Icarus 219 (2012) 443–457

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Icarus
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Rheologies and ages of lava flows on Elysium Mons, Mars

Jan Hendrik Pasckert ⇑, Harald Hiesinger, Dennis Reiss
Institut für Planetologie, Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität Münster, Wilhelm-Klemm-Strasse 10, Münster 48149, Germany

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: We present results of our study of the rheologies and ages of lava flows in the Elysium Mons region of
Received 22 August 2011 Mars. Previous studies have shown that the geometric dimensions of lava flows reflect rheological prop-
Revised 21 February 2012 erties such as yield strength, effusion rate and viscosity. In this study the rheological properties of lava
Accepted 15 March 2012
flows in the Elysium Mons region were determined and compared to the rheologies of the Ascraeus Mons
Available online 23 March 2012
lava flows. We also derived new crater size-frequency distribution measurements (CSFDs) for the Elysium
lava flows to identify possible changes in the rheological properties with time. In addition, possible
Keywords:
changes in the rheological properties with the distance from the caldera of Elysium Mons were analyzed.
Mars, Surface
Volcanism
In total, 35 lava flows on and around Elysium Mons were mapped, and divided into three groups, lava
Cratering flows on the flanks of Elysium Mons, in the plains between the three volcanoes Elysium Mons, Hecates
Geological processes and Albor Tholus and lava flows south of Albor Tholus. The rheological properties of 32 of these flows could
be determined. Based on our morphometric measurements of each individual lava flow, estimates for the
yield strengths, effusion rates, viscosities, and eruption duration of the studied lava flows were made. The
yield strengths of the investigated lava flows range from 3.8  102 Pa to 1.5  104 Pa, with an average of
3.0  103 Pa. These yield strengths are in good agreement with estimates for terrestrial basaltic lava
flows. The effusion rates are on average 747 m3 s1, ranging from 99 to 4450 m3 s1. The viscosities
are on average 4.1  106 Pa s, with a range of 1.2  105 Pa s to 3.1  107 Pa s. The eruption durations of
the flows were calculated to be between 6 and 183 days, with an average of 51 days. The determined rhe-
ological properties are generally very similar to those of other volcanic regions on Mars, such as on Ascrae-
us Mons in the Tharsis region. Calculated yield strengths and viscosities point to a basaltic/andesitic
composition of the lava flows, similar to basaltic or andesitic a’a lava flows on Earth.
Absolute model ages of all 35 lava flows on Elysium Mons were derived from crater size-frequency dis-
tribution measurements (CSFD). The derived model ages show a wide variation from about 632 Ma to
3460 Ma. Crater size-frequency distribution measurements of the Elysium Mons caldera show an age of
1640 Ma, which is consistent with the resurfacing age of Werner (2009). Significant changes of the rhe-
ologies with time could not be observed. Similarly, we did not observe systematic changes in ages with
increasing distances of lava flows from the Elysium Mons caldera.
Ó 2012 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction With a summit elevation of about 14 km and a volume of

1.1. Geological context
The Elysium Mons region is the second largest volcanic region
on Mars and contains three volcanoes: Hecates Tholus in the north,
Elysium Mons in the center and Albor Tholus in the south (Fig. 1).
The Elysium Mons region is located in the northern lowlands be-
tween 15° and 35° northern latitude and 135° and 155° eastern
longitude. The entire region is characterized by a broad asymmet-
ric topography, of which Elysium Mons forms an essential part and
contains one of the youngest volcanic surfaces on Mars (Plescia,
2007).
⇑ Corresponding author.
E-mail address: jhpasckert@uni-muenster.de (J.H. Pasckert).
20  1013 m3, Elysium Mons is the largest volcano of the three
named above (Plescia, 2007). With elevations of 4.1 km of Albor
Tholus and 4.8 km of Hecates Tholus, the other two volcanoes
are much lower in elevation (Plescia, 2007).
The caldera of Elysium Mons has a diameter of about 14 km and
does not show lava flows starting directly at the caldera like, for
example, Ascraeus Mons. However, the western part of the caldera
shows a significant scarp of about 400 m, whereas the eastern flank
shows evidence of a broad flooding event caused by overflowing
lavas from the caldera. These lavas cover nearly the whole eastern
flank, but individual lava flows could not be recognized. This has
also been observed by Plescia (2007) and is shown in Fig. 2.
The flanks of Elysium Mons show numerous lava flows chang-
ing in size and shape, some of them have been mapped during this
investigation (Fig. 2). The flanks of Albor Tholus have a radial,

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444 J.H. Pasckert et al. / Icarus 219 (2012) 443–457

hummocky morphology (Plescia, 2007). This volcano has two cal-
deras, a small one at the northern margin and a larger one in the
south. With depths of 5.9–7.5 km for the large caldera and depths
of 6–6.5 km for the smaller caldera, both calderas are very deep
in contrast to the caldera of Elysium Mons (Plescia, 2007). While
Elysium Mons has only one caldera, Hecates Tholus shows a much
more complex summit. It consists of four calderas varying in size
and getting younger to the south (Plescia, 2007). Hecates Tholus
also shows evidence of an explosive eruption on the northwestern
flank that occurred 350 Ma ago (Mouginis-Mark et al., 1982;
Hauber et al., 2005).
Morphologically clearly defined lava flows were observed on
Elysium Mons and in the plains between Albor and Hecates Tholus
(Plescia, 2007).
Tectonic deformation seems to be very rare. Plescia (2001)
identified only some concentric graben and wrinkle ridges near
the caldera of Elysium Mons and morphological evidence of a
thrust fault dipping toward the summit. Similarly, the other two
volcanoes show concentric graben-like structures, for example,
on the southern flank of Albor Tholus. This tectonic activity might
be related to the rise of the whole region during volcanically active
phases (Plescia, 2001). The so-formed bulge presumably is the re-
sult of a large mantle plume, located directly underneath the entire
region (e.g., Kiefer and Hager, 1989). An analogue example on Earth
is the hot spot below Hawaii. However, in contrast to Earth, Mars
has no plate tectonics, so the hot spot does not move with respect
to the surface. Another example for this kind of hot spot volcanism
is the Tharsis Region, which is also thought to have formed by a
similar, but even larger mantle plume (e.g., Kiefer and Hager,
1989). In addition, Pedersen et al. (2010) observed hundreds of
narrow, linear ridge segments in the transition zone between the
Elysium rise and the Utopia basin north-east of Hecates Tholus,
which are interpreted to be dikes and dike swarms related to the
volcanic activity of the Elysium Mons region.
region, because the lava flows on the flanks of Elysium Mons are
much smaller than the extensive flows in Elysium Planitia. Most
of the previous studies were based on Mariner and Viking images
with spatial resolutions of several tens of meters. With HRSC and
CTX images that cover large areas of Mars, we now are able to
map and measure such lava flows in great detail at 5–25 m/pixel
spatial resolution.
These high resolution images also allow us to perform crater
size-frequency distribution (CSFD) measurements of the lava flows
in the Elysium Mons region to determine their surface model ages.
Our CSFD measurements complement previous age determinations
of lava flows in Elysium Planitia by Hartmann and Berman (2000).
To our knowledge there are no published ages for individual lava
flows on the flanks of Elysium Mons.
The combination of the surface ages with the rheologies and
location of the lava flows on Elysium Mons allows us to investigate
changes in the rheologies over space and time, which has not been
studied before.
With our study we address the following questions: (1) What
are the rheological properties of the lava flows on Elysium Mons?
(2) Is there a difference in the rheologies to other volcanic regions
on Mars and elsewhere in the Solar System? (3) Is there a change of
the rheological properties over time and distance to the caldera of

1.2. Motivation

The rheological properties of the lava flows of Elysium Mons are

not well known. Although there have been several studies on lava
flows in Elysium Planitia and around the Elysium Montes (e.g.,
Mouginis-Mark et al., 1984; Mouginis-Mark and Yoshioka, 1998;
Plescia, 1990; Glaze et al., 2003; Glaze and Baloga, 1998, 2007;
Vaucher et al., 2009; Hurwitz et al., 2010), there are no studies of
lava flows directly located on the flanks of Elysium Mons and in
the plains between the three volcanoes. In the past such studies
have been hindered by the lack of high resolution images of this

