MICHAEL MANGA

Organizers: Mark Richards and Michael Manga

First meeting: Friday, January 24, 10 am

Class meeting times: Fridays 10 am - noon

Room: McCone 401

The final syllabus:

• January 31: Geological history
• Tanaka (1986) Stratigraphy of Mars, J. Geophys. Res.
• Tanaka, Golombek and Banerdt (1991) Reconciliation of Stress and Structural Histories of the Tharis Region of Mars, J. Geophys. Res.
• Tanaka, K.L., D.H. Scott, and R. Greeley (1992) II. Stratigraphy, in the Mars book
• Carr, M.H. (1999) Mars, in The New Solar System, edited by Beatty, Petersen and Chaiken
• February 7: Interior structure and geophysical constraints
• Spohn, T. et al. (2001) Geophysical constraints on the evolution of Mars, Space Sci. Rev., vol. 96, 231-262. pdf
• Bertka, C.M., and Y. Fei (1998) Density profile of an SNC model Martian interior and the moment-of-inertia factor of Mars, Earth. Planet. Sci. Lett., vol. 157, 79-88. pdf
• Sohl, F., and T. Spohn (1997) The interior structure of Mars: Implications from SNC meteorites, J. Geophys. Res., vol. 102, 1613-1635. pdf
• Folkner, W.M. et al. (1997) Interior structure and seasonal mass redistribution of Mars from radio tracking of Mars pathfinder, Science, vol. 278, 1749-1751. pdf
• February 14: Thermal evolution models

Questions to think about:
1. What are the observational and model constraints on changes in surface heat flow over time?
2. Is it plausible for the mantle be close to its solidus at the present time?
3. How are the thermal evolution of the core and mantle coupled?
4. Is plate tectonics required early in Martian history?
5. Is a layered mantle compatible with any constraints imposed by thermal evolution models?
• Hauck, S.A., and R.J. Phillips (2002) Thermal and crustal evolution of Mars, J. Geophys. Res., vol. 107, 10.1029/2001JE001801. pdf
Some (optional) background and related paper
• Davies, G.F. (1980) Thermal histories of convective Earth models and constraints on radiogenic heat production in the Earth, J. Geophys. Res., vol. 85, 2517-2530.
• Reese, C.C., V.S. Solomatov, and L.-N. Moresi (1998) Heat transport efficiency for stagnant lid convection with dislocation viscosity: Application to Mars and Venus. J. Geophys. Res., vol. 103, 13,643-13,657.
• February 21: Tharsis, an introduction

