Evidence of Low-latitude Fluvial and Glacial Activity during the Martian Amazonian Era

TL;DR

This study provides evidence of low-latitude fluvial and glacial activity on Mars during the Amazonian era, linking obliquity cycles to geological features in Arabia Terra.

Contribution

It introduces a new approach to dating craters and mapping glacial and fluvial features to connect Martian climate cycles with surface activity.

Findings

Glacial and fluvial features are present in Arabia Terra.

Crater ages average around 2 billion years.

Obliquity cycles may influence surface activity during the Amazonian era.

Abstract

The Martian obliquity cycle is predominately influenced by Solar and Jovian tidal forces. The present-day axial tilt of Mars (25 degrees) is predicted to cycle between 0 degrees and 60 degrees (Mischna & Richardson 2005) with excursions up to 80 degrees(Laskar et al. 2004). We focused on Arabia Terra, a region especially well-suited for studying glacial migration due to its location in the northern mid-latitude (20-40 degrees North, 0-30 degrees East) zone, and its heavily cratered terrain. We created glacial and fluvial morphology distribution maps with the ESRI Aeronautical Reconnaissance Coverage Geographic Information System (ArcGIS). We determined the ages of our craters in order to establish a time-domain link between the Martian obliquity cycle and glacial migration; we found the average crater age to be roughly 2 billion years old.