Fig. 1. Context map of the Elysium Mons region. The black box outlines the study Fig. 2. MOLA shaded relief map of the studied lava flows (red) in the Elysium Mons
area. region.
 J.H. Pasckert et al. / Icarus 219 (2012) 443–457
Elysium Mons? (4) Is there a change in age with distance to the cal-
dera of Elysium Mons?
2. Data
Images obtained by the High Resolution Stereo Camera (HRSC)
on board ESA’s Mars Express spacecraft (Neukum et al., 2004a,b;
Jaumann et al., 2007), in combination with images of the Mars
Reconnaissance Orbiter Context camera (CTX) (Malin et al., 2007)
and data from the Mars Orbiter Laser Altimeter (MOLA) (Smith
et al., 1998, 2001) were used to identify, map, and measure the
dimensions and slopes of lava flows to constrain their rheological
properties. The HRSC coverage of Elysium Mons is 100%, with a res-
olution between 12.5 m/pixel and 25 m/pixel. The HRSC is a line
scanner and is orbiting Mars since 2003. In addition, the Elysium
Mons region is covered up to 50% by CTX images with spatial res-
olutions of 5–6 m/pixel. The CTX camera is orbiting Mars since
2006. It was designed, built, and is operated by Malin Space Sci-
ence Systems (Malin et al., 2007).
Orbiting Mars from 1997 to 2001, the Mars Orbiter Laser Altim-
eter (MOLA) on Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) spacecraft delivered
three types of data sets: topography, surface roughness, and reflec-
tivity of the martian surface (Smith et al., 1998, 2001). MOLA trans-
mitted infrared laser pulses with a wavelength of 1064 nm
towards the martian surface at a rate of 10 Hz and measured the
time it took the beam to reach the surface and be reflected to the
spacecraft (Smith et al., 2001). The vertical accuracy of each indi-
vidual MOLA point is 1 m (Smith et al., 2001). The diameter of
one single measurement point at the surface is 160 m (Smith
et al., 2001). The distance between the measurement points is in
the range of 300 and 400 m. As a result, the surface resolution in
flight direction is between 300 and 400 m (Smith et al., 1998).
The relative vertical accuracy between two subsequent measure-
ment points is 30 cm (Smith et al., 1998, 2001). We used individual
MOLA measurements to determine the heights of the lava flows
and their slopes. In order to determine the heights, 5–20 MOLA
profiles were selected for each flow, depending on the dimensions
of the flows.
3. Methods
To investigate the lava flows on Elysium Mons two major meth-
ods were used. First, 35 lava flows were mapped and the morpho-
metric dimensions such as height, length, width, and slope were
measured. The dimensions were utilized to infer the rheological
properties of the flows (e.g., Wilson and Head, 1983; Moore
et al., 1978; Mouginis-Mark and Yoshioka, 1998; Hiesinger et al.,
2007). To get information about the ages of the mapped lava flows,
crater size-frequency measurements were performed (e.g., Hart-
mann and Berman, 2000; Neukum et al., 2004a,b).
3.1. Rheology
To investigate the rheological properties of the lava flows with
remote sensing techniques, it is important to map and measure the
dimensions of the flows as accurately as possible. It is known from
previous studies (e.g., Wilson and Head, 1983; Moore et al., 1978;
Mouginis-Mark and Yoshioka, 1998; Hiesinger et al., 2007) that
lava flow morphologies reflect the rheological properties of the
erupted lavas. However, the determination of the rheological prop-
erties from remote sensing data requires some important
assumptions:
1. Lava flows behave as Bingham fluids (e.g., Hulme, 1974; Wilson
and Head, 1983).
445
2. Lava flows in a laminar fashion (Moore et al., 1978; Wilson and
Head, 1983).
3. No inflation of lava flows has occurred.
4. The density q of martian lava flows is on average 2500 kg m3.
5. The Graetz number Gz is 300.
6. The thermal diffusivity j is 3  107 m2 s1.
In the following paragraphs we describe these assumptions in
more detail:
1. A major assumption in this study is that flowing lava behaves as a
non-Newtonian liquid. If lava was an ideal Newtonian liquid, it
would flow downhill and would not stop flowing even after the
supply at the vent has ceased until it reaches a topographic
depression. Furthermore, the flow would spread laterally until
it was restricted by topography or until surface tension pre-
vented further spreading. Observations, for example by Hulme
(1974), showed that lava does not behave like a Newtonian
liquid. Commonly it comes to rest on a slope as soon as the supply
of fresh lava ceases and many flow fronts are high and steep
although unconfined by topographic features. It is clear that
there is some process which limits the flow of lava, brings it to
rest on slopes, and prevents its lateral spreading. From measure-
ments of stationary lavas, Shaw (1968) determined that lava
flows behave similar to Bingham liquids. In general, the length
of a lava flow is limited by cooling or by the supply of material.
In simple channelized eruptions, lava stops flowing due to heat
loss, resulting in the growth of the internal yield strength. Thus,
these flows are cooling-limited (Guest et al., 1987; Pinkerton and
Wilson, 1994; Harris and Rowland, 2009). In contrast, a volume-
limited eruption stops flowing when the supply from the vent
ceases before the full cooling-limited length has been reached
(Guest et al., 1987; Harris and Rowland, 2009). For example, indi-
vidual pahoehoe lava flows are generally cooling-limited,
whereas tube-fed pahoehoe flow fields, as a whole, are usually
volume-limited (Harris and Rowland, 2009). As all lava flows
determined in this study appear as single flows and no lava tubes
have been observed, we propose that these are cooling-limited
lava flows. However, 3 out of 35 lava flows show signs of possible
central channels and levees, which might indicate that these
flows are volume-limited.
2. The used equations for yield strength and viscosity, listed below,
are valid only for lava that moves in laminar fashion, although
turbulent motion can appear (Wilson and Head, 1983). Turbulent
motion occurs at mass eruption rates of 3  107 kg s1 for lunar
and terrestrial basalts (Wilson and Head, 1983). Terrestrial
basaltic eruptions do not reach such rates, but lunar basalts show
eruption rates of 108–109 kg s1, which led in some cases to the
formation of sinuous rilles by thermal erosion (Wilson and Head,
1983). Features like these could not be observed for the investi-
gated lava flows on Elysium Mons. Hence, the lava on Elysium
Mons appears to flow in laminar fashion.
3. Besides erosion, inflation can change the flow dimensions, espe-
cially the flow heights. Inflation of lava flows can be caused by
different processes. Depending on the flow type, inflation can be
caused by changing effusion rates and injection of liquid lava
into a cooling-limited flow underneath the solid crust. This is
typical for terrestrial subaerial and submarine pahoehoe lava
flows (e.g., Walker, 1991; Hon et al., 1994; Zimbelman et al.,
2011). Also the release of volcanic gases from inside the flow
and variation of the surface slope can result in inflation. How-
ever, the observed lava flows do not show changes in shape
since their emplacement, such as inflated sheet lobes and infla-
tion-rise pits (e.g., Walker, 1991; Hon et al., 1994). Therefore,
we assume that the observed flows still have their original
shape and have not been inflated.
446 J.H. Pasckert et al. / Icarus 219 (2012) 443–457
4. A very important factor for the determination of rheological
properties is the density of the erupted lavas. Since we do not
know the density of martian lava flows, because of the lack of
samples, we have to assume a certain density. The density of
lava depends on the composition, the water content, and the
porosity of the erupted material (Wilson and Head, 1994). How-
ever, as mentioned before, we do not have samples from known
regions on Mars and until now there is only few remote sensing
data available, concerning the composition of the lava flows of
Elysium Mons (e.g., Bandfield et al., 2000; Bibring et al.,
2005). There are spectral data sets such as the Thermal Emis-
sion Spectrometer (TES), the Visible and Infrared Mineralogical
Mapping Spectrometer (OMEGA) and the Compact Reconnais-
sance Imaging Spectrometer (CRISM) available for Mars, but
they do not cover the lava flows in the study area (CRISM) or
do not have the resolution to resolve individual lava flows
(TES/OMEGA). However, on a global scale, TES and OMEGA
spectral data show that large parts of the surface are composed
of basalts and andesites (Bandfield et al., 2000; Bibring et al.,
2005). Analyses of the characteristics of lava flows on martian
shield volcanoes by Hulme (1976), Moore et al. (1978) and Cat-
termole (1987) showed lava flows with rheological properties
reflecting mafic basalts and basaltic andesites. Characteristics
of the SNC meteorites interpreted to be from Mars show simi-
larities to terrestrial basaltic and ultramafic rocks (e.g., Baird
and Clark, 1981). The melt densities of these materials were cal-
culated to vary between 2750 and 2960 kg m3 (Longhi, 1990).
On the basis of previous work, the densities of martian lava
flows vary in a relative wide range from 725 to 2960 kg m3.
For example, Moore et al. (1978) used densities between 2500
and 2900 kg m3 for their calculation. Baloga and Glaze
(2008) used a value of 2600 kg m3, whereas Zimbelman
(1985), Warner and Gregg (2003), and Hiesinger et al. (2007)
assumed the density to be 2500 kg m3. For our study we use
a density of 2500 kg m3.
5. The Graetz number is a dimensionless number that relates the
rate of heat loss from a flow to the rate of heat advection within
a flow along its length (Gregg and Fink, 1996). When a lava flow
has stopped flowing, the Graetz number has decreased from an
initially large value of about 1000 to about 300 (Wilson and
Head, 1983). Consequently, for the following calculation of the
viscosity a value of 300 was chosen. Such a value is consistent
with other publications about the viscosity of martian lava
flows (e.g., Wilson and Head, 1983; Gregg and Fink, 1996; Vau-
cher et al., 2009).
6. The thermal diffusivity describes the rate at which heat is con-
ducted through a medium. Literature values range between
104 (Gregg and Fink, 1996) and 108 m2 s1 (Gregg and
Zimbelman, 2000). Gregg and Zimbelman (2000) published a list
of thermal diffusivities of lavas depending on their compositions.
In this list, rhyolites have the lowest value with 1.4  106 m2 s1
followed by dacites with 2.0  107 m2 s1. The lavas with the
highest thermal diffusivity are basalts with 5.0  107 m2 s1
and andesites with 3.0  107 m2 s1. On the basis of the basaltic
and andesitic nature of the martian surface derived from spec-
troscopy (Bandfield et al., 2000; Bibring et al., 2005), we assume
a thermal conductivity of 3.0  107 m2 s1.
3.1.1. Yield strength
As discussed above, lava is likely to behave like a Bingham li-
quid, which is controlled by two parameters, the yield strength
and the viscosity of the erupted material (Wilson and Head,
1983; Hiesinger et al., 2007). Moore et al. (1978) and Hulme
(1974) related the yield strength, s (Pa), of lava flows to the flow
dimensions by the following equations:
s ¼ qg sin ah ð1Þ
s ¼ qgh2 =wf ð2Þ
s ¼ qg2wb sin2 a ð3Þ
3
where q is the density (kg m ), g is the acceleration of gravity
(m s2), a is the slope angle (degree), h is the flow height (m), wf
is the flow width (m) and wb is the width of the levee (m) (Moore
et al., 1978). Eq. (3) was not used for the Elysium Mons lava flows
because the levees of the 3 leveed lava flows investigated in the
study area were too small to be measured with the available data
sets. Thus, we used Eqs. (1) and (2) to estimate the yield strengths
of theses flows.
In summary, there are three ways of calculating the yield
strength of a lava flow from its morphology, all require an assumed
value for the density of the flow as discussed before and the accel-
eration of gravity. Eq. (1) relates the yield strength to the topo-
graphic slope and the thickness of the lava flow. Compared to Eq.
(1), the slope angle is not needed in the calculation using Eq. (2).
Eq. (2) is very similar to the equation used for terrestrial glaciers
by Orowan (1949) and relates the yield strength to the thickness
and the width of a lava flow. Eq. (3) can only be used for the calcu-
lation of the yield strength of leveed flows.
