bright sedimentin MOC
radii, but it doesnot reachvery far to the east.Bedrocklayers imageABI-10905 is indeedsand.The low IRTM-derived ther-
are exposedin the crater wall, and large blocksoccur on the malinertia(--•110J m-2 s-ø'5K-1) andrelatively highalbedo
upper slopesof the crater rim. Swalesand other closeddepres- (0.30) wouldnormallybe interpretedto indicatethe presence
sionseast of the crater are partly filled with bright sediment; of a dustmantle, as in fact hasbeen interpretedfor all of the
the amount of in-filling decreasesradially from the crater in Tharsis/Daedaliaregionby Christensen [1986a].The relatively
that direction. The impressionis that the bright material has low rock abundancein the region(Figure 5) canbe consistent
bankedup against,and partiallyburies,the rim depositsof the with either the presenceof dustor sand,as long as somesmall
crater. Additional wind streaks are associated with small cra- amountof rockymaterial is exposed(as is seento be the case
ters (<1 km diameter) on the northernlava flow (Figure 7c). in MOC imageABl-10905). The low thermalinertia indicates
In all cases,the streaksin this MOC image appear to result a surfacethat cannotbe indurated and must consistlargely of
from the absenceof bright sedimenton the lee side of obsta- grains <10 pom[Presleyand Christensen,1997a, p. 6563], but
clesin a settingwhere bright material hasbeen transportedby this particle size is much too small to be consistentwith the
wind from the east and east-northeast. evidencethat the brightsedimentin Figure6 is sand,not dust.
Preliminary experimentsby Presleyand Christensen[1997b]
4.3. Interpretations and Discussion suggestedthat mixturesof sandand dust-sizedgrainswill have
The observedpattern of bright material in relation to topo- a thermal conductivitysimilar to that of the coarser-grained
graphicobstaclesand in-filling of low areas on lava flow sur- componentin the mixture,thussuggesting that the low thermal
facesis very suggestiveof the movementof windblownsand, inertia on of the westernDaedalia plains (as seen in MOC
rather than that of dust depositedfrom suspension.The rela- image ABl-10905) probably does not result from a case in
tionshipsare similar to a much studiedwind streak on Earth which eolian sandhasbecomeinactiveand infiltratedby dust.
associated with AmboyCrater (Figures7b and 7d), a Holocene The only ways that we can see to reconcilethe low thermal
cinder cone in the central Mojave Desert of southernCalifor- inertia of the Daedalia surfaceand the apparentpresenceof
nia [Greeleyand Iversen,1986, 1987;Zimbelmanand Williams, sandare that (1) the sandconsists of very low density,porous,
1996]. At Amboy, bright sandderivedfrom Bristol Mountain pumaceous fragments,(2) the sandis in fact largelymantledby
alluvium and local, ephemeral streams is moving east- a veneer of dustno thicker than 1 diurnal thermal skin depth,
southeastacrossthe dark basalt flows surroundingthe cinder or (3) there is no need to try to reconcilethe thermal inertia
cone [Zimbelmanet al., 1995].As in Daedalia Planum,bright and MOC observations because either the thermal inertia
sedimentis trapped in swalesof the Amboy lava surfacesand computedfor this region is wrong or this is a casewhere the
is mostlyabsentin the lee of the cindercone(Figure7b) where sampledsurfaceis muchtoo small(relativeto the 60-km-sized
smallamountsmay collectwhen the wind blowsfrom the south pixelsof the IRTM thermalinertia maps)to be representative
or as a result of occasional wind flow diversion around the of the entire region.
cinder cone. We suspectthe latter explanation(explanation3) is most
Instead of sand,the spatialdistributionof bright sediment likely; however,we explorethe two alternativeshere. Pumice
over dark lava flowsin Daedalia Planummight be alternatively was describedby Kiefferet al. [1977, pp. 4271-4272] as a po-
explained as the result of differential stripping of a bright tential contributor to low martian thermal inertias, and Zim-
silt/claymantle, but terrestrialfield experiencearguesagainst belman[1986]indicatedthat extremelyporous(>80%) volca-
this model.Malin et al. [1983]studiedthe morphologicalchar- nic material could explainlow thermal inertiasif suchmaterial
acteristics of burial and exhumation of basaltic landforms in can survivefor any length of time in the Martian surfaceand
Hawaii. They noted how microterrainelementsreflected the eolian environment. Pumice fragments certainly could have
caliberand sortingof materialscomprisingthe mantles(in the formed on Mars, given that, in theory, bubble formation and
caseof Kilauea,tephracreatedby the 1790eruption)and how fragmentation during magma rise to the surface should be
the spatial and temporal relationshipsguiding the develop- morevigorouson Mars than Earth for givenmagmaconditions
ment and occurrence of these elements created diagnostic becauseof the greater pressuregradientcausedby the lower
macroscopicpatterns. Although the microterrain elements atmosphericpressure of Mars [Wilson and Head, 1994].
were not visible in aerial photography(nor would they be Whether pumice would survive long enough in the Martian
visiblein MOC images),the macroscopic patternsare. In Ha- environment,especiallyin the form of saltatinggrains given
waii, aa flowsretain mantleslonger than smoother,pahoehoe the high thresholdfriction speedsfor Mars [Iversenand White,
1630 EDGETT AND MALIN: MGS MOC MARS EOLIAN OBSERVATIONS
 EDGETT AND MALIN: MGS
1982],is unknown.Alternatively,and perhapsdespitewhat we
seein and interpret from MOC imageABl-10905, there actu-
ally couldbe a mantlingof dustthat is of order of only a few
centimetersthick.The diurnalthermal skindepthfor a deposit
of particles<10 /•m in size in the modern Martian environ-
ment is onlyof the order of 1-3 cm [Kiefferet al., 1977,p. 4271].
A 1- to 3-cm-thickdust mantle would not be perceptiblein a
MOC image on the basisof its thickness;however,this mantle
could not be completelyand uniformly coveringthe scenein
ABl-10905, either, because the albedo is varied and dark areas
correspondto lava flow and impact crater surfaces,whereasa
dustcoveringwould maskmost(if not all) of the albedovari-
ation seenin these areas.Perhapsnew, higher spatial resolu-
tion (3-9 km/pixel) thermal inertia mapssoonto be derived
from MGS Thermal EmissionSpectrometer(TES) observa-
tions [e.g.,Mellon et al., 1999] will allow distinctionbetween
the possiblemodelsfor this part of westernDaedalia Planum;
for example,perhapsat the 3-9 km scale(asopposedto the 60
km scaleof Viking IRTM thermal inertia maps), thermal in-
ertias consistentwith the apparent distributionof rock and
sandwill be observedin the locationof ABt-10905, but adja-
cent areas(not imagedby MOC) will be found to be mantled
by dust.
5. Vignette 2: Regional Dark Mantles
and West Arabia Wind Streaks
5.1. Introduction and Mantle Definition
In addition to the generally unexpected observation of
"bright sand," as seemsto be present in western Daedalia
Planurn(Figures4-7) and amongvarioussmall dunesseen
elsewhere[Thomaset al., 1999],MOC hasalsorevealedsur-
facesof dark materialexpressed assmooth,mantlingdeposits
(e.g.,Figure 2b). Neither "brightsand"nor "dark mantlema-
terial" were anticipatedby most discussions
of Mariner 9 and
Viking observations.This sectiondescribesexamplesof low
albedo mantles that occur both in the form of wind streaks in
westernArabia Terra and also as a regionalcoveringin Sinus
Sabaeus.
"Mantles" are defined as surficial sedimentarydepositsof
smoothtexture (at the pixel scale of 1.5-20 m) and locally
Figure 7. (opposite)(a) Detail of the largercraterin MOC
image ABl-10905 (Figure 6), showingbright sedimentin-
filling topographicdepressions
on the surfaceof the lava flow
windwardof the crater. (b) Amboy Crater, a Holocenecinder
cone in the Mojave Desert of southernCalifornia, illustrates
the relationshipof wind-transportedsandto swellsand swales
on the lava flow surface.U.S. Governmentaerial photograph,
illuminated from the lower right. (c) Wind streak behind
smaller(700 m diameter)crateron the northernlavaflowseen
in MOC image ABl-10905. The streak can be seen as an area
of lessin-fillingby windblownsedimentbehindthe crater.
North and south of the crater, bright sediment trapped in
swaleshighlightsthe topography.(d) Another aerial view of
Amboy Crater, California, showingthe wind streak created
there by decreaseddepositionin the lee of the cinder cone.In
the Amboy case,mostof the lava surfaceis nearly coveredby
sand, and the infilling relationshipmost comparableto that
seen on Mars is actuallyfound in the lee of the cinder cone,
where the sandsupplyhasbeen limited. This suggests that the
Martian sedimentis, in fact, a relativelythin veneercompared
to the terrestrial case.
MOC MARS EOLIAN OBSERVATIONS 1631
uniform thicknessthat appear to drape all but the steepest
topography.In thissense,a mantleshowsa morphologythat is
similar to that of terrestrialloessand primary air fall tephra
deposits.Unlike dunesor thick sand sheets,mantles do not
appearat the meter to kilometerscaleto haveinvolvedground
transportand interactionwith local topography.That is, man-
tles are formed from grainsthat were transportedin suspen-
sion and therefore do not have the tails or depressionsthat
arisein the lee of obstaclesin an environmentof transportby
saltation and traction. For comparison,Figure 8 showsan
exampleof the latter, a thick, low-albedosand sheet on the
floor of GangesChasma.
5.2. Regional Deposits
Prior to the MGS mission,nonpolar, eolian mantleswere
thoughtto occurchieflyin the Tharsis,Arabia, and Elysium
regionswhere thermal inertia and rock abundance(as deter-
mined from IRTM observations)were found to be low, and
albedos seen to be higher than the Martian average [e.g.,
Kiefferet al., 1977;Christensen,
1986a,b;Arvidsonet al., 1989a].
High-albedo(>0.26) mantlesof apparentthicknessof greater
than a meter are, in fact, observedin MGS MOC imagesof
somepartsof Tharsis,Elysium,and Arabia [Edgettand Malin,
1999].
Two examplesof Martian mantles are shown in Figure 9.
The first picture(Figure 9a) is of a relativelybright mantlein
southernArabia Terra. This regionwaspredictedon the basis
of highalbedo(>-0.26),lowthermalinertia(-<200J m-2 s-ø'5
K-l), andlow rockabundance (-<10%)to be coveredby a
mantle of dust [Christensen,1986a, b]. The secondpicture
(Figure 9b) showsa low-albedomantlein SinusSabaeus.This
regionwaspreviouslythoughtto be sandy,primarilybecauseof
its low albedo(_<0.15),intermediatethermalinertia (200-540
J m-2 s-ø'5K-l), andlow rockabundance
(_<10%)[Chris-
tensenand Moore, 1992]. The two picturesin Figure 9 were
obtainedon the sameorbit, --•5min (-1800 km) apart, under
similar illumination and emissionangle conditions.The rela-
tive brightnessof each image was scaled accordingto the
exposuretime and gain setting,so that each appearsin Figure
9 as it would if the two locationsoccurredin the samepicture.
Both surfacesexhibit partly buried craters,subduedtopogra-
phy, and a lack of eolian bedforms.
There are 18 additional MOC images of various upland
surfaceswithinSinusSabaeus(acquiredprior to July4, 1999);
of these,17 showa low-albedo,mantledsurface(Table 1). The
thicknessof the mantle appearsto vary from place to place,
and nine of the mantled surfacesexhibit superposed,bright
eolian bedforms and/or small superimposedimpact craters
(Figure 10). Becausebedforms result from saltation while
mantlesform by depositionfrom suspension, the dark mantled
surfacesof SinusSabaeusare interpreted to be indurated and
thereby capable of serving as a hard substratefor bedform
accumulation.The case for an indurated mantle is strength-
ened by the fact that some of these surfacesappear to be
cracked, as shown in the example from MOC image MOO-
01708(Figure11). MOC imagesshowthat somesurfacesin the
persistentlow-albedoregion of SyrtisMajor are also covered
by dark mantles(Figure 12), but the areal coverageis much
more variable than in Sinus Sabaeus and includes dune fields
and bare rock exposures,
aswell (Table 1).
1632 EDGET'I' AND MALIN: MGS MOC MARS EOLIAN OBSERVATIONS

