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Martian hydrogeology sustained by thermally insulating gas and salt hydrates

¹ Department of Hydrology and Water Resources, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona 85721, USA
² Department of Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona 85721, USA
³ Centro de Astrobiología–Instituto Nacional de Técnica Aeroespacial, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas, 28850 Torrejón de Ardoz, Madrid, Spain
⁴ National Astronomical Observatory of Japan, Mizusawa 023-0861, Japan, and Planetary Science Institute, Tucson, Arizona 85719, USA
⁵ Quaternary Research Center and Department of Earth and Space Sciences, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington 98195-1310, USA
⁶ Desert Research Institute, Reno, Nevada 89512, USA
⁷ Department of Atmospheric Sciences, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington 98195-1640, USA

Numerical simulations and geologic studies suggest that high thermal anomalies beneath, within, and above thermally insulating layers of buried hydrated salts and gas hydrates could have triggered and sustained hydrologic processes on Mars, producing or modifying chaotic terrains, debris flows, gullies, and ice-creep features. These simulations and geologic examples suggest that thick hydrate deposits may sustain such geothermal anomalies, shallow ground-water tables, and hydrogeologic activity for eons. The proposed mechanism may operate and be self-reinforcing even in today's cold Martian climate without elevated heat flux.

Key Words: Mars • heat flow • hydrous sulfates • clathrate hydrates • Aram Chaos

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