Mud flows in the Southwestern Utopia Planitia, Mars

Abstract

Here we present the results of our mapping of a large field of landforms characterized by flow-like morphology in the southwestern part of Utopia Planitia. They have been previously interpreted as mud flows associated with a partly frozen muddy ocean [1,2]. We find that these features can be grouped into four separate classes with distinct shapes and sizes and a clear evolutionary sequence among them. This suggests that all 205 studied features spread across the 500 × 1300 km large area were formed by the same basic process and that the material likely originated from the same source.

Introduction

The deepest parts of Utopia Planitia served as depocenters or sinks since early in the Martian history [2,3] and would be the final destination for any material released during Hesperian catastrophic floods [4]. Consequently, it was proposed that a large body of water might once or repetitively have been present there [1,5]. However, such hypothesis is still controversial due to the lack of unambiguous morphological evidence [6]. A promising area to search for such evidence is Adamas Labyrinthus, where the presence of putative mud flows has been previously reported [2,5].

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