Figure 8. Two different views of the thick, smooth-surfacedeolian sand sheet on the floor of Ganges
Chasmain the Valles Marinerissystem.The sandis the smooth,dark materialthat dominateseachscene.(a)
Example showingdark drifts and bright, sand-freezonesin the lee of obstacles.Subframeof MOC image
AB1-08707,centernear 7.55øS,49.47øW,illuminationfrom the left. (b) Exampleshowingdark sandtailsin the
lee of obstacles.Subframeof MOC imageM00-00030, centernear 8.3øS,51.53øW,illuminationfrom the upper
left.

5.3. Local Deposits in Dark Wind Streaks Iversen,1985, p. 154]. A subframeof MOC image SP2-35106,
Additional examplesof dark mantlesare found in the low providedin Figure 15, alsoshowsa deeplyerodedsurfacenear
the center of the crater floor.
albedowind streaksof westernArabia Terra (Figures1 and 2).
The association of the dark streaks with wind-eroded The southwall of the crater is the darkestsurfacein image
crater
floors suggests a possiblegenesisand a particle sizerange for AB1-03001(Figure 14). At the contactbetweenthe southwall
dark mantle-formingsediment.Of sevenMOC imagestaken and floor, there are wind-erodedridgesthat are up to 120 m
throughmid-1999that showpartsof thesewind streaks,sixare high;the surfacesadjacentto the ridgesincludedark drifts or
dark mantles(Table 1); the seventhcoversa limited regionof dunes("d" in Figure 14b). At the sametime that imageAB1-
bright outcropsstrippedcleanof loosesediment.MOC image 03001 was taken, the Mars Orbiter Laser Altimeter (MOLA)
AB1-03001(Figures13 and 14) showsa goodexampleof one obtaineda topographicprofile [Smithet al., 1998] that shows
of the dark streaks. the maximumslopeon the generallyconcavesouthcraterwall
The image in Figure 14 constitutesa 3.3-km-wide,36.2-km- is about 33ø (Figure 16). This wall is completelycoveredby a
long traverseacrosspart of the floor, wall, rim, and dark streak smooth-surfaced,dark depositthat reachesnearlyto the crater
associatedwith an unnamed, 35-km-diameter impact crater rim. The MOC imageand MOLA profile togethersuggestthat
located at 4.2øN, 5.3øW. The floor of the crater has been se- the wall is coveredby loose, granular material that is at the
verelyeroded,presumablyby wind (Figures14a and 15). The angle of reposenear the crater rim. In the vicinity of the rim,
darker surfaceon the right side of Figure 14a lies more than the wall exhibitsfluted outcropsand streaksthat run down-
50 m (estimatedfrom shadowlengths)lowerthan the brighter, slope(Figure 14c),suggesting that not only is windblownsed-
pitted and knobbysurfaceon the left. The crater floor exhibits imentunableto saltateup to (and over)the rim, materialfrom
large ripple-likebedforms,mostwith wavelengthsof 15-30 m, the wall is erodingand slidingdown the slope.
that are interpreted to be megaripples.Like the smaller gran- The dark streak surfaceimmediatelyoutsidethe crater rim
ule ripples of Sharp [1963], megaripplesare typicallycoarse- hasa smoothtexture in which topographicdetailsare subdued
grained and associatedwith areas of deflation [Greeleyand and rounded (Figure 14d). Indeed, the dark surfacesoutside
 EDGETT AND MALIN: MGS MOC MARS EOLIAN OBSERVATIONS 1633