3.1.2. Effusion rate
The effusion rate, Q (m3 s1), can be calculated by using the
equation of Wilson and Head (1983) or Zimbelman (1985):
Q ¼ Gz jxw=h ð4Þ
where Gz is the dimensionless Graetz number, j is the thermal dif-
fusivity (m2 s1), x is the flow length (m), and w and h are the width
and the height of the flow.
3.1.3. Viscosity
To calculate the viscosity g (Pa s), equations given, for example
by Zimbelman (1985), Glaze and Baloga (2007), and Vaucher et al.
(2009) were used:
h ¼ ðQ g=qgÞ1=4 ð5Þ
In addition, Jeffrey’s equation relates the viscosity of a flow to
its effusion rate and its dimensions (Glaze and Baloga, 2007; Hie-
singer et al., 2007):
g ¼ ðqgh3 w sin aÞ=nQ ð6Þ
In this equation, n is a constant equal to 3 for broad flows and 4
for narrow flows, w is the flow width and a is the slope. In both
equations, the viscosity is related to the effusion rate Q, the flow
height h, and the rock density q.
Applying Eqs. (5) and (6), we have to be aware of the fact that
these models assume lava flows to behave like Newtonian fluids
(e.g., Gregg and Fink, 1996; Warner and Gregg, 2003; Hiesinger
et al., 2007; Vaucher et al., 2009). However, lava flows are thought
to behave as Bingham plastics and consequently Eqs. (5) and (6)
are simplified models to describe the viscosities of lava flows
(Gregg and Fink, 1996; Hiesinger et al., 2007; Vaucher et al., 2009).
3.1.4. Mean flow velocity
The mean flow velocity u (m s1) can be calculated by using Jef-
frey’s equation for laminar flow (Jeffreys, 1925), which is:
2
u ¼ ðg qh sin aÞ=3g ð7Þ
with all variables defined as above. Converting this equation leads to
the following equation, which relates the velocity to the effusion rate:
u ¼ Q =ðhxÞ ð8Þ
 J.H. Pasckert et al. / Icarus 219 (2012) 443–457
Consequently, the mean flow velocity depends on the effusion
rate, the flow length and flow height.
3.1.5. Eruption duration
The eruption duration T (days) can be calculated in two differ-
ent ways. One way is to divide the length of the flow through the
mean flow velocity:
T ¼ x=u
In this equation u is the mean flow velocity described in Sec-
tion 3.1.4 and x is the flow length. Another method is to divide
the flow volume by the effusion rate:
T ¼ V=Q
where V is the flow volume and Q is the effusion rate.
3.1.6. Flow dimension measurements
To determine the flow dimensions, such as flow length, flow
width, and flow thickness, different methods can be applied. The
flow lengths and widths were measured in ArcGIS (developed by
ESRI) on HRSC- and CTX-images as shown in Fig. 3. The flow widths
were determined several times along the lava flows orthogonal to
the flow direction (Fig. 3). All these width measurements of one
flow were used to calculate an average width for each individual
lava flow.
As described by Glaze et al. (2003), the thicknesses of the lava
flows were determined by using individual MOLA profiles crossing
the flows (Fig. 4).
To determine the slope angle of a lava flow, single MOLA shots
on and beside the flow were utilized (Fig. 3). Knowing the absolute
height and the position of each MOLA point, the slope between
each point can be calculated by:
s ¼ ðh1  h2 Þ=x
where h1 is the elevation of one MOLA point, h2 is the elevation of
another MOLA point, and x is the distance between the MOLA
points.
To verify the results, the slope was measured in several ways.
First of all, the slope between the first and the last MOLA point
was calculated. This slope was compared to the slope of the best-
fit line of all measured slope points of the flow. In most cases both
slopes were nearly identical and the slope of the best-fit line was
chosen for the calculations of the yield strengths. In addition, the
slope on and beside the lava flows were calculated to check a pos-
sible flattening of the slopes on the flows, by lava ponding at the
flow front (Fig. 3).
3.2. Age dating
To derive absolute model ages of the lava flows, crater size-fre-
quency distribution measurements were carried out by using the
production function from Ivanov (2001) and the chronology
Fig. 3. Example of the measurements of flow dimensions (Flow 1). The slope in flow direction on and beside the flow has been measured between the blue dots. The red lines
indicate the locations of lengths and widths measurements and the solid black lines are sections of individual MOLA profiles. (For interpretation of the references to color in
this figure legend, the reader is referred to the web version of this article.)
447
function from Hartmann and Neukum (2001). For reliable crater
counts it is important to exclude endogenic and secondary craters,
i.e., craters that were formed by the impact of material ejected by
primary craters (McEwen, 2003). At CTX resolution (5–6 m/pixel),
in some cases, separating small secondary from primary craters
was difficult because of the generally rough appearance of the flow
surfaces and possible subsequent modification of the craters.
The technique to derive relative and absolute model ages of
ð9Þ planetary surfaces from crater size-frequency distribution mea-
surements has been described in great detail by various authors
(e.g., Neukum and Ivanov, 1994; Hiesinger et al., 2000a,b; Stöffler
and Ryder, 2001; Neukum et al., 2001; Ivanov, 2001; Hartmann
and Neukum, 2001; Stöffler et al., 2006). This method has been
ð10Þ developed for the Moon by Shoemaker and Hackman (1962), Bald-
win (1964), Hartmann (1966) and Neukum (1971). With appropri-
ate modifications (scaling laws), it can be applied to all bodies in
the Solar System (Ivanov, 2001).
To determine relative ages of homogenous units, the surface
area of these units has to be calculated and all craters apart from
secondary and endogenic craters are counted and their diameters
measured, in order to derive the cumulative crater density. This
cumulative crater density reflects the time the unit has been ex-
posed to the meteoritic bombardment. In order to obtain absolute
model ages these crater size-frequency distribution measurements
have to be linked to radiometric ages from samples of the respec-
tive planetary body. Due to the lack of samples from other bodies
than the Earth and the Moon, the lunar chronology of the Moon has
to be extrapolated to these other bodies. Radiometric ages of mar-
tian meteorites cannot be correlated to crater size-frequency dis-
tributions, because the source areas and their associations to
individual geologic units are unknown. Hartmann (1977) and Iva-
nov (2001) determined the catering rate of Mars relative to the
Moon and showed that the absolute model ages of martian surface
units can be determined with an uncertainty factor of about two or
three (Hartmann and Neukum, 2001).
4. Results
For this investigation, 35 lava flows on and around Elysium
Mons (Fig. 2) with distances from the caldera between 32 and
642 km were mapped. Considering the surface slope and the dis-
tance to the caldera of Elysium Mons, these flows can be subdi-
vided into 3 major groups: flows on the flanks of Elysium Mons
(Flows 1–3, 5, 7, 8, 23, 32), flows in the plains between Elysium
Mons, Albor Tholus and Hecates Tholus (Flows 4, 6, 9–22, 24–29,
34), and flows south of Albor Tholus (Flows 30, 31, 33, 35). The rhe-
ological properties of 32 of these flows were calculated. Three of
the flows were too small to yield reliable thicknesses from the
MOLA profiles. Consequently, we did not calculate the rheological
properties of Flow 3, 7 and 8. In addition, Flow 23 for example, is
located in a depression so that only few MOLA profiles show the
lava flow as an elevated feature. Because of this geometric setting
448 J.H. Pasckert et al. / Icarus 219 (2012) 443–457
Fig. 4. Example of a MOLA profile across a lava flow. The blue points are individual MOLA points. The two red points indicate the first points of the lava flow, i.e., REF 1 and
REF 2. The black line shows a fitted line between REF 1 and REF 2. This fit line is used for the calculation of the flow thickness. (For interpretation of the references to color in
this figure legend, the reader is referred to the web version of this article.)
of lava Flow 23, MOLA points beside the flow show higher eleva-
tions than on the flow and the flow does not appear to have a sig-
nificant thickness in the MOLA profiles. Therefore, calculated
rheologic characteristics of this flow should be treated with cau-
tion. In other cases, impact craters on or beside the flows compli-
cated the determination of flow heights in some MOLA profiles.
The absolute model ages of all 35 lava flows were determined
by crater counting on HRSC and CTX images. In addition, the age
of the Elysium Mons caldera was estimated by crater counting on
CTX images.
4.1. Rheology
The lengths of the investigated Elysium flows vary between 9.9
and 118 km, with widths on the order of 428 m to 13.670 km. The
MOLA profiles of the investigated flows show heights from 7 to
34 m with an average of 18 m. All three flow dimensions, length,
width, and height are larger than those of the Ascraeus Mons flows
investigated by Hiesinger et al. (2007). The slopes determined from
individual MOLA points vary between 0.06° and 8.2° with an aver-
age of 2.1° and a standard deviation (SD) of 1.6°. Whereas the slope
of the 10 lava flows directly located on the flanks of Elysium Mons
show relatively high values, varying from 2.1° to 8.2° (avg. 4.9°, SD:
1.7°), all other flows are located in much flatter regions, showing
slopes from 0.1° to 1.6° (avg. 1.0°, SD: 0.5°) in the plains, and slopes
from 0.2° to 0.4° (avg. 0.3°, SD: 0.1°) for the flows south of Albor
Tholus. Using these measured dimensions, we calculated the rheo-
logical properties of individual flows.
4.1.1. Yield strengths
The yield strengths of the Elysium Mons lava flows have been
calculated using Eqs. (1) and (2) with assumed values for the rock
density (2500 kg m3) and the gravity (3.73 m s1). All other re-
quired input parameters such as the slope, the flow length, width,
and height could be directly measured as described in Section 3.1.
The yield strengths calculated with Eq. (1) range from
1.1  102 Pa (Flow 17) to 2.7  104 Pa (Flow 2), with an average
of 4.7  103 Pa (SD: 1.6  103 Pa). Using Eq. (2) we calculated
yield strengths ranging from 3.3  102 Pa (Flow 26) to
3.9  103 Pa (Flow 1) with an average of  1.3  103 Pa (SD:
8.9  102 Pa). Taking the average yield strength derived from both
equations results in a yield strength of 3.0  103 Pa (SD:
3.3  103 Pa). The yield strengths of the flows on the flanks of Ely-
sium Mons vary between 1.4  103 Pa and 1.5  104 Pa (avg.
7.2  103 Pa, SD: 4.8  103 Pa), whereas the flows in the plains
show yield strengths ranging from 3.8  102 Pa to 5.5  103 Pa
(avg. 2.0  103 Pa, SD: 1.2  103 Pa). The yield strengths of the
flows south of Albor Tholus range from 7  102 Pa to 1.2  103 Pa
(avg. 9.6  102 Pa, SD: 1.8  102 Pa). Thus, the yield strengths of
the lava flows in this study are generally very similar to the lava
flows of the Tharsis volcano Ascraeus Mons (2.1  103 Pa; Hiesing-
er et al., 2007), but much higher than the lava flows in central Ely-
sium Planitia (avg. 156 Pa) investigated by Vaucher et al. (2009).
The results of our yield strength calculations for each individual
lava flow are shown in Table 1.
4.1.2. Effusion rate
The effusion rates were calculated by utilizing Eq. (4). As de-
scribed in Section 3.1, the Graetz number and the thermal diffusiv-
ity have to be assumed by analogy with terrestrial lava flows. All
other parameters were directly derived from remote sensing data.
Effusion rates were found to be 747 m3 s1 on average (SD:
894 m3 s1), ranging from 99 m3 s1 (Flows 9, 23, 32) to
4452 m3 s1 (Flow 33) (Table 1). The effusion rates of the flows
on the flanks of Elysium Mons vary between 99 m3 s1 and
219 m3 s1 (avg. 139 m3 s1, SD: 41 m3 s1) and the flows in the
plains have effusion rates from 126 m3 s1 to 1834 m3 s1 (avg.
663 m3 s1, SD: 471 m3 s1). The flows south of Albor Tholus have
effusion rates between 612 m3 s1 and 4452 m3 s1 (avg.
2253 m3 s1, SD: 1506 m3 s1). In general, the flows of Elysium
Mons show slightly higher effusion rates than the lava flows on
Ascraeus Mons (23–404 m3 s1, Hiesinger et al., 2007), but are sim-
ilar (20–9800 m3 s1) to the lava flows studied by Vaucher et al.
(2009). The effusion rates of lava flows in the Elysium region,
Table 1
Calculated rheologies and results of crater size-frequency measurements of the investigated lava flows on Elysium Mons.

