high heat flux on ancient mars evidence from rift flank uplift at coracis fossae 1 we have identified flexural uplift at the flanks of the coracis fossae rift valley modeling the topography the elastic thickness is constrained to 10 3 12 5 km the corresponding mechanical thickness and thermal gradient are 15 19 km and 27 33 k km 1 respectively the time of rifting is dated by evaluating the crater size frequency distribution of key surface units related to the rifting thus the heat flux between 3 5 and 3 9 ga is calculated to be 54 66 mw m 2 furthermore the stresses supported by the rift bounding faults are estimated to be below 5 mpa we speculate that this weakness may be connected to the presence of water below the surface

three dimensional normal faulting models of the valles marineris mars and geodynamic implications inversion of martian topography using a three dimensional boundary element model permits revised estimates of fault dip angle depth of faulting paleogeothermal gradient and extensional strain in the valles marineris region the major normal faults dip at 40 55 to depths of 60 75 km with comparatively small footwall uplifts 500 m for throws to 10 km implying that paleogeothermal gradients during faulting were 10 k km 1 or less assuming relatively rapid strain rates appropriate to the extending martian crust accumulation of dip slip offsets along the main normal faults likely was associated with anticlinal flexure and deformation of preexisting strata within the troughs the magnitudes of the predicted vertical and horizontal displacements outside the troughs as well as extensional strains are spatially variable depending on both cross and along strike position relative to the troughs the predicted displacements and strains attain maximum values at the troughs and decay to background values at cross strike distances of 250 km corresponding to 3 4 times the depth of faulting with an average province wide strain of 4 15 by implication the aggregate strain field surrounding tharsis is a highly variable spatial and temporal composite of the inhomogeneous strain fields each associated and scaling in size with an individual graben from the smallest structures through the largest valles marineris troughs

interior layered deposits within a perched basin southern coprates chasma mars evidence for their formation alteration and erosion a basina like area containing three interior layer deposits ilds on the southern margin of coprates chasma was studied we interpret the area as an ancestral basin and demonstrate that ild deposition postdates the formation of the current wall rock slopes the geometry of the ild and the wall rock spurs form a catchment area between each ild and the plateau to the south erosional remnants of extensive ash or dust layers deposited on the plateau south of valles marineris also crop out on the southern plateau of coprates chasma a mass balance calculation suggests that the volume of each ild is compatible with the volume of the ash or dust that would have been deposited within each catchment area we propose that the ilds likely formed by episodically washing such aerially deposited material down from chasma walls rifting of the iusa melasa coprates graben opened the enclosed basin and removed any standing water faults within the ilds are compatible with this chasm opening sulfates are associated with the ilds and lighta toned material on the basin floor we suggest that they result from water alteration of preexisting deposits though the timing of that alteration may predate or postdate the breaching of the basin scours within one ild are similar to terrestrial glacial scours during a period of high obliquity ice would accumulate in this region hence we argue the scours are martian glacial scours a late deposited layer marks the end of the active local geological history between 100 my and 1 gy

new models for the origin of valles marineris closed depressions current models for the formation of the abundant large closed depressions of valles marineris have serious shortcomings purely tectonic mechanisms are inconsistent with the morphology of many depressions and removal of large quantities of ground ice from the canyon walls is inconsistent with the observed strength of the walls accordingly we offer some alternatives one possibility involves decay of ice rich bodies occupying partially sediment choked ancient graben that predated the overlying cratered and ridged plains other possibilities involve the removal of massive equatorial carbonate deposits storing much of the planet s co2 inventory generated during greenhouse conditions on early mars solution by carbonic acid derived from the atmosphere analogous to terrestrial karst requires extensive recycling of the available water supply solution by various groundwater acids possibly derived from the tharsis magmas requires less water especially if only the smaller closed depressions are due to carbonate decay alternatively volume loss due to decarbonation of carbonate during early high heat flow or a later tharsis related heat pulse can produce extensive collapse especially if the carbonates have high silica content

