TITLE:
Weathering Processes on Martian Craters: Implications on Recurring Slope Lineae and the Location of Liquid Water
AUTHORS:
Pablo Garcia-Chevesich, Eduardo Bendek, Roberto Pizarro, Rodrigo Valdes-Pineda, David Gonzalez, Horacio Bown, Eduardo Martínez, Luis Gonzalez
KEYWORDS:
Mars, Recurring Slope Lineae (RSL), Weathering Processes, Craters, Groundwater
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Journal of Modern Hydrology,
Vol.7 No.4,
September
12,
2017
ABSTRACT: Recent attention has been put into recurring slope
lineae (RSL), after the discovery that water is present in them. It is assumed
that RSL are due to flowing water. However, even though that might be the case,
the general characteristics of RSL as well as their seasonal and spatial
distribution in Mars, and their occurrence within craters, suggest that RSL
correspond to the weathering of frozen aquifers, which coincides with slope
stability processes occurring in impact craters and scree slopes from Earth. In
this study, we associated RSL with similar weathering processes occurring on
impact craters and hydrogeological processes occurring on Earth (including ice,
water, and wind erosion and natural aquifer recharge processes). We were able
to create a conceptual model on how RSL develop, why are they found mostly in
mid latitudes around craters, why are they present in more frequency in one
side of crates in high latitudes, and why are there more RSL in the Martian
southern hemisphere. Considering the whole hydrogeological processes occurring
in craters that experience RSL, we were able to predict where large quantities
of liquid water are most likely to be present in the red planet.