Flow Flow Flow Flow Slope Yield Effusion rate Viscosity Eruption Area Crater retention Absolute Model Ages Error AMA Distance to EM
number height (m) length (m) width (m) (°) strength (Pa) (m3 s1) (Pa s) duration (days) (km2) age, N(1) (AMA) (Ma) (Ma) caldera (km)
1a 22.9 30,260 1238 6.1 1.3  104 147 2.1  107 66 3610 3.97  104 813 +120 53
130
2a 24.2 29,552 1998 6.7 1.5  104 219 3.1  107 97 9310 6.23  104 1280 +120 40
120
a 4
3 – – – 8.2 – – – – 3920 5.45  10 1120 +380 32
400
a 3 5 4
4 6.7 15,300 793 2.1 1.4  10 164 1.2  10 6 1180 5.12  10 1050 +310 97
360
5a 21.6 28,500 1236 3.8 8.5  103 147 1.3  107 56 4110 3.99  104 818 +130 81
130
6b 17.1 43,127 2993 1.4 2.4  103 680 1.2  106 37 12,600 8.54  104 1750 +310 204
330
a 3
7 – – – 7.2 – – – – 4770 1.28  10 2620 +330 42
390
8a – – – 5.0 – – – – 1420 4.71  104 967 +300 64
350
9a 13.2 14,522 1005 2.5 3.5  103 99 2.6  106 21 1330 9.24  104 1890 +540 100
560

