Orbital and In‐Situ Investigation of Periodic Bedrock Ridges in Glen Torridon, Gale Crater, Mars
Name
JGR Planets - 2022 - Stack - Orbital and In‐Situ Investigation of Periodic Bedrock Ridges in Glen Torridon Gale Crater .pdf
Description
Published version
Size
6.79 MB
Format
Adobe PDF
Checksum (MD5)
05c15930d4c2446f5a7ebda35c1c6b22
Author(s)
Stack, Kathryn M
Dietrich, William E
Lamb, Michael P
Sullivan, Robert J
Christian, John R
Newman, Claire E
O’Connell‐Cooper, Catherine D
Sneed, Jonathan W
Day, Mackenzie
Baker, Mariah
Date Issued
May 16, 2022
Journal
Journal of Geophysical Research: Planets
Publisher
American Geophysical Union
Citation
Stack, K. M., Dietrich, W. E., Lamb, M. P., Sullivan, R. J., Christian, J. R., Newman, C. E., et al. (2022). Orbital and in-situ investigation of periodic bedrock ridges in Glen Torridon, Gale Crater, Mars. Journal of Geophysical Research: Planets, 127, e2021JE007096.
Version
Final published version
Abstract
Gale crater, the field site for NASA's Mars Science Laboratory Curiosity rover, contains a diverse and extensive record of aeolian deposition and erosion. This study focuses on a series of regularly spaced, curvilinear, and sometimes branching bedrock ridges that occur within the Glen Torridon region on the lower northwest flank of Aeolis Mons, the central mound within Gale crater. During Curiosity's exploration of Glen Torridon between sols ∼2300–3080, the rover drove through this field of ridges, providing the opportunity for in situ observation of these features. This study uses orbiter and rover data to characterize ridge morphology, spatial distribution, compositional and material properties, and association with other aeolian features in the area. Based on these observations, we find that the Glen Torridon ridges are consistent with an origin as wind‐eroded bedrock ridges, carved during the exhumation of Mount Sharp. Erosional features like the Glen Torridon ridges observed elsewhere on Mars, termed periodic bedrock ridges (PBRs), have been interpreted to form transverse to the dominant wind direction. The size and morphology of the Glen Torridon PBRs are consistent with transverse formative winds, but the orientation of nearby aeolian bedforms and bedrock erosional features raise the possibility of PBR formation by a net northeasterly wind regime. Although several formation models for the Glen Torridon PBRs are still under consideration, and questions persist about the nature of PBR‐forming paleowinds, the presence of PBRs at this site provides important constraints on the depositional and erosional history of Gale crater.
MIT Department
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences
Terms of Use
Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial
Persistent DSpace Link
DOI of Published Version
https://doi.org/10.1029/2021je007096