morphology stratigraphy and mineralogical composition of a layered formation covering the plateaus around valles marineris mars implications for its geological history an extensive layered formation covers the high plateaus around valles marineris mapping based on hirise ctx and hrsc images reveals these layered deposits lds crop out north of tithonium chasma south of ius chasma around west candor chasma and southwest of juventae chasma and ganges chasma the estimated area covered by lds is not vert similar42 300 km2 they consist of a series of alternating light and dark beds a 100 m in total thickness that is covered by a dark unconsolidated mantle possibly resulting from their erosion their stratigraphic relationships with the plateaus and the valles marineris chasmata indicate that the lds were deposited during the early to late hesperian and possibly later depending on the region before the end of the backwasting of the walls near juventae chasma and probably before louros valles sapping near ius chasma their large spatial coverage and their location mainly on highly elevated plateaus lead us to conclude that lds correspond to airfall dust and or volcanic ash the surface of lds is characterized by various morphological features including lobate ejecta and pedestal craters polygonal fractures valleys and sinuous ridges and a pitted surface which are all consistent with liquid water and or water ice filling the pores of lds lds were episodically eroded by fluvial processes and were possibly modified by sublimation processes considering that lds correspond to dust and or ash possibly mixed with ice particles in the past lds may be compared to dissected mantle terrains currently observed in mid to high latitudes on mars which correspond to a mantle of mixed dust and ice that is partially or totally dissected by sublimation the analysis of crism and omega hyperspectral data indicates that the basal layer of lds near ganges chasma exhibits spectra with absorption bands at not vert similar1 4 m and not vert similar1 9 m and a large deep band between not vert similar2 21 and not vert similar2 26 m that are consistent with previous spectral analysis in other regions of lds we interpret these spectral characteristics as an enrichment of lds in opaline silica or by al phyllosilicate rich layers being overlain by hydroxylated ferric sulfate rich layers these alteration minerals are consistent with the aqueous alteration of lds at low temperatures

the formation of valles marineris 1 tectonic architecture and the relative roles of extension and subsidence 1 the formation of the valles marineris troughs on mars is widely held to involve some combination of horizontal extension and vertical subsidence or collapse but the specific tectonic mechanism is poorly understood this study uses boundary element models of valles marineris formation to evaluate a range of fault dip angles for two end member models of trough formation simple extensional tectonism and extension together with vertical accommodation at the base of the lithosphere representing either viscous lower crustal flow or some other form of deep seated collapse the models are constrained by the lack of footwall uplift on the plateau surface outside the troughs and the lack of significant tectonic failure of the plateau in response to the stress changes induced by valles marineris formation the results demonstrate that trough formation by extensional tectonism alone generates large surface uplifts in the surrounding plateau and enormous stresses in the lithosphere in conflict with the observations the only mechanism that is compatible with both the observed topography and the limitations imposed by the finite strength of the lithosphere is trough formation through displacement along steeply dipping to subvertical border faults together with vertical accommodation at the base of the subsiding fault block fault dips are constrained to be greater than or equal to 85 leading to a ratio of vertical subsidence to horizontal extension exceeding 5 7 and a maximum extension of less than 4 6 km these results confirm earlier studies suggesting that trough formation involved a substantial component of vertical subsidence or collapse with only modest amounts of total extension

strike slip faulting of ridged plains near valles marineris mars the surface of mars shows abundant evidence of extensional and contractional deformation in the form of normal faults grabens and wrinkle ridges 1 3 in contrast strike slip faults have been considered to be extremely rare or absent on mars4 5 this view is based on the lack of significant lateral offset of pre existing markers such as craters across suspected faults thus mars is believed to have evolved without plate tectonics or other large scale lateral motions of the lithosphere6 however careful study of viking orbiter images is revealing that strike slip faults may be present on mars7 here i identify and document several well preserved examples of martian strike slip faults and examine their relationships to wrinkle ridges the strike slip faulting predates or overlaps periods of wrinkle ridge growth south east of valles marineris and some wrinkle ridges may have nucleated and grown as a result of strike slip displacements along the echelon fault arrays lateral displacements of several kilometres inferred along these arrays may be related to tectonism in tharsis