J.H. Pasckert et al. / Icarus 219 (2012) 443–457

b 3 6 4
10 19.9 33,518 1876 1.1 2.8  10 285 3.7  10 51 5320 6.84  10 1400 +230 113
250
b 3 6 4
11 18.0 20,419 1294 1.1 3.0  10 126 6.4  10 46 1710 4.34  10 890 +200 112
210
12b 16.3 29,885 2081 1.6 2.7  103 344 1.8  106 36 6170 6.58  104 1350 +260 102
310
13b 11.4 35,617 1487 1.5 1.8  103 419 3.5  105 16 4320 5.96  104 1220 +330 166
350
b 2 6 4
14 22.7 37,374 5516 0.2 8.4  10 820 1.8  10 76 26,800 8.99  10 1840 +320 349
380
15b 14.9 26,987 1928 1.3 2.2  103 314 1.3  106 29 5460 2.52  103 3460 +150 109
1500
16b 19.0 31,686 2373 1.6 3.1  103 357 3.1  106 47 7800 6.27  104 1290 +300 163
320
b 2 5 4
17 11.3 21,775 1828 0.1 3.8  10 317 2.5  10 17 3400 9.61  10 1970 +310 252
340
b 3 6 4
18 19.9 60,038 3425 0.6 1.6  10 928 1.2  10 49 18,700 5.55  10 1140 +140 277
160
19b 12.0 30,621 1804 1.4 1.8  103 414 4.5  105 19 5910 8.37  104 1720 +190 143
210
20b 12.9 48,633 2431 0.7 1.0  103 822 2.5  105 26 15,600 8.00  104 1640 +390 265
480
b 3 5 4
21 15.0 45,465 2846 0.6 1.1  10 778 4.6  10 35 18,100 5.61  10 1150 +220 270
260
22b 21.3 23,788 1811 1.4 3.7  103 182 8.1  106 58 4190 8.72  104 1790 +700 180
880
23a 11.4 16,250 782 4.4 4.9  103 99 2.9  106 21 2580 6.99  104 1430 +290 92
330
b 3 5 3
24 12.4 26,434 1663 0.9 1.3  10 320 5.2  10 21 4610 1.29  10 2630 +260 121
290
b 2 5 4
25 20.2 71,720 5742 0.3 9.0  10 1834 6.0  10 54 42,700 8.51  10 1740 +640 272
760
26b 12.1 42,492 4090 0.8 9.1  102 1295 1.9  105 28 33,900 3.08  104 632 +200 146
200
27b 34.5 91,981 3984 1.4 5.5  103 956 1.2  107 183 51,000 1.22  103 2500 +260 258
310

449
(continued on next page)
450 J.H. Pasckert et al. / Icarus 219 (2012) 443–457

calculated by Keszthelyi (1995) (20 m3 s1) are at the lower end of

values calculated by Hiesinger et al. (2007) and Vaucher et al.
(2009), and much lower than in this study.
Distance to EM
caldera (km)

4.1.3. Viscosity
The viscosities were calculated using Eqs. (5) and (6). The vis-

89

+320
541

497

642

413
380

160

107
cosities calculated with Eq. (5) range from 2.0  104 Pa s (Flow
17) to 4.8  107 Pa s (Flow 2) with an average of 4.3  106 (SD:
Error AMA

9.3  106 Pa s). Using Eq. (6) we calculated viscosities ranging from
450

550

570

160

230

240

360

170

380
+360

+430

+530

+150

+230

+290

+160
+200

1640
1.1  105 Pa s (Flow 4) to 1.7  107 Pa s (Flow 1) with an average of
(Ma)

4.0  106 Pa s (SD: 4.8  106 Pa s). The average values of both
equations range from 1.2  105 Pa s (Flow 4) to 3.1  107 Pa s
(Flow 1) with an average of 4.1  106 Pa s and a standard deviation
Absolute Model Ages

7.97  104 of 6.7  106 Pa s (Table 1). The viscosities of the flows on the flanks
of Elysium Mons range between 1.2  105 Pa s to 3.1  107 Pa s
(AMA) (Ma)

(avg. 1.1  107 Pa s, SD: 1.1  107 Pa s), while the flows in the
plains show viscosities from 1.9  105 Pa s to 1.2  107 Pa s (avg.
1510

1150

1980

1560

863

1810

1660
880

2.5  106 Pa s, SD: 3.0  106 Pa s). The flows south of Albor Tholus
have viscosities in the range of 4.5  105 Pa s to 1.8  106 Pa s (avg.
1.0  106 Pa s, SD: 5.1  105 Pa s). These results for the lava flows
Crater retention

of the Elysium Mons region are in the range of the viscosities of

7.38  104

5.59  104

9.67  104

4

4

8.84  104

4.29  104

4

lava flows on Ascraeus Mons, for which the viscosity was calcu-
7.59  10

4.21  10

8.11  10
age, N(1)

lated to be on average 4.1  106 Pa s (Hiesinger et al., 2007). The

viscosities of the lava flows determined by Vaucher et al. (2009)
10,600

are lower, ranging from 6.9  102 to 2.5  105 Pa s with an average
of 4.9  104 Pa s.
4060
61,100

13,800

22,700

34,900

12,900

14,000
1380
(km2)
Area

4.1.4. Eruption duration

On the basis of the calculated mean flow velocities, the flow
duration (days)

lengths, the effusion rates and the flow volumes, the eruption
durations of the flows were calculated using Eqs. (9) and (10).
Eruption

