records of an ancient martian magnetic field in alh84001 although mars does not presently appear to have a global dynamo magnetic field strong crustal fields have recently been detected by the mars global surveyor above surfaces formed 3 or more ga we present magnetic and textural studies of martian meteorite alh84001 demonstrating that 4 ga carbonates containing magnetite and pyrrhotite carry a stable natural remanent magnetization because 40 ar 39 ar thermochronology demonstrates that most alh84001 carbonates have probably been well below the curie point of magnetite since near the time of their formation weiss et al earth planet sci lett 2002 this issue their magnetization originated at 3 9 4 1 ga on mars this magnetization is at least 500 million years myr older than that known in any other planetary rock and its strong intensity suggests that mars had generated a geodynamo and global magnetic field within 450 650 myr of its formation the intensity of this field was roughly within an order of magnitude of that at the surface of the present day earth sufficient for magnetotaxis by the bacteria whose magnetofossils have been reported in alh84001 and possibly for the production of the strong crustal anomalies chromite in alh84001 may retain even older records of martian magnetic fields possibly extending back to near the time of planetary formation

global vector and scalar magsat magnetic anomaly maps empirical and analytical techniques for modeling ionospheric fields in magsat data have been developed that facilitate ionospheric field removal from uncorrected anomalies to obtain better estimates of regional lithospheric anomalies this task has been accomplished for equatorial x z and b component and polar z and b component measurements the techniques for modeling ionospheric fields have been integrated into a processing sequence that incorporates some of the important data processing techniques developed during the last decade data processing techniques include retention of common signal in a correlation analysis of adjacent passes analysis of field differences between dawn and dusk data at points where their orbits cross and retention of common signal in a covariant spherical harmonic analysis procedure results suggest that implementation of the above processing scheme leads to the mapping of the most robust magnetic anomalies of the lithosphere vector components as well as scalar

constraints on martian differentiation processes from rbsr and smnd isotopic analyses of the basaltic shergottite que 94201 isotopic analyses of mineral leachate and whole rock fractions from the martian shergottite meteorite que 94201 yield rb sr and sm nd crystallization ages of 327 12 and 327 19 ma respectively these ages are concordant although the isochrons are defined by different fractions within the meteorite comparison of isotope dilution sm and nd data for the various que 94201 fractions with in situ ion microprobe data for que 94201 minerals from the literature demonstrate the presence of a leachable crustal component in the meteorite this component is likely to have been added to que 94201 by secondary alteration processes on mars and can affect the isochrons by selectively altering the isotopic systematics of the leachates and some of the mineral fractions initial 87sr 86sr of 0 701298 14 nd143 of 47 6 1 7 and whole rock nd142 of 0 92 0 11 indicate that que 94201 was derived from a source that was strongly depleted in 87rb 86sr and enriched in 147sm 144nd early in its history modeling demonstrates that the sm nd isotopic compositions of que 94201 can be produced by either four episodes of melting at 327 ma of cumulates crystallized from a magma ocean at 4 525 ga or five episodes of melting of an initially solid mars at 4 525 ga and 327 ma the neodymium isotopic systematics of que 94201 are not consistent with significant melting between 4 525 ga and 327 ma the estimated timing of these events is based on initial neodymium isotopic ratios and is independent of differentiation of the que 94201 parental magma rb sr based partial melting models are unable to reproduce the composition of que 94201 using the same model parameters employed in the sm nd based models implying a decoupling of rb sr and sm nd isotopic systems the initial decoupling of the two isotopic systems can be attributed to either cumulate or crust formation processes which are able to more efficiently fractionate rb from sr compared to sm from nd the fact that all martian meteorites analyzed so far define a rb sr whole rock isochron age of 4 5 ga suggests that virtually all rb was partitioned out of their mantle source regions and into either fractionated residual liquids trapped in the cumulate pile or into the crust at that time thus the martian mantle cumulates and restites are not expected to evolve past 87sr86sr of 0 700 and could not have been significantly enriched in incompatible elements by crustal recycling processes all martian meteorites have initial 87sr86sr values that are higher than 0 700 and are therefore likely to be produced by mixing between evolved crustal like and depleted mantle reservoirs the absence of crustal recycling processes on mars may preserve the geochemical evidence for decoupling of the rb sr and sm nd isotopic systems underscoring one of the fundamental differences between geologic processes on mars and the earth

