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New and recent gully activity on Mars as seen by HiRISE
Author(s) -
Dundas Colin M.,
McEwen Alfred S.,
Diniega Serina,
Byrne Shane,
MartinezAlonso Sara
Publication year - 2010
Publication title -
geophysical research letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.007
H-Index - 273
eISSN - 1944-8007
pISSN - 0094-8276
DOI - 10.1029/2009gl041351
Subject(s) - mars exploration program , geology , southern hemisphere , earth science , astrobiology , climatology , physics
Fresh‐appearing gully deposits are found at tens of sites in the southern hemisphere of Mars. These deposits have latitudinal and azimuthal dependences similar to the overall preferences of southern‐hemisphere gullies, suggesting that most gullies can undergo such events. Definite changes are seen at ten sites, including two previously reported. These include visible modification of gully channels and aprons. Those formation intervals constrained to better than one Mars year tend to include winter and exclude summer, suggesting seasonal activity. This seasonal activity is consistent with proposed models for gully formation driven by CO 2 frost, although at least some of the new deposits are probably due to dry granular flow with no volatile involvement. As these deposits are capable of effecting distinct topographic changes to gully aprons and channels, they represent a significant component of recent gully evolution.