The average values of these two equations are between 6 (Flow

140

34

37

77

21

41

43
127

4) and 183 (Flow 27) days, with an average of 51 and a standard
–

deviation of 38 days (Table 1). We found variations of the eruption

durations of the flows on the flanks of Elysium Mons from 6 to
6.0  105
4.2  106

4.5  105

1.8  106

4.1  106

5
Viscosity

7.8  10

3.2  10

9.2  10

97 days (avg. 42 days, SD: 31 days), whereas the eruption dura-

(Pa s)

tions of the flows in the plains vary between 16 and 183 days
–

(avg. 50 days, SD: 40 days). The flows south of Albor Tholus have
eruption durations from 37 to 127 days (avg. 71 days, SD: 36 days).
Effusion rate

The minimum eruption duration of 6 days is similar to those of

(m3 s1)

flows on Ascraeus Mons, calculated by Hiesinger et al. (2007) to

1724

1142

4452
782

2807

224

612
99

be on the order of 2 days. The maximum value of 183 days is twice

–

as large as those of Ascraeus Mons flows (80 days), which might

strength (Pa)

be a consequence of the larger flow lengths on Elysium Mons. Tak-

Lava flows located in the plains between EM, Hecates and Albor Tholus.
1.5  103

1.1  103

9.2  102

1.2  103

2.7  103
2

ing the flow dimensions determined by Vaucher et al. (2009) for

3.9  10
7.0  10

1.0  10

lava flows in Elysium Planitia, we calculated the eruption duration

Yield

with Eqs. (9) and (10). They range from  1 to 155 days with an
–

average of 32 days, thus being consistent with the results for the
Slope

These lava flows are located directly on the flanks of EM.

Elysium Mons lava flows of this study. Consequently, the flows in

0.3

0.5

0.4

0.2

0.3

0.4
3.2

1.3
(°)

the Elysium Mons region show generally similar eruption dura-

tions independent from the distance to the caldera of Elysium
width (m)

Mons.
7941

2997

3911

8592

1431

2176

3136
13,669
Flow

Lava flows located south of Albor Tholus.

–

4.1.5. Error discussion

As already discussed in Section 3, there are some uncertainties
length (m)

54,071

9915

117,737
78,738

47,628

89,379

21,216

37,624

associated with calculating the rheological properties of lava flows

Flow

from remote sensing data. The errors caused by these uncertainties

–

will be estimated and discussed in this chapter. For this purpose,

we determined how reliable our results are with respect to varia-
height (m)

caldera

tions of the input parameters. For example, for our error estima-
Flow

tion, we varied the rock density and the thermal diffusivity by

32.7

16.7

16.7

24.6

12.8

32.5

18.5

17.4
Table 1 (continued)

+10%, +70%, 10%, and 70%. The wide error range of ±70% reflects
the wide variability of rock densities and thermal diffusivities
number

found in literature. Our literature search revealed variations of

Flow

a
30c

33c

c
28b

29b

34b

EM

+20% to 71% for the rock density of 2500 kg m3 and a variation
31

35
32

c
b
a

of +66% to 33% for the thermal diffusivity (Gregg and Fink,

 J.H. Pasckert et al. / Icarus 219 (2012) 443–457
1996; Gregg and Zimbelman, 2000). With the available data sets,
flow heights, widths, lengths, and slopes can likely be estimated
with higher accuracy. Consequently, for our error estimates we
assumed that these parameters have errors of ±10%, respectively.
Table 2 shows the effects on the rheological properties when the
input parameters are varied by +10%, +70%, 10%, and 70%. For
example, if the density is changed by +10%, the viscosity (using
Eq. (5)) will change by 10%; if the height is changed by 10%, the
viscosity will change by 61%. From this it becomes clear that the
flow height is the most sensitive parameter for the calculation of
rheological properties. The measurement of the flow heights is
directly linked to the quality of the MOLA data. Considering the
resolution of the MOLA points illustrates that not the vertical res-
olution of 30 cm of each MOLA point is the limiting factor, but the
horizontal resolution. The elevation of every MOLA point is aver-
aged over an area of 160 m in diameter and MOLA points are taken
every 300 m along the orbital track. Consequently, it becomes
increasingly difficult to determine accurate heights with decreas-
ing flow size. Compared to changes in flow heights, variations in
rock densities, thermal diffusivities, flow widths, lengths, and
slopes have a much smaller impact on the rheological properties
(Table 2). A similar error discussion is also provided by Hiesinger
et al. (2007).
4.1.6. Terrestrial and extraterrestrial analogues
The rheological properties of lavas show wide variations
throughout the Solar System. Table 3 shows results for the yield
strengths, the viscosities, and the effusion rates of lava flows on
Mars, Earth, Venus and the Moon. The yield strengths of terrestrial
basalt flows vary between 102 and 106 Pa depending on their com-
positions (e.g., Moore, 1987; Hulme, 1976; Moore et al., 1978;
Warner and Gregg, 2003). Lunar mare basalts have yield strengths
from 102 to 104 Pa (e.g., Moore and Schaber, 1975; Wilson and
Head, 2003; Moore et al., 1978). The lava flows on the Tharsis vol-
canoes on Mars show variations of 102–105 Pa (e.g., Moore et al.,
1978; Hiesinger et al., 2007). Lavas on Venus investigated by
McColley and Head (2004) have yield strengths of 104–105 Pa.
The yield strengths of the lava flows in the Elysium Mons region
are on the order of 102–104 Pa, which is in the range of flows on
Ascraeus Mons, thus showing similarities to terrestrial basalts as
described by Hiesinger et al. (2007).
Compared to the viscosities of lavas on Venus (106–109 Pa s)
calculated by McColley and Head (2004), the lava flows on Elysium
Mons show significantly lower values. Lunar lava flows have much
lower viscosities on the order of several Pa s, which allowed them
to spread over very long distances (e.g., Hiesinger and Head, 2006;
Hörz et al., 1991). With viscosities ranging from 105 to 107 Pa s, the
Elysium Mons lava flows are more similar to the Ascraeus Mons
lava flows and terrestrial basalts, which have viscosities ranging
from 103 to 107 Pa s.
From Earth it is known that lava flows show a wide range of
effusion rates (1–103 m3 s1). Lunar lava flows show only relatively
low values ranging from 5 to 120 m3 s1, whereas lavas on Venus
show relatively high values (102–104 m3 s1). Baratoux et al.
(2009) modeled relative effusion rates of small martian shield vol-
canoes in Syria Planum, Central Elysium Planitia, and on Pavonis
Mons and Arsia Mons. The relative effusion rates are obtained by
dividing the modeled effusion rates by the area of the particular
volcano. The relative effusion rates of the volcanoes investigated
by Baratoux et al. (2009) in Central Elysium Planitia vary between
1 and 15 m3 s1 km2, whereas shield volcanoes in Syria Planum,
on Pavonis Mons, and Arsia Mons have values of 0.02 to
0.8 m3 s1 km2. To compare these results with the effusion rates
of our study, we also divided our effusion rates by the areas of
the particular lava flows and we derived relative effusion rates be-
tween 2 and 14 m3 s1 km2. These values are comparable with the
451
modeled relative effusion rates of shield volcanoes in Central Ely-
sium Planitia determined by Baratoux et al. (2009).
Like yield strengths and viscosities, the results for the effusion
rates of the flows on the Elysium Mons region (99–103 m3 s1)
are similar to terrestrial basaltic a’a lava flows and the Ascraeus
Mons lava flows (18–104 m3 s1).
4.2. Absolute model ages
Crater counts for all 35 lava flows were either performed on CTX
or HRSC images, depending on the image quality and the coverage
of the respective flow. Absolute model ages of 21 lava flows have
been derived from CTX images and 24 lava flows have been dated
with HRSC images. Hence, the ages of 10 lava flows have been
determined on both HRSC and CTX, to analyze potential differences
in age derived from the two data sets. Whereas, Flows 5, 9, 10 and
11 showed the same absolute model ages on CTX and HRSC, Flows
6, 13, 14, 19, 20 and 31 display slightly different ages on CTX and
HRSC images. However, the differences in age are within the error
ranges for all these flows. A reason for the differences in ages might
be the lower quality of the two HRSC images, due to dust in the
atmosphere and a lower spatial resolution compared to the CTX
images. Secondary cratering also has to be taken into account,
especially for small craters on the CTX images. Because Flows 13,
4, and 20 showed evidence of secondary cratering of cra-
ters <150 m on CTX images, we chose the HRSC ages, based on cra-
ters >150 m, for our statistics. The absolute model ages of all lava
flows range from 632 Ma (N(1) = 3.39  104) for Flow 26 to
3460 Ma (N(1) = 2.52  103) for Flow 15 (Table 1).
Looking at the three regions defined above (flanks, plains, and
south of Albor Tholus) we found that the model ages of lava flows
on the flanks of Elysium Mons range from 663 Ma to 2620 Ma. The
flows in the plains show ages between 632 Ma and 3460 Ma, and
the flows south of Albor Tholus have ages from 1660 Ma to
2360 Ma. Thus, in general the lava flows on the flanks and in the
plains have similar minimum and maximum ages, whereas the
lava flows south of Albor Tholus have higher minimum ages.
We also determined the absolute model age of the Elysium
Mons caldera floor with crater counts. With an absolute model
age of 1640 Ma (N(1) = 7.97  104), the caldera of Elysium Mons
is generally similar in age to the calderas of Albor Tholus
(500 Ma, 600 Ma, 1600 Ma, 2200 Ma) and Hecates Tholus
(100 Ma, 300 Ma, 1000 Ma) (Neukum et al., 2004a,b), all of these
being in the range of ages of the lava flows in the Elysium Mons re-
gion. Crater counts of the Elysium Mons caldera on HRSC images by
Werner (2009) indicate an age of 3500 Ma with a resurfacing event
at 1600 Ma. Robbins et al. (2011) divided the Elysium Mons caldera
into three smaller calderas and derived absolute model ages of
2800 Ma, 3100 Ma and 3200 Ma. Compared to the calderas of the
Tharsis volcanoes, which show ages between 100 and 400 Ma
(Neukum et al., 2004a,b), the calderas of the Elysium Mons region
show young and old ages (100–2200 Ma) (Neukum et al., 2004b).
4.3. Correlations between rheologies, ages, and distances to the caldera
One objective of this study was to search for potential changes
in the rheological properties with time and distance to the caldera.
Furthermore, studying any potential relationships between the
ages of the lava flows and their distance to the caldera has been
a point of interest (Table 1).
For the following discussion, we have to keep in mind that we
only investigated a relatively small number of flows. Consequently,
our statistics most likely are influenced by effects that occur when
dealing with small numbers. In addition, not all of the studied
flows are necessarily associated with eruptions from Elysium
Mons.
452 J.H. Pasckert et al. / Icarus 219 (2012) 443–457

