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GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH LETTERS, VOL. 20, NO. 15, PAGES 1599–1602, 1993

Hellas Planitia, Mars: Site of Net Dust Erosion and Implications for the Nature of Basin Floor Deposits

Jeffrey M. Moore

Center for Mars Exploration and the SETI Institute, NASA Ames Research Center


Kenneth S. Edgett

Department of Geology, Arizona State University, Tempe


Abstract

Hellas Planitia, located within an enclosed basin which includes the lowest topography on Mars, appears to be undergoing net erosion. Dust is removed from the basin. It probably contributes to global dust storms and should leave behind a coarse lag. The particle size distributions and particularly the rock or boulder populations in this lag might be useful for distinguishing between processes which formed the lithologic units that comprise Hellas Planitia. This report concludes that the abundance of rock particles larger than coarse sand is very low. Although this hypothesis awaits confirmation from forthcoming spacecraft data, the origins for Hellas floor deposits favored by this study are indurated volcanic airfall or ancient loess, lacustrine deposits, and some types of volcanic mud flows. The conclusions of this study tend to disfavor such geologic processes as blocky lava flows, glacial deposits (e.g., moraines), or boulder-laden catastrophic flood outwash.

Received 4 March 1993; accepted 13 May 1993.

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Citation: Moore, J. M., and K. S. Edgett (1993), Hellas Planitia, Mars: Site of Net Dust Erosion and Implications for the Nature of Basin Floor Deposits, Geophys. Res. Lett., 20(15), 1599–1602.