thermal stresses and the bimodal distribution of elastic thickness estimates of the oceanic lithosphere observations of plate flexure beneath seamounts and at deep sea trenches suggest that the mechanical strength of the oceanic lithosphere increases with age the mechanical thickness h seems to follow the depth to a particular isotherm in the cooling plate model a detailed review of available estimates of elastic thickness te shows that the strength deduced from studies at seamounts is significantly different from the strength inferred at trenches and fracture zones whereas te beneath seamounts approximately follows the 400 c isotherm h at trenches follows the depth to the 700 800 c isotherms the cause of this bimodal distribution is not fully understood thermal bending stresses due to cooling of the lithosphere have been suggested to play an important role in the flexural deformation at transform faults and fracture zones and their distribution with depth is consistent with intraplate seismicity this paper evaluates the effects of thermal stresses on deformation beneath seamounts and at trenches and how their interaction with flexural stresses may modify plate strength the results indicate that thermal bending stresses will bias the moment curvature relationship such that a plate of a certain strength will appear relatively weaker beneath a seamount positive curvature but relatively stronger at a trench negative curvature this systematic bias appears to be in qualitative agreement with published te estimates for old lithosphere the theory predicts a diminishing amount of bias the general lack of sufficient te determinations from old ocean basins and the uncertainties associated with modeling of trenches prohibit a detailed analysis of this part of the te versus age relationship i conclude that the scatter in the elastic thickness estimates appears to be caused by a combination of lithospheric reheating during seamount emplacement bias introduced by thermal stresses and variable amount of yielding of the plate beneath seamounts in proportion to seamount size and lithospheric age at the time of loading

thermoremanent magnetization of the martian lithosphere 1 this paper investigates the thermoremanent magnetization trm of the martian lithosphere assuming that the upper part of the lithosphere acquired trm in the early history of the planet and in the presence of the core field the primary magnetization whereas the lower part has been gradually magnetized by the magnetic field of the upper part as it has cooled below the curie temperature secondary magnetization the secondary magnetization is relatively weak if the magnetic properties of the lower lithosphere are taken to be similar to that of the extrusive basalt near the oceanic ridge axes on earth however if the martian lower lithosphere is more magnetic e g by an order of magnitude the secondary magnetization can be significant although still weaker than the primary magnetization of the upper part such a highly magnetic lower lithosphere does not seem plausible by terrestrial standards and it remains to be confirmed whether it is geologically plausible for mars i also examine a lithospheric model with a strongly magnetic layer beneath the crust 25 times more magnetic than the extrusive basalt representing a possible ilmenite rich layer with a considerable amount of hematite ilmenite lamellae i assume that the layer was not magnetized by the core field because it was hotter than the curie temperature of the lamellae when the core dynamo was active it acquired secondary magnetization later in the presence of the magnetic field of the crust despite adopting an extraordinarily high magnetic layer which seems implausible by terrestrial standards the secondary magnetization of the layer has minor contributions to the observed magnetic anomalies in all models considered the primary magnetization is 20 30 a m and has the dominant contribution to the observed magnetic anomalies it is worth noting that the radial components of the primary and secondary magnetization are parallel whereas the tangential components are in opposite directions because the strong magnetic anomalies in the south likely arise from the tangential magnetization considering the secondary magnetization requires even stronger primary magnetization

heterogeneities in the thickness of the elastic lithosphere of mars constraints on heat flow and internal dynamics derived values of the thickness of the effective elastic lithosphere on mars are converted to estimates of lithospheric thermal gradients and surface heat flow by finding the thickness of the elastic plastic plate having the same bending moment and curvature subject to assumed strain rates and temperature dependent flow laws for crustal and mantle material local thermal gradients and heat flow values so estimated were 10 14 k km 1 and 25 35 mw m 2 respectively at the time of formation of flexurally induced graben surrounding the tharsis montes and alba patera while gradients and heat flow values of less than 5 6 k km 1 and 17 24 mw m 2 respectively characterized the lithosphere beneath the isidis mascon and olympus mons at the time of emplacement of these loads on the basis of the mean global thickness of the elastic lithosphere inferred to support the tharsis rise and estimates of mantle heat production obtained from snc meteorites it is suggested that the present average global heat flux on mars is in the range 15 25 mw m 2 approximately 3 5 of this heat flux during the amazonian epoch has been contributed by excess conducted heat in the central regions of major volcanic provinces most likely this excess heat flux has been delivered to the base of the lithosphere by mantle plumes the fractional mantle heat transport contributed by plumes during the last 2 b y on mars is therefore similar to that at present on earth