topography of valles marineris implications for erosional and structural history compilation of a simplified geologic geomorphic map onto digital terrain models of the valles marineris permitted an evaluation of elevations in the vicinity of the troughs and the calculation of depth of troughs below surrounding plateaus thickness of deposits inside the troughs volumes of void spaces above geologic geomorphic units and volumes of deposits the central troughs north ophir north and central candor and north melas chasmata lie as much as 11 km below the adjacent plateaus in ophir and candor chasmata interior layered deposits reach 8 km in elevation if the deposits are lacustrine and if all troughs were interconnected lake waters standing 8 km high would have spilled out of coprates chasma onto the surrounding plateaus having surface elevations of only 4 5 km in this case interior deposits above about 4 km in the central troughs would not be lacustrine they could be volcanic on the other hand the troughs may not have been interconnected at the time of interior deposit emplacement they may have formed isolated ancestral basins the existence of such basins is supported by independent structural and stratigraphic evidence the ancestral basins may have eventually merged perhaps through renewed faulting to form northern subsidiary troughs in ophir and candor chasmata and the coprates north melas ius graben system the peripheral troughs are only 2 5 km deep shallower than the central troughs they may have formed from a combination of erosional collapse and structural activity chaotic terrain is seen in the peripheral troughs near a common contour level of about 4 km on the adjacent plateaus which supports the idea of release of water under artesian pressure from confined aquifers the layered deposits in the peripheral troughs may have formed in isolated depressions that harbored lakes and predated the formation of the deep outflow channels if these layered deposits are of volcanic origin they may have been emplaced beneath ice in the manner of table mountains areal and volumetric computations show that erosion widened the troughs by about one third and that deposits occupy one sixth of the interior space even though the volume eroded is larger than the volume deposited topographic and geologic considerations imply that material eroded from trough walls was probably part of the interior layered deposits but not their sole source additional material may have come from subterranean piping from reworking of local disintegration products on the floors such as chaotic materials or from eolian influx but overall it is likely that the additional material is volcanic and that it forms mostly the upper more diversely bedded layers of the interior deposits

stability of rock slopes in valles marineris mars 1 new slope measurements from the mars orbiter laser altimeter mola in conjunction with the rock mass rating system rmr permit inversions of slope height and angle from wallrock and interior deposits within valles marineris troughs for strength and lithology wallrock 50 rmr 65 is stronger than interior deposits 30 rmr 55 these values are consistent with layered igneous rock beneath wallrock slopes with interior deposits consistent with partially indurated sedimentary or volcaniclastic rocks larger volumes of landslide debris relative to terrestrial slides are related to the reduced martian gravity seismicity along trough bounding normal faults likely triggered the landslides in the adjacent wallrock the weaker interior deposits are located sufficiently far from a border fault and on its hangingwall to have remained stable during the seismogenic faulting in valles marineris

constraints on ripple migration at meridiani planum from opportunity and hirise observations of fresh craters 1 observations of fresh impact craters by the opportunity rover and in high resolution orbital images constrain the latest phase of granule ripple migration at meridiani planum to have occurred between 50 ka and 200 ka opportunity explored the fresh resolution crater cluster and concepcion crater that are superposed on and thus younger than the ripples these fresh craters have small dark pebbles scattered across their surfaces which are most likely fragments of the impactor suggesting that the dark pebbles and cobbles observed by opportunity at meridiani planum are a lag of impactor derived material either meteoritic or secondary impactors from elsewhere on mars two larger fresh rayed craters in meridiani planum bracket ripple migration secondaries from ada crater are clearly superposed on and secondaries from an unnamed 0 84 km diameter crater have been modified and overprinted by the ripples three methods were used to estimate the age of these craters and thus when the latest phase of ripple migration occurred the inactivity of the ripples over the past 50 ka at meridiani is also consistent with other evidence for the stability of the ripples the lack of observed eolian bed forms in craters that formed in the past 20 years and little evidence for much dune motion in the past 30 yr on mars observations of crater morphology and their interaction with the ripples allow the development of a general time scale for craters in meridiani planum over the past million years