Table 1. MOC Imagesof Dark Mantied Surfaces

ImageID Latitude LongitudeResolution"Notes
b
Sinus Sabaeus
1 AB1-01104 6.6øS 333.8øW 11.9 dm, bb
2 AB 1-02305 4.8øS 340.4øW 5.8 dm
3 AB 1-02306 5.5øS 340.5øW 6.0 dm
4 AB 1-05006 5.5øS 343.2øW 5.3 dm
5 AB 1-07603 6.2øS 344.2øW 7.3 dm, bb
6 AB 1-07604 7.2øS 344.3øW 7.4 dm
7 AB 1-09105 10.4øS 330.5øW 5.8 dm, bb
8 ABI-11104 6.0øS 343.5øW 4.3 dm
9 ABI-11105 7.0øS 343.4øW 4.3 dm, bb
10 SP1-24504 14.4øS 319.7øW 6.8 ndm
11 SP2-35505 8.1øS 327.5øW 9.1 dm
12 SP2-39304 13.9øS 316.3øW 11.1 dm
13 SP2-41005 8.4øS 328.4øW 10.7 dm, bb
14 FHA-00613 7.1øS 343.6øW 1.5 dm, bb
15 FHA-00732 6.2øS 339.5øW 1.5 dm
16 M00-01078 10.0øS 329.1øW 1.8 dm
17 M00-02011 6.4øS 333.2øW 3.7 dm, bb
18 M02-00412 9.7øS 332.8øW 1.8 dm, bb
19 M02-03360 6.5øS 343.4øW 3.7 dm, bb

SyrtisMajor
1 SP1-21105 16.1øN 284.5øW 2.6 ndm
2 SP1-23009 11.7øN 281.9øW 3.4 ndm
3 SP1-23010 4.5øN 282.9øW 4.2 ndm
4 SP1-24706 7.9øN 297.8øW 4.1 dm
5 SP1-26605 9.4øN 293.3øW 8.6 ndm
6 SP2-54003 9.9øN 292.3øW 6.8 dm
7 SP2-54004 11.2øN 292.5øW 9.1 ndm
8 FHA-00451 8.8øN 292.7øW 3.0 ndm
9 FHA-00601 14.5øN 289.3øW 3.0 dm
10 FHA-00718 17.1øN 285.4øW 3.0 ndm
11 FHA-00798 6.7øN 296.2øW 1.5 dm
12 FHA-00928 7.0øN 292.0øW 3.0 ndm
13 FHA-01066 6.7øN 287.7øW 1.5 ndm
14 FHA-01393 6.6øN 291.5øW 3.7 ndm
15 M00-00859 18.3øN 292.0øW 3.7 ndm
16 M02-00307 3.9øN 293.7øW 6.0 ndm
17 M02-00697 2.1øN 289.3øW 1.8 ndm
18 M02-00699 7.0øN 289.9øW 1.8 ndm
19 M02-00701 10.2øN 290.3øW 1.8 dm
20 M02-00703 14.5øN 290.9øW 1.8 dm
21 M02-01617 3.7øN 292.9øW 4.5 ndm
22 M02-01619 6.8øN 293.4øW 1.8 ndm
23 M02-01621 9.1øN 293.6øW 1.8 ndm
24 M02-02280 9.3øN 292.6øW 3.7 ndm
25 M02-03347 13.1øN 288.8øW 7.3 dm
26 M02-04423 7.2øN 291.3øW 3.7 ndm

Western Arabia Wind Streaks

1 AB1-03001 3.9øN 5.5øW 4.0 dm
2 SP1-22206 7.9øN 359.2øW 7.4 dm
3 SP2-35103 12.6øN 3.9øW 5.8 dm
4 SP2-38703 18.4øN 10.7øW 5.5 ndm
5 SP2-53203 15.6øN 13.2øW 8.2 dm
6 SP2-54904 13.6øN 23.3øW 3.8 dm
7 M02-00942 7.2øN 359.3øW 7.3 dm

MOC imagesobtainedthroughJuly4, 1999,withlittleor no hazeor

clouds.Latitudeandlongitudeof centerof imageroundedto nearest
0.1ø,typicallywithin0.2ø of the actuallocation. Figure 9. A comparison
of brightanddarkmantiedsurfaces.
aApproximate resolutionperpictureelementwheresquarerootof Referto Figure1 forcontext andlocation.
Typicalviewof a (a)
aspectratiohasbeenusedto correctpixelscale(crosstrack resolution
dividedbysquarerootof aspectratio;downtrack resolution
multiplied bright
mantlein ArabiaTerranear5.3øN,
326.5øW (subframe
by squareroot of aspectratio);uncertainty-0.1 m. of MOC image SP2-41004);and (b) dark mantle in Sinus
b Notesare dm, dark mantiedsurface;bb, brightbedformsin contact Sabaeusnear 8.4øS,328.4øW(subframeof MOC imageSP2-
with darkmantle;ndm,no darkmantlepresentor discernable in entire 41005).Bothimages weretaken---5minapartona singleorbit
image. on July6, 1998.Illuminationis from the right.
1634 EDGETT AND MALIN: MGS MOC MARS EOLIAN OBSERVATIONS

Figure 10. Low-albedo mantied surfacein Sinus Sabaeus,superposedby relatively bright eolian bedforms
(at left and in crater at top right). Dark material drapes all but the steepesttopography.Bright dunes
superposedon this surfacesuggestthat the dark mantle material is probablyindurated.Subframeof MOC
imageABl-11105, center near 7.02øS,343.38øW;illuminationis from the left.

