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2006 Annual Science Report

University of California, Berkeley Reporting  |  JUL 2005 – JUN 2006

Early Oceans on Mars

Project Summary

The idea that standing bodies of water might once have existed on Mars’ surface is supported by several lines of evidence, including geologic and topographic features near the margins of the northern lowlands that have been interpreted as shorelines formed by ancient oceans

4 Institutions
3 Teams
0 Publications
0 Field Sites
Field Sites

Project Progress

The idea that standing bodies of water might once have existed on Mars’ surface is supported by several lines of evidence, including geologic and topographic features near the margins of the northern lowlands that have been interpreted as shorelines formed by ancient oceans. But topographic profiles along the shorelines do not follow surfaces of equal gravitational potential, as the margins of a standing body of water should. We are testing the hypothesis that these long-wavelength topographic trends are the result of large-scale deformation of Mars’ surface. Our analysis indicates that the deformation mechanism might have been true polar wander, a change in the orientation of Mars’ rotation axis in response to a large redistribution of mass. As a first step in this analysis we reconsidered the rotational stability of planets with lithospheres including the effects of non-axisymmetric surface loads (Matsuyama et al., 2006). We suggest that this true polar wander event could have been driven by the redistribution of water associated with the formation of the oceans.

These findings support the idea that there were once extensive bodies of water on Mars that persisted over a geologically significant time interval. An interesting implication of the study is that, due to the change in Mars’ rotation axis, the ancient oceans would have been centered in the tropics rather than the north polar region (as previous studies have suggested).

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  • PROJECT INVESTIGATORS:
    Michael Manga
    Co-Investigator
  • PROJECT MEMBERS:
    Isamu Matsuyama
    Collaborator

    Jerry Mitorvica
    Collaborator

    Mark Richards
    Collaborator

    Taylor Perron
    Doctoral Student

  • RELATED OBJECTIVES:
    Objective 1.1
    Models of formation and evolution of habitable planets

    Objective 4.1
    Earth's early biosphere

    Objective 7.1
    Biosignatures to be sought in Solar System materials

    Objective 7.2
    Biosignatures to be sought in nearby planetary systems