flexural uplift of rift flanks due to mechanical unloading of the lithosphere during extension we suggest that the uplift of rift flanks results from mechanical unloading of the lithosphere during extension and consequent isostatic rebound this mechanism is presented as an alternative to explanations for rift flank uplift involving thermal or dynamic processes and magmatic thickening of the crust our hypothesis is based on two critical concepts first the lithosphere retains finite mechanical strength or flexural rigidity during extension second isostatic rebound uplift of the lithosphere follows when the kinematics of extension produces a surface topographic depression that is deeper than the level to which the surface of the extended lithosphere would subside assuming local isostatic compensation we develop and analyze two kinematic models for instantaneous extension of the lithosphere to show that flexural rebound is a viable explanation for the uplift of rift flanks we first investigate the isostatic consequences of finite simple slip on an initially planar dipping normal fault cutting the entire lithosphere when the lithosphere retains flexural rigidity during extension the topography resulting from this model resembles a half graben and the footwall rift flank is flexurally uplifted this simple normal faulting model explains free air gravity anomalies and topography observed at rift flanks in oceanic lithosphere such as broken ridge in the eastern indian ocean the caroline ridges sorol trough in the western equatorial pacific and the coriolis trough behind the new hebrides island arc we then investigate a general kinematic model for lithospheric extension where simple slip on a surface of arbitrary shape is accompanied by pure shear extension in the upper and lower plates when the simple slip component is not zero or the distribution of pure shear in the upper and lower plates is not identical the surface of slip can be regarded as a detachment by simplification our general model accounts for pure shear extension of the lithosphere that is uniform with depth in this case detachments have no meaning in the geologic sense however the kinematics of depth independent pure shear may nevertheless be described in terms of a surface which we term a kinematic reference surface at some depth in the lithosphere we speculate that the depth of this surface may be rheologically controlled the magnitude of rift flank uplift by flexure depends critically on the depth of this reference surface in contrast if local isostasy is assumed when the lithosphere undergoes a given amount of depth independent pure shear the resulting topography will be the same regardless of how the kinematics of that extension are formulated the basin and rift flank topography and free air gravity anomaly over young continental rifts such as the rhine graben can be satisfied using our general extensional model with a small amount 5 km of extension along a listric shaped detachment soling into the crust mantle boundary because the flexural rebound mechanism explains the observed topography and gravity anomaly over both oceanic and continental extensional domains we suggest that rheological differences between the two lithospheric types may not be important in their overall response to extension

amplitude and frequency anomalies in regional 3d seismic data surrounding the mallik 5l 38 research site mackenzie delta northwest territories canada amplitude and frequency anomalies associated with lakes and drainage systems were observed in a 3d seismic data set acquired in the mallik area mackenzie delta northwest territories canada the site is characterized by large gas hydrate deposits inferred from well log analyses and coring regional interpretation of the gas hydrate occurrences is mainly based on seismic amplitude anomalies such as brightening or blanking of seismic energy thus the scope of this research is to understand the nature of the amplitude behavior in the seismic data we have therefore analyzed the 3d seismic data to define areas with amplitude reduction due to contamination from lakes and channels and to distinguish them from areas where amplitude blanking may be a geologic signal we have used the spectral ratio method to define attenuation q over different areas in the 3d volume and subsequently applied q compensation to attenuate lateral variations ofdispersive absorption underneath larger lakes seismic amplitude is reduced and the frequency content is reduced to formula which is half the original bandwidth traces with source receiver pairs located inside of lakes show an attenuation factor q of formula approximately half of that obtained for source receiver pairs situated on deep continuous permafrost outside of lakes deeper reflections occasionally identified underneath lakes show low velocity related pull down the vertical extent of the washout zones is enhanced by acquisition with limited offsets and from processing parameters such as harsh mute functions to reduce noise from surface waves the strong attenuation and seismic pull down may indicate the presence of unfrozen water in deeper lakes and unfrozen pore water within the sediments underlying the lakes thus the blanking underneath lakes is not necessarily related to gas migration or other in situ changes in physical properties potentially associated with the presence of gas hydrate

