Bright dunes on Mars

P. C. Thomas (), M. C. Malin, M. H. Carr, G. E. Danielson, M. E. Davies, W. K. Hartmann, A. P. Ingersoll, P. B. James, A. S. McEwen, L. A. Soderblom and J. Veverka
Additional contact information
P. C. Thomas: Center for Radiophysics and Space Research, Cornell University
M. C. Malin: Malin Space Science Systems
M. H. Carr: US Geological Survey
G. E. Danielson: California Institute of Technology
M. E. Davies: The Rand Corporation
W. K. Hartmann: Planetary Science Institute
A. P. Ingersoll: California Institute of Technology
P. B. James: University of Toledo
A. S. McEwen: Lunar and Planetary Laboratory, University of Arizona
L. A. Soderblom: US Geological Survey
J. Veverka: Center for Radiophysics and Space Research, Cornell University

Nature, 1999, vol. 397, issue 6720, 592-594

Abstract: Abstract Seasonal changes observed on the surface of Mars can in part be attributed to the transport of geological materials by wind1. Images obtained by orbiting spacecraft in the 1970s showed large wind-formed features such as dunes, and revealed regional time-varying albedos that could be attributed to the effects of dust erosion and deposition. But the resolution of these images was insufficient to identify different types and sources of aeolian materials, nor could they reveal aeolian deposits other than large dunes or extensive surface coverings that were redistributed by dust storms. Here we present images of Mars with up to 50 times better resolution. These images show that martian dunes include at least two distinct components, the brighter of which we interpret to be composed of relatively soft minerals, possibly sulphates. We also find large areas of the martian surface that have several metres or more of aeolian mantle lacking obvious bedforms.

Date: 1999
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.nature.com/articles/17557 Abstract (text/html)
Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:nat:nature:v:397:y:1999:i:6720:d:10.1038_17557

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://www.nature.com/

DOI: 10.1038/17557

Access Statistics for this article

Nature is currently edited by Magdalena Skipper

More articles in Nature from Nature
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().