the crater in Figure 14 resemblethe dark surfacesimmediately
southof the southernrim of Trouvelot Crater shownin Figure
2. Small patchesof semiparallelridges,spacedabout 15-20 m
apart, are partly buried, and smallcratersappear to be partly
filled. The ridgesare interpretedto be old, mantledbedforms;
their orientationsuggestssedimenttransportperpendicularto
the windsthat more recentlyformed the dark streak.Someof
the mantle on the bedformsappearsto haveslumpeddown the
localcraterrim slope(Figure 14d).Figure 14eshowsa portion
of the streak ---16 km south of the crater rim, and this surface,
like the rest of the streak, is also mantled.
5.4. Physical Nature of Dark Mantle Material
Only a few researchersprior to the MGS missionindicated
that Mars might have a populationof low albedo material of
grain size fine enough to be transportedin suspension:
Mc-
Ewen [1992] noted the occurrenceof a local low-albedodust
storm in Terra Cimmeria that was capturedin Viking orbiter
EDGETT AND MALIN: MGS MOC MARS EOLIAN OBSERVATIONS 1635
1636 EDGETT
....
......... '"'
ß
.''.•..•'.':'..•?.•'.'•'•....'•:...:-:•':::..'.:..:..'...:
'.,½':'.'.:
'.z.ß..
Figure 13. Impact crater with dark wind streak in Arabia
Terra at 4.2øN,5.3øW.The narrow strip indicatesthe location
of MOC image ABI-03001 and showsthis image at reduced
size. The small square showsthe location of a subframeof
MOC imageSP2-35106,describedin Figure 15. The craterhas
a diameter of about 35 km. The contextmap is a mosaicof
Viking orbiter images 653A58 and 653A60; illumination is
from the right.
imagesin 1977, and Dollfusand Deschamps[1986] and Dollfus
et al. [1993] used Mars 5 photopolarimetricobservationsof
Mare Erythraeum to suggestthat there might be low-albedo,
silt-sizedsedimenton somesurfacesin that region.MOC im-
agesreveal that dark mantlescoverone of the mostpersistent,
low-albedoregionson Mars, SinusSabaeus.Suchdepositsalso
occur in parts of SyrtisMajor.
The imagesin Figures 13-15 tell a story of eolian erosion,
transport,sorting,and deposition,that providesome illumina-
tion as to the possiblenature of dark mantle material found
elsewhereas in SinusSabaeusand SyrtisMajor. In the crater
shownin Figures 13-15, material has been eroded from the
floor and transportedby windsthat blow towardthe southwest
(see streak orientation, Figure 13). As the sedimentmoved
downwind,it wassize-sorted.The coarsestgrainsremainedon
the crater floor, and some of them were deposited in me-
garipples.Finer sediment(interpreted to be sand-sized)was
transported farther downwind, created dark dunes near the
south floor/wall contact,and drifted up the south crater wall.
Even finer grains derived from the crater floor became en-
trained, suspended,and lofted out of the crater. The heaviest
or largestof these grainsdid not travel far before they were
dropped from suspensionto form the dark wind streak. The
lowergravity,lower atmosphericdensity,and greaterthreshold
friction speedsfor Mars liversenand White, 1982] result in
greater particlevelocityand longer saltationpathsfor a grain
of the same size and densityrelative to Earth [White, 1979].
AND MALIN: MGS MOC MARS EOLIAN OBSERVATIONS
The term "short-termsuspension"appliesto conditionswhere
the ratio of a particle'sterminal fall velocityto the threshold
friction velocityis approximatelyin the range 0.1 to 0.7 [see
Tsoarand Pye, 1987; Gilletteet al., 1974]. Given presentMar-
tian atmosphericand gravityconditionsand the predictionof
longer saltationpaths,Edgettand Christensen [1994, p. 2008]
applied the work of Tsoarand Pye [1987] to Mars and sug-
gestedthat grainsin the very fine sandrangemightbe suscep-
tible to short-termsuspensionat or just abovethresholdcon-
ditions. However, in general, the bulk of the material that
would be transportedin short-term suspensionwould consist
of silt-sizedgrains[Edgettand Christensen, 1994, p. 2008].
The low-albedo wind streaks of western Arabia Terra are
thus interpretedto be deposits(mainly of dark silt) resulting
from wind-borneplumesof briefly suspendedsediment.This
model was once suggestedby Thomas and Veverka [1979,
1986],but the prevailingview held that the low albedoof these
particularwind streaksrequiredeither that materialwasbeing
strippedfrom the surfaceto reveal a darker substrate[Soder-
blom et al., 1978;Kiefferet al., 1981] or that sandwas being
transportedthrough the streak via saltation [Thomaset al.,
1981;Peterfreund, 1981;PresleyandArvidson,1988].MOC im-
agesof dark wind streaksin westernArabia Terra are impor-
tant becausethey further supportthe observationsof McEwen
[1992]andDollfuset al. [1993]of evidencefor the presenceof
...:•- ... .. ß .-...•;?:. ........
a populationof low-albedofinesthat are capableof transport
via at least short-term suspensionon Mars.
6. Vignette 3' Active and Inactive
Eolian Dunes
6.1. Introduction and Background
Transport of windblown sediment in the modern Martian
environmenthasalreadybeenobservedto occuron Mars, both
in the form of dustplumes,devils,and storms[e.g.,Leovyet al.,
1972; Peterfreundand Kieffer, 1979; Thomas and Gierasch,
1985]and via changesexhibitedat the Viking I lander site in
1981 [Moore, 1985]. The observedconditionof dark mantle
wind streaks in western Arabia Terra and the relationships
between bright sand and wind streaks in Daedalia Planum
(describedin sections4 and 5) are alsosuggestive of modern
eolian activity,as are the variationsseenover time in assorted
wind streaksacrossthe planet [e.g., Veverkaet al., 1977].One
aspectof Martian eolian processes and surfacepropertiesthat
has eludedinvestigationsincethe time of Mariner 9 hasbeen
the statusof eolian dune activity on Mars. Some have specu-
lated that seasonalchangesin dune orientationwere observed
by the Viking orbiters ITsoaret al., 1979, pp. 8173-8175], but
actualevidencethat a specificdune field is active(or inactive)
has been difficult to find. The question of dune activity is
important becausedunes are one of the componentsof the
modern Martian eolian system.This system,in turn, contrib-
utes to the observedpatternsof surfacepropertiesand albe-
dos.Dunes serveas both indicatorsof storageand transferof
Figure 14. (opposite) MOC image ABI-03001. The entire
imageis shownat -4.5% of its originalsizeon the left. (a-e)
Each box is describedin the text and showsan area 2.5 km by
1.5 km. In Figure 14d, "d" indicatessmall,dark, eolian dunes.
North is approximatelyup; illumination is from the lower left.
EDGETT AND MALIN: MGS MOC MARS EOLIAN OBSERVATIONS 1637

, •:..•:
,,•,. • •.'..:,.
•..•.:•.
,•.•.•-'
• •,.x.•:•/•..
,7::,,,
•.•.• ,:.•-..
•: .....
...,. . ', :•-,.'..
.....
.....
,:..•-.:
....
•-:'•'•'•. : .: •.-.--
5.::..' ,.....:: :x:•.
•:.•.,•::• -......•:.•......
•>'•':•:: . :....
• ...
:•>:.•.:.' •:n...':•.•....

.....:-'.. •...-•:•:::?•:.• .. -:•..•,.• ...• -... ..

..... .,: •.:. % •' ..•.... : ;.. . - :... •: -• ..>

.. •. -': ••.: ½'•:•

•:•. •:.::
.... •...--.•:'
. %: ....•::....
...- :
.... : •. :..: :•:• ..•:.•N-?•):•:"•
-;.......:.•...........
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*.'•: : •
.: .. •.•-.:•:•:
.. ;.•. ..•......
: "•:-•. •"•-•,•.:
•:•:•...- •,"
. .•":.- :':'.•.'
•:•-,.•. .:.':",.L':..,.::
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.......
:::2 . - .. ... ':' •
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....
,. -•..,..'.':.7::.. • :--•'•:-:::•:::
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': ....•:> .". •: ..... :•:::• .•' :•:.--'•.':..
"'..-.- . "-":•

....
1638 EDGETT AND MALIN: MGS MOC MARS EOLIAN OBSERVATIONS

Figure 15. Subframeof MOC image SP2-35106,showingthe interpreted effectsof eolian deflation on the
floor of the crater at 4.2øN,5.3øW (see Figure 13 for context).Remnant knobsgive some indicationthat
considerable amounts of material have been removed from the crater floor. The material removed from the
crater likely includedthe dark sedimentthat comprisesthe wind streakadjacentto the southsideof the crater
in Figure 13. This image is illuminatedfrom the lower right.