geodetic measurement of crustal deformation on the san andreas hayward and calaveras faults near san francisco california analysis of a geodetic network of 115 lines crossing the san andreas hayward and calaveras faults in the vicinity of san francisco bay and measured repeatedly between 1970 and 1980 has revealed details about the accommodation of relative plate motion in this area the most striking result is that the deformation is not uniformly distributed across the area in the east bay along the hayward and calaveras faults all motion appears to take place as slip directly on the fault with no accumulation of strain in the adjacent crust on both the calaveras and the hayward faults the rate obtained for the 1970 to 1980 period agrees with geologic rates spanning a few million years and with creep rates spanning a few decades the hayward fault slip rate is 7 1 mm yr the calaveras fault slip rate is 7 1 mm yr with perhaps half of this slip distributed across a zone a few kilometers wide probably as inelastic deformation of weak near surface material the absence of strain accumulation in the east bay is surprising since the hayward and calaveras faults have been the site of large earthquakes in the past a block located east of the calaveras fault and south of the las positas fault has been rotating clockwise at a rate of 0 3 0 1 rad yr with very little internal deformation along the san francisco peninsula no detectable slip occurs less than 1 5 mm yr at the surface but appreciable strain is accumulating near fault shear strain rates are 0 6 0 1 strain yr engineering with direction n47 w 9 the slip rate near the san andreas fault is 12 2 3 9 mm yr distributed across a broad zone the relative motion across the whole region during the period 1970 1980 is 32 1 7 4 mm yr supplement available with entire article on microfiche order from the american geophysical union 2000 florida avenue n w washington d c 20009 document j81 011 1 00 payment must accompany order

stress triggering in thrust and subduction earthquakes and stress interaction between the southern san andreas and nearby thrust and strike slip faults 1 we argue that key features of thrust earthquake triggering inhibition and clustering can be explained by coulomb stress changes which we illustrate by a suite of representative models and by detailed examples whereas slip on surface cutting thrust faults drops the stress in most of the adjacent crust slip on blind thrust faults increases the stress on some nearby zones particularly above the source fault blind thrusts can thus trigger slip on secondary faults at shallow depth and typically produce broadly distributed aftershocks short thrust ruptures are particularly efficient at triggering earthquakes of similar size on adjacent thrust faults we calculate that during a progressive thrust sequence in central california the 1983 mw 6 7 coalinga earthquake brought the subsequent 1983 mw 6 0 nunez and 1985 mw 6 0 kettleman hills ruptures 10 bars and 1 bar closer to coulomb failure the idealized stress change calculations also reconcile the distribution of seismicity accompanying large subduction events in agreement with findings of prior investigations subduction zone ruptures are calculated to promote normal faulting events in the outer rise and to promote thrust faulting events on the periphery of the seismic rupture and its downdip extension these features are evident in aftershocks of the 1957 mw 9 1 aleutian and other large subduction earthquakes we further examine stress changes on the rupture surface imparted by the 1960 mw 9 5 and 1995 mw 8 1 chile earthquakes for which detailed slip models are available calculated coulomb stress increases of 2 20 bars correspond closely to sites of aftershocks and postseismic slip whereas aftershocks are absent where the stress drops by more than 10 bars we also argue that slip on major strike slip systems modulates the stress acting on nearby thrust and strike slip faults we calculate that the 1857 mw 7 9 fort tejon earthquake on the san andreas fault and subsequent interseismic slip brought the coalinga fault 1 bar closer to failure but inhibited failure elsewhere on the coast ranges thrust faults the 1857 earthquake also promoted failure on the white wolf reverse fault by 8 bars which ruptured in the 1952 mw 7 3 kern county shock but inhibited slip on the left lateral garlock fault which has not ruptured since 1857 we thus contend that stress transfer exerts a control on the seismicity of thrust faults across a broad spectrum of spatial and temporal scales