k cm application for supervised pattern recognition at mt etna an innovative tool to forecast flank eruptive activity we investigated the relationship between the temporal monitoring series routinely recorded at mt etna and the flank eruptions that occurred between january 2001 and april 2005 by the k contractive map k cm method pattern classifier with supervised learning the reference dataset includes 28 variables and 1580 records collected over 52 months for a total of 301 eruptive days a two step analysis was performed in the first step analysis we used the 28 parameters of each day to recognize anomalies heralding a flank eruption k cm estimated a sensitivity higher than 95 and a specificity close to 100 in the second step analysis we considered each record comprising the 28 variables for 6 days as an input for a total of 180 inputs and the outcomes of the seventh day as an output to predict eruption or rest in this case k cm showed sensitivity and specificity close to 98 and 100 respectively results highlight the reliability of the k cm method to build up a prediction algorithm able to alert the volcano experts a day before the occurrence of a potential flank eruption the robustness of the two analyses was investigated by the behavior of the receiver operating characteristic curve the relative area under the curve showed values close to 1 thus providing a valid measure of the performance of the classifier finally a complete overview of the performance levels of the method used was explored analyzing the retrieved molchan error diagram in both cases trajectories very close to the theoretical minimum

the martian hemispheric dichotomy may be due to a giant impact mars is divided into two fundamentally different geological provinces of approximately hemispherical extent1 3 the more southerly province is heavily cratered contains relatively old geological units and superficially resembles the lunar and mercurian highlands the northern province is relatively lightly cratered and contains younger geological units including extensive plains volcanic edifices and volcanic calderas except for the tharsis and elysium regions and other large volcanoes most of the younger northern province consists of lowlands which lie an average of 3 km below the highlands lowlands occupy about one third of mars they are separated from the highlands by a distinct scarp or by a sloping transitional zone as much as 700km wide in which highland materials have been disrupted and partly replaced by lowland deposits fig 1 the transition is characterized by a variety of landforms unknown on other planets the highlands and lowlands are in isostatic equilibrium across the transitional zone4 no generally accepted explanation for the cause of the highland lowland dichotomy has been proposed although thinning of the lithosph re in the northern hemisphere by internal processes has been suggested5 large impacts which were a feature of early solar system history have also been suggested as an important cause of such early planetary surface heterogeneities3 6 7 subcircular lowlands such as argyre chryse hellas and isidis planitia and the plains south of tharsis occupy previously recognized impact basins8 10 we propose here that the largest expanse of lowlands also results from formation of a large impact basin early in mars history that has profoundly shaped the planet s surface

thickness of the magnetic crust of mars 1 to estimate the thickness of the magnetic crust of mars six observational magnetic spectra are fitted with the theoretical spectrum expected from a novel bimodal distribution of magnetic sources observational spectra differ for each comes from a different map or model of variously selected and analyzed mars global surveyor magnetometer electron reflectometer measurements of the vector magnetic field around mars the new theoretical spectrum represents fields from both compact sources and extended laterally correlated sources on a spherical shell so the estimated shell depth can now be doubled to obtain layer thickness this typical magnetic crustal thickness is put at 47 8 8 4 km the extensive sources are enormous typically 650 km across and account for over half the magnetic energy at low degrees there is some indication that these sources are relatively shallow but the typical area remains about 330 000 km2 granted such extended sources represent magnetization of mars ancient crust in a core source field dominated by a reversing areocentric paleodipole each one arguably formed during a single polarity chron how did such vast regions of magnetic crust form a survey of many eligible mechanisms suggests magnetization of cooling igneous rock at minimal rates of about 1 to 0 1 km3 a during superchrons of order 15 to 150 ma long

