Formation of gullies on Mars by debris flows triggered by CO_2 sublimation

Martian gully landforms resemble terrestrial debris flows formed by the action of liquid water and have thus been interpreted as evidence for potential habitable environments on Mars within the past few millennia. However, ongoing gully formation has been detected under surface conditions much too cold for liquid water, but at times in the martian year when a thin layer of seasonal CO_2 frost is present and defrosting above the regolith. These observations suggest that the CO_2 condensation–sublimation cycle could play a role in gully formation. Here we use a thermo-physical numerical model of the martian regolith underlying a CO_2 ice layer and atmosphere to show that the pores beneath the ice layer can be filled with CO_2 ice and subjected to extreme pressure variations during the defrosting season. The subsequent gas fluxes can destabilize the regolith material and induce gas-lubricated debris flows with geomorphic characteristics similar to martian gullies. Moreover, we find that subsurface CO_2 ice condensation, sublimation and pressurization occurs at conditions found at latitudes and slope orientations where gullies are observed. We conclude that martian gullies can result from geologic dry ice processes that have no terrestrial analogues and do not require liquid water. Such dry ice processes may have helped shape the evolution of landforms elsewhere on the martian surface

Planetary Rings

Planetary rings are the only nearby astrophysical disks, and the only disks that have been investigated by spacecraft. Although there are significant differences between rings and other disks, chiefly the large planet/ring mass ratio that greatly enhances the flatness of rings (aspect ratios as small as 1e-7), understanding of disks in general can be enhanced by understanding the dynamical processes observed at close-range and in real-time in planetary rings. We review the known ring systems of the four giant planets, as well as the prospects for ring systems yet to be discovered. We then review planetary rings by type. The main rings of Saturn comprise our system's only dense broad disk and host many phenomena of general application to disks including spiral waves, gap formation, self-gravity wakes, viscous overstability and normal modes, impact clouds, and orbital evolution of embedded moons. Dense narrow rings are the primary natural laboratory for understanding shepherding and self-stability. Narrow dusty rings, likely generated by embedded source bodies, are surprisingly found to sport azimuthally-confined arcs. Finally, every known ring system includes a substantial component of diffuse dusty rings. Planetary rings have shown themselves to be useful as detectors of planetary processes around them, including the planetary magnetic field and interplanetary impactors as well as the gravity of nearby perturbing moons. Experimental rings science has made great progress in recent decades, especially numerical simulations of self-gravity wakes and other processes but also laboratory investigations of coefficient of restitution and spectroscopic ground truth. The age of self-sustained ring systems is a matter of debate; formation scenarios are most plausible in the context of the early solar system, while signs of youthfulness indicate at least that rings have never been static phenomena.Comment: 82 pages, 34 figures. Final revision of general review to be published in "Planets, Stars and Stellar Systems", P. Kalas and L. French (eds.), Springer (http://refworks.springer.com/sss

No signature of clear CO2 ice from the 'cryptic' regions in Mars' south seasonal polar cap

International audienceThe seasonal polar ice caps of Mars are composed mainly of CO2 ice(1,2). A region of low (< 30%) albedo has been observed within the south seasonal cap during early to mid-spring(3,4). The low temperature of this 'cryptic region' has been attributed to a clear slab of nearly pure CO2 ice, with the low albedo resulting from absorption by the underlying surface(4). Here we report near-infrared imaging spectroscopy of the south seasonal cap. The deep and broad CO2 absorption bands that are expected in the near-infrared with a thick transparent slab of CO2 ice are not observed. Models of the observed spectra indicate that the low albedo results from extensive dust contamination close to the surface of a CO2 ice layer, which could be linked to atmospheric circulation patterns(5,6). The strength of the CO2 absorption increases after mid-spring, so part of the dust is either carried away or buried more deeply in the ice layer during the CO2 ice sublimation process