the formation of valles marineris 2 stress focusing along the buried dichotomy boundary 1 although valles marineris is widely regarded as an extensional tectonic feature the source of stress responsible for its formation remains unknown this study argues that the tensile stresses that triggered valles marineris tectonism are a result of its location south of and subparallel to the buried crustal dichotomy boundary beneath tharsis the emplacement of the tharsis volcanic load straddling the pre existing topographic step of the crustal dichotomy boundary would have resulted in an abrupt change in the thickness of the load causing differential subsidence and extension across the boundary thin shell flexural models predict a narrow belt of focused tensile stresses south of the buried dichotomy boundary coinciding with the location of present day valles marineris the interaction of these boundary generated stresses with the competing stress fields associated with tharsis loading can explain the formation of noctis labyrinthus in the west and the deflection of the valles marineris troughs away from the buried boundary toward the east finite element models demonstrate that the magnitudes and vertical variations of stress at valles marineris are sensitive to the timing of loading and flexure in tharsis the incremental loading and flexure expected for a large volcanic rise results in the maximum tensile stress at valles marineris occurring at depth with tensile stresses through the majority of the lithospheric column dikes forming within this tensile stress belt would propagate through the full vertical extent of the lithosphere due to the stress release associated with the dilation of the dikes playing a crucial role in the formation of the valles marineris troughs

crustal spreading due to dikes and faults in southwest iceland abstract a 30 km long profile extending from 3 million year old pleistocene rocks to the holocene rocks of the rift zone in southwest iceland is dissected by 443 dikes and 156 normal faults nearly all the dikes are basaltic with an average strike of n26 e which is subparallel to the trend of fractures in the nearby rift zone their average dip is 69 and average thickness 1 37 m both values much lower than averages for regional tertiary dike swarms in iceland many dikes are seen to change into sills the great majority of the faults are pure dip slip with an average throw of 10 2 m their average strike n37 e is different from the average strike of the dikes in this area and the fractures in the nearby rift zone their average dip is 75 2 which is somewhat steeper than in the tertiary areas but the dips are less in the interbedded sedimentary layers than in the lava flows growth faults are very rare in the area and most of the faults appear to have completed their growth in less than 10 000 years in subsections crustal dilation due to dikes is 0 4 3 7 that due to faults is 0 6 5 3 and that due to both dikes and faults is 1 04 6 44 in these subsections average fault spacing is one fault per 170 563 m spacing decreases toward the active rift zone it is concluded that in typical fissure swarms of the rift zone the dilation at the surface is almost entirely due to extensional fractures and gaping vertical normal faults in the depth range of a couple of hundred metres to perhaps 1 km the non vertical faults contribute most to the dilation at deeper crustal levels however dilation due to dikes becomes dominant

igneous dikes on mars revealed by mars orbiter laser altimeter topography the origin of martian grabens has remained controversial for decades given the nonuniqueness of graben morphology and conflicting interpretations of dike induced or faultingbased formation processes we use measurements from the mars orbiter laser altimeter to identify the characteristic topographic signature at the surface of an igneous dike beneath a martian graben our results suggest that this subtle but diagnostic signature can be used to test competing interpretations of the formation of grabens and associated fissures and collapse depressions

three dimensional models of deformation near strike slip faults we use three dimensional elastic models to help guide the kinematic interpretation of crustal deformation associated with strike slip faults deformation of the brittle upper crust in the vicinity of strike slip fault systems is modeled with the assumption that upper crustal deformation is driven by the relative plate motion in the upper mantle the driving motion is represented by displacement that is spectied on the bottom of a 15km thick elastic upper crust everywhere except in a zone of finite width in the vicinity of the faults which we term the shear zone stress free basal boundary conditions are specified within the shear zone the basal driving displacement is either pure strike slip or strike slip with a small oblique component and the geometry of the fault system includes a single fault several parallel faults and overlapping en echelon faults we examine the variations in deformation due to changes in the width of the shear zone and due to changes in the shear strength of the faults in models with weak faults the width of the shear zone has a considerable effect on the surficial extent and amplitude i c1 j l c i rl l b blhi aill i srizcxi ld 3 rr ij i n flail 3il i dilitiiiat df ti ijtluii clicili c i i zor tz a j t s ii acmes strong fault lnnlds havs lnore luc tlixd dxz a ac tip of tne faults and the deformation is partly distributed outside the fault zone the dimensions of large basins along strike slip faults such as the rukwa and dead sea basins and the absence of uplift around pull apart basins fit models with weak faults better than models with strong faults our models also suggest that the length to width ratio of pull apart basins depends on the width of the shear zone and the shear strength of the faults and is not constant as previously suggested we show that pure strike slip motion can produce tectonic features such as elongate half grabens along a single fault rotated blocks at the ends of parallel faults or extension perpendicular to overlapping en echelon faults which can be misinterprete d to indicate a regional component of extension zones of subsidence or uplift can become wider than expected for transform plate boundaries when a minor component of oblique motion is added to a system of parallel strike slip faults