Table 2
Estimation of errors for the calculated rheological properties. Relevant input parameters such as density, thermal diffusivity, height, width, length, and surface slope were varied
by +10%, +70%, 10% and 70%. Columns show the effects of these variations on the rheological properties.a

Parameter and assumed errors Error YS I(1) (%) Error YS II(2) (%) Error ER(4) (%) Error EDU(5,6) (%) Error VI I(7) (%) Error VI II(8) (%)
Density
+10% 10 10 n.a. n.a. 10 10
+70% 70 70 n.a. n.a. 70 70
10% 10 10 n.a. n.a. 10 10
70% 70 70 n.a. n.a. 70 70
Thermal diffusivity
+10% n.a. n.a. 10 9 9 9
+70% n.a. n.a. 70 41 41 41
10% n.a. n.a. 10 11 11 11
70% n.a. n.a. 70 233 233 233
Flow height
+10% 10 21 9 21 61 45
10% 10 19 11 19 41 34
Flow width
+10% n.a. 9 10 n.a. 9 n.a.
10% n.a. 11 10 n.a. 11 n.a.
Flow length
+10% n.a. n.a. 10 n.a. 9 9
10% n.a. n.a. 10 n.a. 11 11
Slope
+10% 10 n.a. n.a. n.a. n.a. 10
10% 10 n.a. n.a. n.a. n.a. 10
a
Notes: ‘‘n.a.’’ indicates that theses parameters do not affect the used equations. YS I/II = Yield Strength I/II; ER = Effusion Rate; VI I/II = Viscosity I/II; EDU = Eruption
Duration; (x) used equations.

Table 3
Comparison of rheological properties of lava flows on Earth, Mars, Moon, and Venus. Correlating the effusion rates with the distance to the caldera
shows that the lava flows on the flanks of Elysium Mons show a
Location Yield strength Viscosity Effusion rate
lower average effusion rate (139 m3 s1) than the flows in the
(Pa) (Pa s) (m3 s1)
plains (663 m3 s1). The flows south of Albor Tholus show the high-
Elysium Monsa 102–105 104–107 69–103
est average effusion rate of 2253 m3 s1. However, the coefficient
Ascraeus Monsb 102–105 104–108 18–104
Venusc 104–105 106–109 102–104 of determination R2 for all studied lava flows is low (0.67). Includ-
Earthd 102–106 103–107 1–103 ing the lava flows investigated by Vaucher et al. (2009) illustrates
Moone 102–104 1–109 5–120 that the effusion rates of the Elysium Planitia flows are similar to
a
This study and Vaucher et al. (2009). the Elysium Mons lava flows (Fig. 5).
b
Hiesinger et al. (2007). Correlating the viscosities of the flows with their distance to the
c
McColley and Head (2004). caldera shows that the lava flows on the flanks of Elysium Mons
d
Moore (1987), Hulme (1976), Moore et al. (1978), and Warner and Gregg (Fig. 5) show wider variations in their viscosities (1.2  105 to
(2003).
e 3.1  107 Pa s) than the flows in the plains (1.9  105 Pa s to
Mare Basalts from Moore and Schaber (1975) and Moore et al. (1978), viscos-
ities of domes from Wilson and Head (2003), and low viscous lava flows from 1.2  107 Pa s). The flows south of Albor Tholus have an even nar-
Hiesinger and Head (2006). rower range in their viscosities (4.5  105 Pa s to 1.8  106 Pa s).
Although, the three flows on the flanks closest to the caldera have
Fig. 5 plots the yield strengths of the studied flows and their the highest viscosities compared to the other flows, the R2 value is
distances to the caldera. The figure shows that the flows on the low (R2 = 0.17), indicating a statistically insignificant correlation of
flanks of Elysium Mons have the widest range in yield strengths, the two parameters. Including the lava flows investigated by Vau-
whereas the flows south of Albor Tholus have a narrow range. cher et al. (2009) shows that these flows have much lower viscos-
The flows in the plains, which might be the most distant flows still ities (6.8  102 to 2.5  105 Pa s) than the flows in our study.
associated with Elysium Mons show a broader range in yield Changes in rheology with time have not been observed for the
strengths than the flows of Albor Tholus, but not as broad as the studied flows. We did observe changes in the yield strengths, effu-
flows on the flanks of Elysium Mons. Although the flows on the sion rates and viscosities, but they occur among lava flows of the
flanks have a higher average yield strength (7.2  103 Pa) than same age. In general, with the exception of the three flows closest
the flows in the plains (2.0  103 Pa) and south of Albor Tholus to the Elysium Mons caldera, young lava flows show similar yield
(9.6  102 Pa), we did not find a statistically significant change of strengths and viscosities as old lava flows (Fig. 6). We also did
the yield strengths with the distance to the caldera of Elysium not find a correlation between the effusion rates and the ages of
Mons (R2 = 0.54). The narrow range of the yield strengths for the the studied flows.
flows south of Albor Tholus might simply be a consequence of We also investigated potential changes in the ages of the lava
the small number of studied flows. Including the results for the flows with their distances to the caldera. The lava flows on the
yield strength estimated by Vaucher et al. (2009), who investigated flanks of Elysium Mons and in the plains show a wide variation
the rheological properties of lava flows in Elysium Planitia, about in age, ranging from 632 Ma to 3.5 Ga, whereas the lava flows
1400 km away from the caldera of Elysium Mons, shows that their south of Albor Tholus show a narrower range from 1500 Ma to
maximum value of 316 Pa is even lower than our minimum value 2000 Ma. Fig. 7 shows that the lava flows in Elysium Planitia
of 379 Pa for Elysium Mons. However, the flows investigated by investigated by Hartmann and Berman (2000) are much younger
Vaucher et al. (2009) might have different sources and cannot be than our investigated lava flows in the Elysium Mons region. Hart-
confidently linked to Elysium Mons. mann and Berman (2000) detected lava flows with ages of 10 Ma to
 J.H. Pasckert et al. / Icarus 219 (2012) 443–457 453

Fig. 5. Rheologies (yield strength (top), effusion rate (center), viscosity (bottom)) of flows versus their distances to the caldera of Elysium Mons (EM).