sediment transported by saltation and traction [Lancaster,
1989,pp. 2-6]. Recognitionof the characteristics
of both active
and inactive dunes is but a first step in understandingthe
presentaswell aspasteolian systemsand climateconditionson
Mars.
Grounded in a pre-MGS view of Martian dunes,dust, and
albedopatterns,Edgettand Parker [1998] proposedthat bed-
forms with an albedo that is distinctlydifferent from the sur-
rounding terrain must be active in the modern environment,
while duneswith an albedo that cannot be distinguishedfrom
the surroundingswere consideredto be inactiveand mantled
by bright dust. Examplesof dunesthat are darker than their
surroundingshavebeen known sinceMariner 9 [e.g.,Cuttsand
Smith, 1973;Thomasand Weitz,1989].Dunes of albedosimilar
to their surroundingswere consideredto be rare and mostly
occuron the floors of shallowtroughs[Peterfreund,1985, pp.
153-161; Zimbelman, 1987]. Edgett [1997] described dunes
of indistinct albedo that occur among lava flows in western
Tharsis and built a case (based upon Viking high-resolution
imagesand infrared observations)that suchdunesare prob-
ably inactive and mantled by dust. Finally, in 1997, examples
of dunes that are brighter than their surroundingsbegan to
be foundin Viking orbiter images[Edgettand Parker,1998]
and then in MGS MOC images[Malin et al., 1998;Thomaset
al., 1999]; these, too, were consideredby these authorsto be
activebecausetheir albedosare distinctfrom the surrounding
terrain.
6.2. Active Dunes
MGS MOC imagesreveal examplesof both activeand in-
activeeoliandunes.
Otherdunefieldsshowfeatures
thatpoini
out the ambiguityof the definitionsof active and inactive.
Lancaster[1994] noted that termssuchas active,inactive,"sta-
bilized," and "mobile," when applied to terrestrial eolian
 EDGETT AND MALIN: MGS MOC MARS EOLIAN OBSERVATIONS 1639

60
: :

-2000 40
• • e:• Topography
ß
, ,

-4000 20 'o
, ,,
,

o c• ß ' Slope
< o
o
-6000 ,:e--
e-e,e-
.'.........................................................
,
e
, ,

-8000 -20
12,000 14,000 16,000 18,000 20,000 22,000 24,000
Downtrack Distance from Start of Image (meters)
Figure 16. Aerobraking Hiatus Orbit 30 MGS laser altimeter topographyand slope profile acrossthe
southernrim of the crater locatedat 4.2øN,5.3øW(Figure 13). The open circles(topography)are scaledto
approximatethe actual spot size of the laser. The profile runs along the samegroundtrack as MOC image
AB1-03001 (Figure 14). The horizontalaxisis keyedto distancefrom the first line at the north end of the
MOC image. The slightlyconcaveslope of the south crater wall correspondsto the low albedo material
(interpretedto be windblownsand)depositedthere. Near the craterrim, the slopeof thisdepositreachesthe
angleof repose(--•33ø).Verticalandhorizontaluncertaintyare up to --•10m and35 m, respectively [Smithet
al., 1998].

dunes,are commonlyill-defined.For example,a dune on Earth 156ø, --•6weeksbefore the start of southernspring.The upper
might showactivityonly on a seasonalbasis;in winter it might limit for the age of the frost on the slipface in Figure 17 would
be frozen and/or coveredwith snow,only to showevidenceof be the start of southern autumn, which occurred in mid-July
activity(freshsandripples,slumpson slip faces,etc.) in sum- 1998. Winter had begun in mid-January1999. Thus the dark
mer. Other duneswill appearto be stabilizedby vegetationbut streaksthat crossthe frost surfacesin Figure 17 might, at most,
to have fresh sand ripples, indicatinga low level of activity, be no more than 11 monthsold, and likely were muchyounger
perhapsin which the migration of the dunesoccurson tem- becausethis dune field is far enough north that it might not
poral scalesof centuries.Still other dunes may seem to be have accumulated much frost until some time after winter had
completelyinactive, only to be reactivatedover a very short begun(note, however,that the camerawasoff duringthe first
period of time owingto anthropogenicactivity,as occurredin 6 weeks of winter in early 1999; thus the date that frost first
Kuwait during the 1990-1991 Gulf War [Al-Dabi et al., 1997], appearedon the dunesduringthis seasonis not known).
or to a climate shift, as occurredduring the droughtson the The secondway that active dunes can be recognizedis to
North American Great Plains in the 1930s [Muhs and Maat, examine those that still bear a seasonal frost cover. As winter
19931. ends and springbegins,dune sedimentis observedto emerge
Dunes observedby MOC that appearto be activefall into in the form of dark spotsthat appear along the base and
two classes. The first are those that exhibit lineations on their sometimes on the crest, stoss, and lee surfaces of the dunes.
slip faces,sharpbrinks at the top of a slip face, and/or a clear Thisprocess
hasbeenobserved to occurin boththe northand
morphologicdistinctionbetweencrest,brink, and slip face (if south high-latitude regions.Once sediment is exposed,wind
such are present on a given dune). Lineationson slip faces can entrain the dark particlesand blow them acrossthe oth-
would indicaterecent avalanchesor slumps.As with dune slip erwise frost-covered surface. These events form dark wind
faces on Earth, the lineations would be narrow and terminate streaksthat are sUperposed on the frost.The bestexamplethus
with a lobatemargin;theywouldalsobe expectedto extend far observedis shownin Figure 19. In this case,duneslocated
from the brink to the baseof the slip face and might (because near 77øN,271øWwere observedat L s 19ø (in August1998)to
of differentlight scatteringoff disruptedgrains)have a some- be coveredby bright frost. However,dark spotswere observed
what different albedo than the surroundingsurface.Such lin- (particularlyalongthe baseof eachdune), and most of these
eationsare indeed found on someof the larger dunesseenby spotshad small, linear streaksemergentfrom them (Figure
MOC. The best examplesto date have been found in the 19a).The streaksshowsimilaralignmentfrom one spotto the
Proctor Crater dune field (Figure 17), other examplesare next (arrows,Figure 19a), suggesting that each streak repre-
found on the dunesin nearbyRabe Crater (Figure 18). In the sentsthe passageof a gustof windthat causedsimilartransport
case of the Proctor dunes, dark streaks were seen in some of the dark material acrossthe frost surfaceat each spot.The
locationsto be contrastedagainstbright frost while the latter dark spotsand streaksare interpreted to have formed some-
material was in the processof seasonalretreat. If the streaks time duringthe year 1998,prior to their observationin August
are superposedupon or erodedinto the frost, then they would 1998,becausethe winter in which the frost coverhad formed
be quiterecentindeed.The Proctorduneswere observedat L s beganin mid-February 1998 and ended in mid-July 1998. The
1640 EDGETT AND MALIN: MGS MOC MARS EOLIAN OBSERVATIONS

Figure 17. Evidencefor contemporaryduneactivityin the ProctorCrater dunefield. This imagewastaken

duringlate southernwinter (L s 156ø) at a time when someresidualpatchesof frost remainedon the dunes.
Dark streakssuchasthoselabeled"a" maybe superposed uponor erodedinto the frost,indicatingslipface
avalanchingthat occurredsometime after the frost was initially deposited(alternatively,the avalanches
predatethe frost but are still recentenoughto showa disturbed/disruptedsurface).The frost couldnot be
more than 11 monthsold (i.e., the startof southernautumn,L s 0ø).Other dark streaks(not superposed on
frost) are indicatedby the "b". Subframeof MOC imageM02-02711,centernear47.7øS,329.6øW;illumination
is from the upper left.
 EDGETT AND MALIN: MGS MOC MARS EOLIAN OBSERVATIONS 1641

Figure 18. Evidenceof contemporarydune activityin the Rabe Crater dune field of Hellespontus.Each
dune showsa smoothstossslope,a slip face that appearsto be at the angleof repose,and a sharp-edgedbrink
at the top of eachslipface.Many of the slipfaces,includingthoseindicatedby the arrows,exhibitdark streaks
with lobate termini which are interpreted to indicate relatively recent sand avalanches.Other dark streaks,
particularlythe sinuousones located on dune stosssurfaces,might indicate recent passageof dust devils
and/or wind gustswhichdisruptedthe surfacesands.Subframeof MOC imageFHA-01006, centernear 44.2øS,
325.6øW;illumination is from the upper left.