mars reconnaissance orbiter radio science gravity investigation 1 the objectives of the mars reconnaissance orbiter mro radio science gravity investigation are to improve knowledge of the static structure and characterize the temporal variability of the martian gravitational field relevant to the planet s internal dynamics the structure and dynamics of the atmosphere and the orbital evolution of spacecraft at mars the investigation will utilize range rate and range measurements from x band and when available ka band tracking systems of the mro spacecraft mro will enable a considerable improvement in the spatial resolution and quality of mars global gravity field the low orbital periapsis of mro 255 km will yield gravity maps suitable for study of regional 102 km structure of the crust and lithosphere the addition of tracking data from the mars global surveyor and mars odyssey spacecraft also currently orbiting mars will be useful in decorrelating errors in spherical harmonic coefficients of the gravity field that will improve the quality of the static field studies of the low degree gravity field combined with measurements of rotational dynamics will permit insight about the structure of mars deep interior changes in the low degree spherical harmonic coefficients of the martian gravity field and in polar mass anomalies will be used to track the seasonal cycle of co2 exchange with the surface measurements of spacecraft drag will be used to estimate density variations in the atmosphere relevant to weather patterns and aerobraking of future spacecraft tracking observations will also be used to improve the ephemeris of mars and the masses of the martian moons

formation and growth of normal faults at the divergent plate boundary in iceland the divergent plate boundary in iceland is characterized by 40 80 km long and 5 10 km wide swarms of tension fractures 102 m long and normal faults 103 m long the upper part of the crust is mainly composed of lava flows with abundant columnar joints that are mostly perpendicular to the lava contacts the lava flows are horizontal at the surface of the rift zone but become tilted at the rate of 1 for every 150 m depth in the crust at the surface of the rift zone the joints are vertical and parallel to the vertical principal stress because of tilting of the lava pile the columnar joints become oblique to this stress hence becoming potential shear fractures and form echelon sets at greater depths in the crust theoretical considerations suggest that normal faults start to nucleate on sets of en echelon columnar joints and or large scale tension fractures at crustal depths of 0 5 1 5 km the width depth must be the smallest controlling dimension of many faults nevertheless there is a positive linear relation r 0 91 between maximum throw and length of the holocene faults if the faults grow as self similar structures the throw length relationship can be explained by a similar relation between fault length and width

equatorial glaciations on mars revealed by gravitational collapse of valles marineris wallslopes abstract martian global climate models that account for evidence of past glaciations reported in tropical to mid latitude regions of mars predict accumulation of water ice in valles marineris during past periods of high obliquity observational evidence for such glaciations is given here topographic basement ridges of tectonic origin are common in valles marineris and display sackung features an assemblage of tectonic patterns that are diagnostic of deep seated gravitational slope deformation this deformation is most easily explained by paraglacial ridge failure subsequent to ridge wall debuttressing and decohesion following the retreat of glaciers this interpretation is supported by extensive bibliographic analysis of sackung triggers on earth by morphological evidence of subglacial erosion of the lower parts of valles marineris wallslopes of periglacial erosion of their upper parts and by the presence of various types of glacial landforms on the floors of valles marineris troughs the age of these equatorial glaciations is found to be older than 1 4 gy and younger than 3 5 gy