300 Ma. We did not observe lava flows younger than 600 Ma, nei-
ther close to the caldera, nor farther away from the caldera.
5. Discussion
The investigation of lava flows on Elysium Mons has shown that
their rheological properties are very similar to those of other major
volcanic regions on Mars, such as Ascraeus Mons in the Tharsis re-
gion. The calculated values of the yield strengths and viscosities
point to a basaltic/andesitic composition of the lava flows, similar
to basaltic or andesitic a’a flows on Earth and other planetary
bodies (Table 3). The effusion rates calculated in this work are sim-
ilar to those of Vaucher et al. (2009) for flows in Elysium Planitia
and higher than those calculated by Keszthelyi (1995).
Model ages of the lava flows, derived from crater size-frequency
distribution measurements, range from 632 to 3500 Ma. Including
454 J.H. Pasckert et al. / Icarus 219 (2012) 443–457

Fig. 6. Rheologies (yield strength (top), effusion rate (center), viscosity (bottom)) versus the absolute model ages of the flows on Elysium Mons.

the crater counts of Hartmann and Berman (2000) of lava flows in
Elysium Planitia, the range becomes even larger varying between
10 and 3500 Ma. Consequently, we have evidence that the Elysium
Mons region was volcanically active throughout most of the mar-
tian history. Our crater counts on CTX images of the Elysium Mons
caldera show that the youngest eruption occurred 1640 Ma ago,
which is different to the ages of the youngest calderas of the other
two volcanoes in this region, Hecates (100 Ma) and Albor Tholus
(500 Ma) investigated by Neukum et al. (2004b). However,
Neukum et al. (2004b) showed that the oldest caldera on Hecates
Tholus is 1000 Ma old and that the oldest caldera on Albor Tholus
is about 2200 Ma old. Using HRSC images, Werner (2009) also
counted craters of the caldera of Elysium Mons, determining an
age of 3500 Ma with a resurfacing event 1600 Ma ago. They
interpreted this resurfacing event to be of eolian origin. However,
on the basis of CTX images, we did not find evidence for eolian
 J.H. Pasckert et al. / Icarus 219 (2012) 443–457
Fig. 7. Absolute model ages of flows versus their distances to the caldera of Elysium Mons (EM).
processes, such as dunes or yardangs that could have covered or
eroded older craters in the caldera. Consequently, we interpret
the age of 1640 Ma to represent the last volcanic activity in the Ely-
sium Mons caldera. Such young volcanic activity can also be ob-
served in form of lava flows that erupted on the flanks of
Elysium Mons. The three absolute model ages (2800 Ma,
3100 Ma, 3200 Ma) of the Elysium Mons caldera investigated by
Robbins et al. (2011) are significantly different to our result. This
might have several reasons. First, Robbins et al. (2011) counted
craters on the entire caldera floor, including areas with clear evi-
dence for secondary cratering such as crater clusters, crater chains,
and elongated craters. Second, Robbins et al. (2011) derived their
model ages by fitting the production function only to craters with
diameters between 100 m and 250 m. Our crater size-frequency
distribution measurements were performed on carefully mapped
count areas excluding obvious secondary craters. Despite these
precautions, we still see a steepening of the cumulative crater fre-
quency at smaller crater diameters. Consequently, we fitted the
production function over a wider diameter range and to larger cra-
ters, which we believe provide a more reliable age compared to the
ages of Robbins et al. (2011).
Comparing the ages of the lava flows to the rheological proper-
ties suggests that the rheologies have been relatively constant dur-
ing an extended period of time. This might indicate that the
compositions of lavas have not changed significantly since the ini-
tial formation of Elysium Mons. Comparing absolute model ages of
the flows and their distances to the caldera shows that lava flows
close to the caldera have a wide variation in ages from 632 to
3500 Ma. The lava flows investigated by Hartmann and Berman
(2000) in Elysium Planitia, are much younger than those on the
flanks of Elysium Mons, the surrounding plains, and south of Albor
Tholus.
6. Conclusion
To our knowledge, this study is the first effort in combining abso-
lute model ages with the rheological properties of lava flows of Ely-
sium Mons. There have been numerous studies of the rheological
properties (e.g., Moore et al., 1978; Mouginis-Mark and Yoshioka,
1998; Glaze and Baloga, 2007) in the past. However, these studies
were limited to a much smaller number of flows and did not address
the temporal aspect. In addition, the main focus of these previous
studies was on the morphology and rheology of lava flows located
455
in Elysium Planitia, but not directly on the flanks of Elysium Mons.
Hartmann and Berman (2000) performed crater size-frequency
measurements on MOC images of lava flows in Elysium Planitia,
but their ages could not be combined with the previously published
rheological properties, due to the fact that they have studied differ-
ent lava flows in Elysium Planitia. The combination of the two data
sets offers the opportunity to investigate the evolution of rheologic
properties with time. On the basis of measurements of the flow
dimensions in HRSC and CTX images, the rheological properties of
32 lava flows on and around the flanks of Elysium Mons and south
of Albor Tholus, with distances to the Elysium Mons caldera from 32
to 642 km, were calculated. Flow thicknesses measured with indi-
vidual MOLA profiles are 18 m on average, ranging from 7 to
34 m. Flow lengths range from 9.9 to 118 km, with an average
length of 40 km. The derived flow widths range between 430 m
and 13.7 km. The surface slopes of the flows show wide variations
between 0.06° and 8.2°. Based on these measurements and a few
assumptions, calculated yield strengths are on the order of
3.0  103 Pa, ranging from 3.8  102 to 1.5  104 Pa. Viscosities
were calculated to be on average 4.1  102 Pa s, with a range of
1.2  105 to 3.1  107 Pa s. The obtained effusion rates of the flows
range from 99 to 4450 m3 s1, averaging at 747 m3 s1. The lava
flows have been emplaced between less than a week (very small
flows) to up to half a year (6–183 days). The calculated rheological
properties are very similar to those of other volcanic regions on
Mars, such as the Tharsis Montes volcanoes.
The absolute model ages of the flows, derived from crater size-
frequency measurements, range from 632 to 3460 Ma, and are
much older than the lava flows investigated by Hartmann and
Berman (2000) in Elysium Planitia. Hartmann and Berman
(2000) determined flow ages from 10 to 300 Ma. Our results indi-
cate that the latest volcanic activity in the caldera of Elysium
Mons occurred approximately 1640 Ma ago. Compared to other
large volcanoes in Elysium Planitia (Hecates Tholus and Albor
Tholus), the Elysium caldera is rather old. The youngest eruptions
of Hecates Tholus and Albor Tholus are in the range of 100 and
500 Ma, based on crater counts from Neukum et al. (2004b).
Such young volcanic activity could only be observed in form of
lava flows erupted on the flanks of Elysium Mons and not in the
caldera. Lava flows younger than 632 Ma could not be observed.
Our study combines calculations of rheologies, ages, and dis-
tances to the Elysium Mons caldera in order to study potential
changes in rheologies with distance to the caldera and time. On
456 J.H. Pasckert et al. / Icarus 219 (2012) 443–457

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