Status Report

Observational evidence for a dry dust-wind origin of Mars seasonal dark flows

By SpaceRef Editor
September 4, 2018
Filed under , ,

Mathieu Vincendon, Cédric Pilorget, John Carter, Aurélien Stcherbinine
(Submitted on 29 Aug 2018)

Seasonal flows on warm slopes, or recurring slope lineae, have been presented as a strong evidence for currently flowing water on Mars. This assumption was supported by a correlation between activity and warm temperatures, and by the spectral identification of hydrated salts. Here we first demonstrate that salts spectral identification is not robust, and that flow activity occurs on a wide range of seasons and slope orientations, ruling out liquid water as a probable contributor. We then show that morphology and timing of flow activity is fully consistent with the removal and deposition of bright dust above darker underlying surfaces occurring in relation with seasonal dust storm activity. Mars recurring slope lineae are thus consistent with dust-wind processes typical of present-day dry planet Mars.

Subjects:    Earth and Planetary Astrophysics (astro-ph.EP)
Cite as:    arXiv:1808.09699 [astro-ph.EP] (or arXiv:1808.09699v1 [astro-ph.EP] for this version)
Submission history
From: Mathieu Vincendon 
[v1] Wed, 29 Aug 2018 09:19:52 GMT (5566kb)
https://arxiv.org/abs/1808.09699

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