Viking orbiter context image (Figure 19c) showsthat these riod of time. The best dunes to observe are small barchan
dunes consistof low-albedo sediment; thus it is seemsthat the dunes;becauseof their smallvolume, they tend to move faster
dark material in Figure 19a is probably sand that has been across a given landscape [e.g., Finkel, 1959; Gay, 1999].
transportedby saltation.When a portion of the same dune Through July 4, 1999, no exampleshave been found where
fieldwasnext observedin March 1999(Figure 19b) at L• 116ø, dunes in MOC images are in a different position than they
the surfacewas no longer coveredwith frost, and dark spots were in a previousViking or Mariner 9 orbiter image. Figure
suchas those in Figure 19a were no longer apparent. 20 showsone exampleof a MOC image that was overlainon a
A third way to seeif a Martian dune field is activewould be Viking orbiter image in an attempt to determinewhether any
to documentactual movementof whole dunesover somepe- of the smaller duneshad changedposition over the past •20
1642 EDGETT AND MALIN: MGS MOC
years.No changewasevident,but thisobservationis limited by
the lower resolution of Viking images; for example, if the
Viking image is 40 m/pixel, then the dune would have had to
move more than 60-80 m in 20-25 yearsfor a changeto be
obvious.MOC imagesof small dunes along the marginsof
severallarge dune fields, includingthe north polar sand sea
(Figure 20), Proctor Crater, and Kaiser Crater, have been
examinedand thus far provide only negativeresults.Because
of the Viking imageresolutionlimitation, it is difficultto eval-
uate whether this negativeresult indicatesthat dune transport
on Mars is generallyslowerthan on Earth; this determination
is likewisecomplicatedat highlatitudesbecausedunesin these
regionsspendsomefraction of each Martian year coveredby
frost.
6.3. Inactive Dunes
A rangeof featureshavebeen observedin MOC imagesthat
indicate that some Martian dunes are inactive. As noted above,
Edgett[1997]describeddunesin westernTharsisthat appeared
to be mantledby dust.A MOC exampleof apparentlymantled
dunesis providedin Figure 21, which showsbedformsin the
OlympusMonsaureole(alsoknownasLycusSulci).The dunes
in Figure 21 havethe sameapparentalbedoasthe surrounding
terrain. In addition, they are superposedby two dark streaks
that representthe transportand depositionof particulatema-
terial from a locationupslope(i.e., from the top of the image;
seeSullivanet al. [1999]for a discussionof the genesisof these
dark streaks).The superpositionof the dark streaksprovides
confirmationthat the dunesin this sceneare probablyinactive
at the present time, or at least they have not changedsignifi-
cantly since the time that the two dark streaksformed (of
course,the rate at which suchstreaksform is unknown).
A different example of inactive eolian dunes is shown in
Figure 22. Located within a low-albedopatch on the eastern
floor of HerschelBasin(approximately15.34øS,228.19øW),the
image in Figure 22 showslow-albedoeolian dunesthat have a
ridgedand groovedsurfacetexture.Slip faceson the smallerof
these dunes are indistinct, and none of the brinks between
crestand slipface are smooth,sharplines.The groovedtexture
on the dunes runs from the lower stoss,over the crest, around
the sides,and in somecasesextendsout onto the surrounding
plain. Other MOC images(1.5-3.0 m/pixelrange)of dunesin
other parts of the 300-km-diameterHerschel Basin also show
theseridged morphologies.The ridgesand groovesare inter-
preted to be yardangs,formedby pluckingof sand-sizedgrains
from an indurateddeposit.In this case,it is the dunesthat are
indurated.The processes that might have lithified thesedunes
in situ are unknown. It is important to note, however, that
Figure22 showsan exampleof dunesthat are not composedof
loosesandthat is readilyavailablefor eoliantransport;yet this
dune field has an albedothat is distinctfrom the surrounding
terrain, it is not cratered, and it is not mantled by dust.
Finally, in Figure 23 we present an exampleof a possible
Martian eolian sandstone;what is important to keep in mind
when examiningour interpretationhere is that erosionof eo-
lian sandstonesin arid environmentsoften occursalong the
curvedplanesdefinedby crossbedsentombedwithin the rock,
thus givingrise to a dune-likeexpressionat the surface(e.g.,
Navajo Sandstoneof the Colorado Plateau [e.g.,Rigby,1977,
pp. 58-59, 65]). Figure 23a showsa Viking orbiter imagemo-
saicthat has been previouslyinterpreted as exhibitinga dune
field near the southernmargin of the Apollinaris Sulci ridged
MARS EOLIAN OBSERVATIONS
materialsnear Gusev Crater and Apollinaris Patera [e.g.,Pe-
terfreund,1985,p. 150;GreeleyandIversen,1985,p. 280].Edgett
and Blumberg[1994, pp. 458-459] noted that this landform
resembles the dominant dune mass near Dumont, California,
describedbyNielsonandKocurek[1987].However,prior to the
MGS mission,this particular dune field alwaysseemedpuz-
zling becauseit did not appear to have a low albedo.Peter-
freund [1985,pp. 149] consideredthe dune sandsto havebeen
derived from the erosionof the Apollinaris Sulciyardangma-
terials, althoughhe made no commentregardingtheir appar-
ent or relative albedo. Figure 23b showsthe first MOC high-
resolution view of the dunes. Several barchan-like rises are
presentin the top left portion of Figure 23b (comparewith
dunesin Figure 22); the landformsalsoexhibita benchbelow
arcuate scarps(that would be their slip faces if thesewere
dunes).The landformsin Figure23b appearto be quiteheavily
cratered. Most of the craters do not exhibit ejecta blankets,
suggestingthat most of their ejecta depositshave been re-
moved(perhapsby eolian deflation).We interpret the MOC
image as showinga paleodunefield. In our opinion,the gross
morphologyof the landformsin Figure 23b resemblesthat of
dunes,but they have been modifiedby erosionand cratering.
The terracesor benchesthat run alongthe lower slopesof each
rise are problematicalbut could be representativeof the ex-
posureof a layer of material that is stratigraphically
older than
the putativedunes.We suspectthat thesedunes,like ripplesin
hand samplesof terrestrialsedimentaryrocks,were oncebur-
ied and their bedform shapespreserved.The landformsmight
have been exhumedfrom beneaththe yardang-formingmate-
rial that is immediatelyadjacentto them (Figure 23a).
6.4. Ambiguity of Dune Activity Status
Despite the observationspresentedby Figures 17-23, the
statusof eolian dune activityon Mars cannot alwaysbe distin-
guished,even in imageswith relativelyhigh spatialresolution.
For example,Figure 24 showsa dune field on the floor of an
unnamed impact crater in western Arabia Terra at 10.7øN,
351.0øW.In thisimage,low-albedodunesup to 500 m wide are
seento have slip faceson their southwesternsides,that is, the
dark sandappearsto have been migratingfrom the northeast
Figure 19. (opposite) Evidence of contemporary eolian
transportof dark sandin a dunefield in the north polar region.
(a) Subframeof MOC imageSP2-50805.This imagewastaken
at L• 19øon August23, 1998,when the north polar regionwas
still covered with remnant winter frost. The dunes were cov-
ered with bright frost or ice, and eachdark spotis interpreted
to be a place where dark sand has become exposedfrom
beneath the frost. The arrows indicate spotsthat showpro-
nounced, radial streaks that are oriented in similar directions
when eachspotis compared.Thesestreaksare interpretedto
be indicatorsof dark sedimenttransportcausedby individual
wind gusts.The picture center is near 77.0øN,271.2øWand is
illuminatedfrom the lowerleft. (b) A portionof the samedune
field was seennearly 100ø of L s later, in early northern sum-
mer. At thistime (Ls 116ø,March 27, 1999),no frostnor dark
spotswith radial streakswere evident.Subframeof MOC im-
age FHA-01667, center near 77.4øN,273.4øW;illuminationis
from the lower left. (c) Mosaic of Viking orbiter images
065B56 and 065B58,showingthe contextof both MOC image
subframes.Note that the dunes,when not coveredby frost,
exhibit a low albedo.The Viking imageswere taken October
16, 1976, at L• 138ø.The large, ice-filled crater is centeredat
77.5øN,271.1øW.Illuminationis from the lower right.
EDGETT AND MALIN: MGS MOC MARS EOLIAN OBSERVATIONS 1643
1644 EDGETT AND MALIN: MGS MOC MARS EOLIAN OBSERVATIONS

