New Martian valley network volume estimate consistent with ancient ocean and warm and wet climate

Wei Luo (), Xuezhi Cang and Alan D. Howard
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Wei Luo: Northern Illinois University, Davis Hall 120, DeKalb, Illinois 60115, USA
Xuezhi Cang: Northern Illinois University, Davis Hall 120, DeKalb, Illinois 60115, USA
Alan D. Howard: University of Virginia

Nature Communications, 2017, vol. 8, issue 1, 1-7

Abstract: Abstract The volume of Martian valley network (VN) cavity and the amount of water needed to create the cavity by erosion are of significant importance for understanding the early Martian climate, the style and rate of hydrologic cycling, and the possibility of an ancient ocean. However, previous attempts at estimating these two quantities were based on selected valleys or at local sites using crude estimates of VN length, width and depth. Here we employed an innovative progressive black top hat transformation method to estimate them on a global scale based on the depth of each valley pixel. The conservative estimate of the minimum global VN volume is 1.74 × 1014 m3 and minimum cumulative volume of water required is 6.86 × 1017 m3 (or ∼5 km of global equivalent layer, GEL). Both are much larger than previous estimates and are consistent with an early warm and wet climate with active hydrologic cycling involving an ocean.

Date: 2017
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DOI: 10.1038/ncomms15766

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