Drainage basins on Mars formed differently than on Earth

Source: AGU

A new comparison of drainage basins on Mars and Earth reveals fundamental differences in the ways that valleys were formed in the different environments. Stepinski and Coradetti observe that, unlike on Earth, where drainage flow typically conforms to the region’s topographic features, drainage on Mars frequently appears to be independent of its surroundings.

The authors used image analysis and data mining methods to quantify their observations and argue that the morphologies of Martian basins are incompatible with runoff from sustained, homogeneous rainfall.

Instead, the researchers suggest that Martian valleys formed in a desert-like environment subjected to localized and intermittent fluvial activity, conditions somewhat similar to that found in Chile’s Atacama Desert. They also report that a previous method using erosion diagnosis and surface elevation levels lacks the sensitivity to predict the origin of the runoff.

Title: Comparing morphologies of drainage basins on Mars and Earth using integral-geometry and neural maps

Authors:

Thomas F. Stepinski, Lunar and Planetary Institute, Houston, Texas, USA; S. Caradetti, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA.

Source: Geophysical Research Letters (GL) paper 10.1029/2004GL020359, 2004