•,•,' .•:...

30.0 m ...........
Figure 21. Eolian bedforms at the base of a slope in the
northern portion of the OlympusMons aureole, LycusSulci.
Thesebedforms(lower portionof the image)havean apparent
albedo that is indistinguishable
from the surroundingterrain.
Figure 20. Example of a casewhere dunesin a MOC image
This observationalone is suggestiveof a dune field that is
were comparedwith an earlier Viking image to look for evi- mantled by dust and therefore is inactivein the modern Mar-
dence of dune movement. In all cases examined to date
tian environment.Further evidenceof dune inactivity is af-
(through July 4, 1999), no evidenceof dune movementhas fordedby the presenceof two dark streaksthat haveformedon
been seen between Mariner 9 (1972) or Viking (1976-1980) the adjacentslopeand appear to have overriddensomeof the
and MOC (1997-1999) images.In all cases,the detectionof eolian bedformsat the locationsindicatedby the arrows.Sub-
movementis limited by the resolutionof the older picture.The frame of MOC image AB1-02403, center near 31.58øN,
example shownhere is an overlay of MOC image SP2-45205 134.0øW; illumination is from the left.
(dark strip) on Viking 2 image579B76.Creationof the overlay
showedthat the positionsof even the smallestdunesare the
same in each image. Both images are illuminated from the
lower left. The original MOC image has a resolutionof ---3.3 shape than the dark dunes. Coarser-grainedmaterial, suchas
m/pixel;the Viking imagewas 44.9 m/pixel.The Viking image granulesor smallpebbles,would movemore slowlythan finer-
was obtainedin April 1978, and the MOC image in July 1998; grainedmaterialsuchassand.Likewise,plateygrainswouldbe
both are located near 76.9øN, 353.8øW. lessmobile than sphericalgrains[e.g., Willetts,1983].In either
case,the lessmobile material would be in the bright bedforms,

towardthe southwest.Someof the dark dunesare superposed

on smaller,brightbedformsthat showno distinctslipface.The Figure 22. (opposite) Eroded, low albedo eolian duneson
dark dunes are either "more active" and/or "more mobile" the eastern floor of Herschel Basin. The dunes shown here

than the bright bedforms,but there are no characteristicsof
either the bright or dark bedformsthat can be clearly attrib-
uted to present-dayactivity or inactivity.
There are four possibleexplanationsfor the observedcon-
figurationof bedformsin Figure 24. The brightbedformsmight
be indurated or lithified and thus inactive and unaffectedby
the passageof the dark dunes.Alternatively, the bright bed-
forms might have a radicallydifferent particle density,size, or
have classicbarchanshapes.However, each has been scoured
such that its surface exhibitsthe typical ridged and grooved
texture of yardangs.The dunes are thus interpreted to be
indurated and inactive. Most recently, these dunes have un-
dergoneeolian erosionby abrasionand pluckingof cemented
sandgrainsfrom the dune surfaceto form the scouredappear-
ance. How such dunes may have become indurated in situ is
unknown. Subframe of MOC image M00-03222, center near
15.34øS,228.19øW;illuminationis from the upper left.
EDGETT AND MALIN: MGS MOC MARS EOLIAN OBSERVATIONS 1645
1646 EDGETT AND MALIN: MGS MOC
Figure 23a. Proposedpaleodunefield at the southernmar-
gin of the Apollinaris Sulci. Context showslandformsinter-
pretedto be a dunefield (center).The ApollinarisSulciare the
ridgeslocatednorth of the dunefield. The white box indicates
the location of the MOC image. Cropped mosaicof Viking
orbiter images436S03, 436S04, and 436S05. Illumination is
from the upper left.
and both the bright and dark bedformscould be active,but
movingat different rates.
7. Summary and Discussion
7.1. Main Conclusions
The most important resultspresentedin this paper are as
follows:(1) Some relativelyhigh-albedosurfaces,including
one that seemedprior to MGS to be mantledby dust (west
Daedalia Planum),appearinsteadto be sandyeolianenviron-
ments.(2) Somerelativelylow-albedosurfaces,includingsome
that seemedprior to MGS to be sand-covered
(SinusSabaeus),
are instead mantles of low albedo fines that had to have been
depositedfrom suspension.
(3) Someeolianduneson Mars are
active in the modern environment, while others show clear
evidencethat they are indurated and inactive today. (4) In
addition to "bright dust" and "dark sand,"Mars now appears
to have "bright sand" and "dark fines that can travel in sus-
pension."The dark fines are inferred to be mostly in the
silt-size range, because those that occur in western Arabia
Terra wind streakscould not have been transportedover a
great distanceand yet are too fine to create any bedforms
MARS EOLIAN OBSERVATIONS
(whichrequiresaltation)that canbe seenat the 1.5-15 m/pixel
scale.
The pre-MGS viewof Martian windstreaks,reviewedearlier
and summarizedby Thomaset al. [1981], did not entirely an-
ticipatethe three typesof wind streakpatternsnoted in this
paper.Viking and Mariner imageshad insufficientresolution
to observethe small,bright wind streaksthat appearto result
from deflation of an intracrater source,such as a field of eolian
bedforms,as shownin Figure 3. Viking and Mariner images
also did not resolve the true nature of dark wind streaks in
western Daedalia Planum, which turn out to have more in
commonwith the Amboy Crater wind streakin southernCal-
ifornia than had beenpreviouslyassumedby all but Greeleyet
al. [1974a,b]. The dark wind streaksof westernArabia Terra,
which had puzzledmany peoplefor more than 20 years[e.g.,
Soderblomet al., 1978; Kieffer et al., 1981; Peterfreund,1981;
Thomasand l/'everka,1986;Presleyand Arvidson,1988],turn
out to be quite differentthan mostof the modelsthat hadbeen
proposedto explain them. Most had thought that the dark
wind streaksin westernArabia mustresultfrom processes that
involve saltation of sand. Instead, the western Arabia wind
streaksare mantlesof low-albedomaterial, and theseare likely
to consistmainly of silt depositedfrom windborneplumesof
sedimentdeflatedfrom the adjacentcrater floors.
Evidencefor eolian dune activityis mostobviousamongthe
larger, low-albedodunesthat havebeen known sinceMariner
9. Evidencecomeslargely in the form of sharp brinks and
recentavalancheson dune slip faces.Evidencefor dune activ-
ity is enhancedby the presenceof seasonalfrost,becausedark
sand that is superposedor eroded into seasonalfrost must
indicateactivitythat has occurredonly sincethe frost formed.
Detection of actual movement of dunes since the time of
Mariner 9 or Viking is difficultand limited by the lower reso-
lution of the previousspacecraftimages.Inactive dunesare
bestidentifiedby the presenceof superposed featuressuchas
impact craters,yardangs,or mass-wasted depositsthat partly
coverthe dunes.Somedunesmightalsobe mantledby dust;in
thiscasetheywould have an albedothat is high relativeto most
of Mars and indistinguishable from the albedo of the terrain
surroundingthe dune field [Edgett,1997].
7.2. Question Global Dust Fallout
One of the basicassumptions that manypeoplehavemade
when consideringMartian surfaceand eolian propertiessince
the great 1971 global dust storm is the notion that there is a
"global fallout" of bright dust following such events.Low-
albedo regions such as Syrtis Major and Soils Lacus were
observedafter global dust storms to "clean themselves"of
bright dust; this was interpreted to indicate that sand was
presentand could saltateand therebyaid the removalof dust
[Lee, 1984,1986;Christensen, 1988].However,like SyrtisMajor
and SolisLacus, SinusSabaeusis one of the most persistent
low-albedoregionson Mars [,zlntoniadi,1930],yet it doesnot
appear to be a surfacefrom which bright dust can be easily
removed. If bright dust settled onto the surface of Sinus
Sabaeusas it is now understoodfrom MOC images(i.e., as a
dark mantle deposit),it would mostlikely staythere for a very
long time becausedust is more cohesiveand thus requiresa
muchhigherthresholdfrictionvelocitythan sandliversenet al.,
1976].In the pre-MGS view of Mars, SinusSabaeuswould be
sandy,and this sandwould keep the region dark becauseit
 EDGETT AND MALIN: MGS MOC MARS EOLIAN OBSERVATIONS 1647

