TY - JOUR
T1 - Influence of fault-controlled topography on fluvio-deltaic sedimentary systems in Eberswalde crater, Mars
AU - Rice, Melissa S.
AU - Gupta, Sanjeev
AU - Bell, James
AU - Warner, Nicholas H.
PY - 2011/8/1
Y1 - 2011/8/1
N2 - Eberswalde crater was selected as a candidate landing site for the Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) mission based on the presence of a fan-shaped sedimentary deposit interpreted as a delta. We have identified and mapped five other candidate fluvio-deltaic systems in the crater, using images and digital terrain models (DTMs) derived from the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) and Context Camera (CTX). All of these systems consist of the same three stratigraphic units: (1) an upper layered unit, conformable with (2) a subpolygonally fractured unit, unconformably overlying (3) a pitted unit. We have also mapped a system of NNE-trending scarps interpreted as dip-slip faults that pre-date the fluvial-lacustrine deposits. The post-impact regional faulting may have generated the large-scale topography within the crater, which consists of a Western Basin, an Eastern Basin, and a central high. This topography subsequently provided depositional sinks for sediment entering the crater and controlled the geomorphic pattern of delta development.
AB - Eberswalde crater was selected as a candidate landing site for the Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) mission based on the presence of a fan-shaped sedimentary deposit interpreted as a delta. We have identified and mapped five other candidate fluvio-deltaic systems in the crater, using images and digital terrain models (DTMs) derived from the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) and Context Camera (CTX). All of these systems consist of the same three stratigraphic units: (1) an upper layered unit, conformable with (2) a subpolygonally fractured unit, unconformably overlying (3) a pitted unit. We have also mapped a system of NNE-trending scarps interpreted as dip-slip faults that pre-date the fluvial-lacustrine deposits. The post-impact regional faulting may have generated the large-scale topography within the crater, which consists of a Western Basin, an Eastern Basin, and a central high. This topography subsequently provided depositional sinks for sediment entering the crater and controlled the geomorphic pattern of delta development.
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U2 - 10.1029/2011GL048149
DO - 10.1029/2011GL048149
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:80052195063
SN - 0094-8276
VL - 38
JO - Geophysical Research Letters
JF - Geophysical Research Letters
IS - 16
M1 - L16203
ER -