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Compositional Constraints on the North Polar Cap of Mars from Gravity and Topography
Author(s) -
Ojha Lujendra,
Nerozzi Stefano,
Lewis Kevin
Publication year - 2019
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 - 10.1029/2019gl082294
Subject(s) - mars exploration program , amazonian , geology , martian , polar , water ice , aeolian processes , astrobiology , geophysics , geomorphology , physics , astronomy , ecology , amazon rainforest , biology
The polar ice caps are the largest reservoir of water ice on Mars. The north polar ice cap is composed of the ice‐rich north polar layered deposit (NPLD) and a lower‐lying, silicate‐rich basal unit (BU). Together, these units represent a record of Martian climate history throughout the Amazonian period. Here we place a bulk compositional constraint on the BU by modeling its gravity signature in both spatial and spectral domains using two independent approaches. We find the density of the BU to be 2007 + 493 − 445kg/m 3 , suggesting that it may contain 55 + 25% water ice. We estimate that the BU contains ~1.5‐m global equivalent layer of water making it one of the largest reservoir of water‐ice on Mars. Our compositional constraint suggests that the north pole of Mars was not only a cold trap for ices but also an aeolian trap for silicates during the Amazonian period.