POSSIBLE FREEZE AND THAW LANDFROMS ON HIGH-LATITUDE SLOPES ON MARS: INSIGHTS FROM TERRESTRIAL ANALOGS IN SPITSBERGEN, SVALBARD.

• Solifluction lobes are common slope features in Polar Regions on Earth where freeze and thaw processes occur. Mars is currently a cold and barren planet with its water resources locked up in ice caps, glaciers and ice-enriched permafrost. However, features resembling solifluction lobes have been observed on high-latitude slopes on Mars and in most, but not all, cases in close proximity to gullies. Lobes are found on steep inner crater walls and in planform they show striking resemblance to terrestrial solifluction lobes. These observations may point to a late phase in Mars history with transient melt water in local environments. In our study we have examined solifluction lobes on slopes in Svalbard in order to compare to the Martian lobate landforms. Specific questions we address are: how widely distributed are these lobate landforms on Mars and how do they relate to known ground-ice related landforms?

Subject headings

NATURVETENSKAP  -- Geovetenskap och miljövetenskap (hsv//swe)

NATURAL SCIENCES  -- Earth and Related Environmental Sciences (hsv//eng)

NATURVETENSKAP  -- Fysik -- Astronomi, astrofysik och kosmologi (hsv//swe)

NATURAL SCIENCES  -- Physical Sciences -- Astronomy, Astrophysics and Cosmology (hsv//eng)

NATURVETENSKAP  -- Geovetenskap och miljövetenskap -- Naturgeografi (hsv//swe)

NATURAL SCIENCES  -- Earth and Related Environmental Sciences -- Physical Geography (hsv//eng)

Keyword

Mars

Svalbard

permafrost

solifluction

Publication and Content Type

ref (subject category)

kon (subject category)