Figure23b. High-resolution
viewofthepossible
dunefieldshows
thatit iscrate•-ed
andtherefore
ancient.
Barchanshapesare recognizedat the top left, providinga strongindicatorthat these landformswere once
eolian dunes.Subframeof MOC M03-00006, center at 12.79øS,181.93øW;illumination is from the left/upper
left.

wouldbe difficultfor brightdustto settletherefor anylength are four possibleexplanations,two of whichseemplausiblebut

of time [Christensen andMoore,1992,pp. 721-722]. cannotbe solvedwith data from MGS, and two of whichsimply
What, then,keepsSinusSabaeusdark?There doesnot ap- do not seemlikely. One plausibleinterpretationis that perhaps
pear to be sufficientcover,on a regionalscale,of bright eolian we are misledby the thick, mantledepositthat coversSinus
bedformsin SinusSabaeusto accountfor the saltationthought Sabaeusand that the uppermostsurfaceis, indeed, coveredby
to be required to keep the surfacefree of bright dust.There a very thin veneer of dark sand.This veneerwould have to be
1648 EDGETT AND MALIN: MGS
Figure 24. Dark eolian dunessuperposedon smaller,bright
bedforms on the floor of a crater in western Arabia
Subframe of MOC image SP1.-26004,center near 10.74øN, Albee, A. L., F. D. Palluconi, and R. E. Arvidson, Mars Global Sur-
350.99øW;illumination is from the right/lower right. veyor mission:Overviewand status,Science,279, 1671-1672, 1998.
so thin that no bedforms or tails/drifts in the lees of obstacles
can be seenin the highest-resolution (1.4 m/pixel) MOC im-
ages. Bedforms in this case could only be centimeter-scale
ripples and could only be detectedin higher spatialresolution
images(i.e., centimetersper pixel insteadof metersper pixel)
or from a landerwith imagingcapabilitiesthat is placedwithin
the SinusSabaeusregion.A viable alternativeis that the sur-
face of SinusSabaeussimplynever receivesa fallout coatingof
bright dust. If SinusSabaeusnever receivesmuch bright dust
fallen from suspension,then the notion that there is a global
dust storm fallout is incorrect. This idea was advocatedby
Strickland[1986a],who arguedthat sharp albedoboundaries
and distinctlydifferent albedo patterns within Arabia Terra
precludedthe notion of a homogenousdust settlingout over
theseregionsfollowingthe 1977globalduststorms.In addition
to thesepossibilities,
third andfourth alternatives(whichseem
less likely) include vigorousdust devil activity that quickly
removes all traces of dust from the Sinus Sabaeus surface, or
1996.
some type of chemicalchangeoccurswhich alters dust from
Christensen,P. R., Eolian intracraterdepositson Mars: Physicalprop-
bright to dark almost as soon as it settles on the region's
surface. Dust devils have never been observed in
Sabaeus,althoughtheyare commonelsewhereincludingAma-
zonisPlanitia [Thomasand Gierasch,1985].Eolian vorticesare
suspectedof leavingthin, dark trails on the surfacewhere they
have passedand from which they have removeddust [Grant
and Schultz, 1987]; such trails are not common in Sinus
Sabaeus,but they are seen elsewherein other MGS MOC
MOC MARS EOLIAN OBSERVATIONS
images(e.g., Figure 18). A chemicalchangesuchthat bright
dust settling upon Sinus Sabaeusshortly after a dust storm
seemsleast likely becausesurfacesimmediately adjacent to
Sinus Sabaeus in Arabia Terra exhibit mantled surfaces that
are bright; it is difficult to envisiona mechanismthat would
work in the presentMartian surfaceenvironmentto alter dust
quicklyin one regionbut not the other, especiallywhen there
are placeswhere bright and dark mantlesare in physicalcon-
tact with each other along the regional boundariesof Sinus
Sabaeusand Arabia Terra. In the absenceof images with
resolutionsmuch higher than ---1.4m/pixel, it seemsthat the
onlyway to presentlytest the hypothesisthat there is no global
duststormfallout will be to watchfor a new duststormsduring
the courseof the Mars Surveyorprogramand observewhere
opticallythick coatingsof dustare depositedand how surfaces
evolveafter the dust settles.Suchwork was done during and
followingthe Viking and Mariner missions[e.g.,Saganet al.,
1973; l/everkaet al., 1977; Lee, 1984; Christensen,1988], but
now there is an abilityto continuouslymonitor globalchanges
for at least 1 Martian year usingthe MGS MOC wide-angle
camerason a daily basis.
Acknowledgments. We thank R. Adair, M. Caplinger,S. Davis,W.
Gross,E. Jensen,T. Parker,M. Ravine,K. Supulver,andJ. Warren for
MOC operationssupport.Quantitativevaluesfor thermalinertia,rock
abundance,and albedo derived from the Viking IRTM observations
were provided by P. Christensen.Extremely thoughtful and helpful
reviewsof this manuscriptwere provided by R. Craddock and K.
Tanaka. The researchpresentedhere was supportedby NASA/JPL
contracts959060(Mars Orbiter Camera) and 1200780(Mars Surface
Characterization).
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(ReceivedJuly 27, 1999;revisedOctober19, 1999;
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