slip distributions on intersecting normal faults abstract slip distributions on normal faults often are asymmetric and display multiple local maxima numerically computed slip distributions from elastic models indicate that such irregular slip distributions can be caused by mechanical interaction between intersecting faults that produce local perturbations of the stress field resolved on the faults a three dimensional boundary element model based on the displacement discontinuity method has been used to analyze the mechanical interaction of faults that form y or t shaped intersections slip distributions are asymmetric with a steeper slip gradient toward the line of intersection multiple slip maxima occur depending on the angle between the faults but generally they are not located along the intersections nor at the fault centers examples of intersecting normal faults taken from oil reservoir seismic surveys and sandbox experiments have been used to confirm the application of the theoretical results despite considerable simplifications in terms of geometry and boundary conditions the computed slip distributions capture the characteristics of the observed slip distributions

forecasting the evolution of seismicity in southern california animations built on earthquake stress transfer 1 we develop a forecast model to reproduce the distribution of main shocks aftershocks and surrounding seismicity observed during 1986 2003 in a 300 310 km area centered on the 1992 m 7 3 landers earthquake to parse the catalog into frames with equal numbers of aftershocks we animate seismicity in log time increments that lengthen after each main shock this reveals aftershock zone migration expansion and densification we implement a rate state algorithm that incorporates the static stress transferred by each m 6 shock and then evolves coulomb stress changes amplify the background seismicity so small stress changes produce large changes in seismicity rate in areas of high background seismicity similarly seismicity rate declines in the stress shadows are evident only in areas with previously high seismicity rates thus a key constituent of the model is the background seismicity rate which we smooth from 1981 to 1986 seismicity the mean correlation coefficient between observed and predicted m 1 4 shocks the minimum magnitude of completeness is 0 52 for 1986 2003 and 0 63 for 1992 2003 a control standard aftershock model yields 0 54 and 0 52 for the same periods four m 6 0 shocks struck during the test period three are located at sites where the expected seismicity rate falls above the 92 percentile and one is located above the 75 percentile the model thus reproduces much but certainly not all of the observed spatial and temporal seismicity from which we infer that the decaying effect of stress transferred by successive main shocks influences seismicity for decades finally we offer a m 5 earthquake forecast for 2005 2015 assigning probabilities to 324 10 10 km cells

faceted spurs at normal fault scarps insights from numerical modeling 1 we present a combined surface processes and tectonic model which allows us to determine the climatic and tectonic parameters that control the development of faceted spurs at normal fault scarps sensitivity tests to climatic parameter values are performed for a given precipitation rate when hillslope diffusion is high and channel bedrock is highly resistant to erosion the scarp is smooth and undissected when instead the bedrock is easily eroded and diffusion is limited numerous channels develop and the scarp becomes deeply incised between these two end member states diffusion and incision compete to produce a range of scarp morphologies including faceted spurs the sensitivity tests allow us to determine a dimensionless ratio of erosion f for which faceted spurs can develop this study evidences a strong dependence of facet slope angle on throw rate for throw rates between 0 4 and 0 7 mm a facet height is also shown to be a linear function of fault throw rate model performance is tested on the wasatch fault utah using topographic geologic and seismologic data a monte carlo inversion on the topography of a portion of the weber segment shows that the 5 ma long development of this scarp has been dominated by a low effective precipitation rate 1 1 m a and a moderate diffusion coefficient 0 13 m2 a results demonstrate the ability of our model to estimate normal fault throw rates from the height of triangular facets and to retrieve the average long term diffusion and incision parameters that prevailed during scarp evolution using an accurate 2 d misfit criterion

toward understanding the history and mechanisms of martian faulting the contribution of gravitational potential energy 1 current stress solutions for mars match the long wavelength signal of present day topography and gravity but fail to match many surface faults including the normal faults in northern claritas fossae north to tantalus and alba fossae a deviatoric stress field associated with horizontal gradients of gravitational potential energy gpe provides an excellent fit as measured by objective functions to many of the normal faults in the western martian hemisphere as well as wrinkle ridges circumferential to tharsis 70 of the faults have a misfit 0 1 the fit of faults to the gpe derived stress field reflects the thermal state of the planet at the times of faulting and suggests that at such times elastic thicknesses and membrane stresses were small and topography was supported by buoyancy forces