Questions to think about:
1. What are the "end member" hypotheses invoked to explain the topography, gravity, and tectonic features of the Tharsis region?
2. How do these hypotheses bear on the dynamic origins or Tharsis?
3. Is active mantle upwelling at the present time required to explain Tharsis?
4. What is the difference between bending stresses and membrane stresses?
5. How might the thermal history of Mars have affected faulting patterns associated with the emplacement of Tharsis?
6. What is attractive about the "intrusive" model of Phillips et al., 1990?
• Sleep, N.H. and R.J. Phillips (1985) Gravity and lithospheric stress on the terrestrial planets with reference to the Tharsis region of Mars, J. Geophys. Res., vol. 90, 4469-4489.
should also digest
• Phillips, R.J., N.H. Sleep, and W.B. Banerdt (1990) Permanent uplift in magmatic systems with application to the Tharsis region of Mars, J. Geophys. Res., vol. 95, 5089-5100.
brief warmup if desired:
• Sleep, N.H. and R.J. Phillips (1979) An isostatic model for the Tharsis province, Mars, Geophys. Res. Lett., v. 6, 803-806.
• February 28: Guest speaker Francis Nimmo
Here are some recent papers Francis wrote about the geodynamics of Mars. You can download these from his Web Page
• Convective modelling of gravity, topography and melt generation at the Tharsis Rise, Mars, F. Nimmo, J. Geophys. Res. accepted.
• Admittance estimates of mean crustal thickness and density at the Martian hemispheric dichotomy, F. Nimmo, J. Geophys. Res., vol. 107, 5117, doi 10.1029/2000JE001488, (2002).
• Strength of faults on Mars from MOLA topography, D.N. Barnett and F. Nimmo, Icarus, vol. 157, 34-42 (2002).
• Constraints on the depth of magnetized crust on Mars from impact craters, F. Nimmo and M.S. Gilmore, J. Geophys. Res., vol. 106, 12315-12323 (2001).
• Estimates of Martian crustal thickness from viscous relaxation of topography, F. Nimmo and D. Stevenson, J. Geophys. Res., vol. 106, 5085-5098 (2001).
• The influence of plate tectonics on the thermal evolution and magnetic field of Mars, F. Nimmo and D. Stevenson, J. Geophys. Res., vol. 105, 11969-11980 (2000).
• Dike intrusion as a possible cause of linear Martian magnetic anomalies, F. Nimmo, Geology, vol. 28, 391-394 (2000).
• The generation of Martian floods by melting permafrost above dykes, D. McKenzie and F. Nimmo, Nature, vol. 397, 231-233 (1999).
• March 7: Guest speaker Fritz Busse will talk about planetary dynamos
• March 14: Guest speaker Philippe Lognonné will talk about Martian seismology
• March 21: Stress and deformation history of Tharsis
• Tanaka, K.L., M.P. Golombek, and W.B. Banerdt (1991) Reconciliation of stress and structural histories of the Tharsis region of Mars, J. Geophys. Res. (planets), vol. 96, 15,617-15,633.
• Anderson, R.C. et al. (2001) Primary centers and secondary concentrations of tectonic activity through time in the western hemisphere of Mars, J. Geophys. Res. (planets), vol. 106, 20,563-20,585. pdf
• Phillips, R.J. et al. (2001) Ancient geodynamics and global-scale hydrology on Mars, Science, vol. 291, 2587-2591. pdf
• April 4: SNC meteorites

Question to think about: What constraints about Martian dynamics and evolution are provided by metoerites.
• Nyquist, L.E., Bogard, D.D., Shih, C.Y., Greshake, A., Stoffler, D., Eugster, O. (2001) Ages and geologic histories of Martian meteorites. Space Science Reviews, vol. 96, 105-164. pdf
• April 18: Mantle convection on Mars

Questions and issues to think about:
1. The timescales for developing large-scale structures (H&H)
2. The issue of 2D vs 3D modeling (Z&Z)
3. What could be better constrained about mantle properties? (core size, radial viscosity variation ... not really much hope?)
4. Could Tharsis have been a single thermo-chemical overturn event?
5. Could the dichotomy and Tharsis both have arisen from thermal convection?
• Harder, H. and U.R. Christensen (1996) A one-plume model of Martian mantle convection, Nature, vol. 380, 507-509.
• Zhong, S. and M.T. Zuber (2001) Degree-one mantle convection and the crustal dichotomy on Mars, Earth Planet. Sci. Letters, vol. 189, 75-84.
• May 2: Mars' liquid core

Questions to think about:
1. What observations require a liquid core?
2. What are the effects of core size on Martian mantle dynamics?
3. Why did Mars once, and no longer, have a dynamo?
• Dehant, V. (2003) A liquid core for Mars? Science, vol. 300, 260-261. pdf
• Yoder, C.F. et al. (2003) Fluid core size of Mars from detection of the solar tide. Science, vol. 300, 299-303. pdf
• May 9: Water on Mars

Questions to think about:
1. How is the global water cycle on Mars similar to and different from that on Earth?
2. How does the presence of a cryosphere affect surface water?
3. How does the temporal evolution of the Martian hydrologic system reflect the planet's volcanic and tectonic evolution?
• Gaidos, E. (2001) Cryovolcanism and the recent flow of liquid water on Mars, Icarus, vol. 153, 218-223. pdf
• Clifford, S.M., and T.J. Parker (2001) The evolution of the Martian hydrosphere: Implications for the fate of a primordial ocean and the current state of the northern plains. Icarus, vol. 154: 40-79. pdf


Mars





---

Last modified 28 April 2003
Return to Michael's home page