estimation of lower crust magnetization from satellite derived anomaly field abstract various lines of evidence point to the lower crust as the source of the long wavelength magnetic anomaly field measured by the pogo and magsat satellites using seismically determined lower crust thicknesses and equivalent source inversion of the satellite anomaly data magnetization for the lower crust for much of the united states has been calculated the average magnetization for two hundred sixty six 150 150 km areas is 3 5 a m with a standard deviation of 1 1 a m these values are consistent with laboratory measurements of mafic ultramafic rocks expected in the lower crust and in agreement with previous estimates of lower crust magnetization based on long wavelength aeromagnetic data average lower crust thickness for the same areas is 18 2 km 6 4 km thus over large regions it appears that variation in magnetization and variation in magnetic layer thickness contribute almost equally in causing the anomaly field variation at satellite altitude

internal structure and early thermal evolution of mars from mars global surveyor topography and gravity topography and gravity measured by the mars global surveyor have enabled determination of the global crust and upper mantle structure of mars the planet displays two distinct crustal zones that do not correlate globally with the geologic dichotomy a region of crust that thins progressively from south to north and encompasses much of the southern highlands and tharsis province and a region of approximately uniform crustal thickness that includes the northern lowlands and arabia terra the strength of the lithosphere beneath the ancient southern highlands suggests that the northern hemisphere was a locus of high heat flow early in martian history the thickness of the elastic lithosphere increases with time of loading in the northern plains and tharsis the northern lowlands contain structures interpreted as large buried channels that are consistent with northward transport of water and sediment to the lowlands before the end of northern hemisphere resurfacing

magnetization of martian lower crust revisited 1 this paper examines the magnetization that can be acquired by the lower crust of mars in the absence of a core field but in the presence of the magnetic field of the upper crust that is magnetized by the core field a uniformly magnetized vertical prism of a square horizontal cross section is considered to be a magnetic source in the upper crust for simplicity three thicknesses of 40 60 and 80 km and six horizontal dimensions of 180 300 600 900 1200 and 1500 km are considered for the prism to estimate the upper limit for the contribution of the lower crust to the observed magnetic anomalies a potentially magnetic layer of 100 km thickness is adopted coarse grain hematite is uniformly distributed in the lower crust with 4 10 20 or 30 concentration of hematite the first is equivalent to the oceanic extrusive basalt as far as its thermo remanent magnetization trm is concerned it is shown that the magnetization of the lower crust has minor effects on the strong magnetic anomalies of mars over the southern hemisphere however if the lower crust has 20 to 30 coarse grain hematite which is highly unlikely it may have appreciable contributions to small magnetic anomalies of mars with horizontal dimensions smaller than 200 km

grain size dependent potential for self generation of magnetic anomalies on mars via thermoremanent magnetic acquisition and magnetic interaction of hematite and magnetite abstract early in the history of planetary evolution portions of martian crust became magnetized by dynamo generated magnetic field a lateral distribution of the secondary magnetic field generated by crustal remanent sources containing magnetic carriers of certain grain size and mineralogy is able to produce an ambient magnetic field of larger intensity than preexisting dynamo this ambient field is capable of magnetizing portions of deeper crust that cools through its blocking temperatures in an absence of dynamo we consider both magnetite fe3o4 and hematite fe2o3 as minerals contributing to the overall magnetization analysis of magnetization of magnetic minerals of various grain size and concentration reveals that magnetite grains less than 0 01 mm in size and hematite grains larger than 0 01 mm in size can become effective magnetic source capable of magnetizing magnetic minerals contained in surrounding volume preexisting crustal remanence for example 250 a m relates to 25 of multi domain hematite can trigger a self magnetizing process that can continue in the absence of magnetic dynamo and continue strengthening and or weakening magnetic anomalies on mars thickness of the primary magnetic layer and concentration of magnetic carriers allow specification of the temperature gradient required to trigger a self magnetization process

modified state surface approach to the study of unsaturated soil behavior part ii general formulation in the previous companion paper a modified state surface approach was proposed to algebraically represent unsaturated soil behavior under isotropic stress conditions the present paper proposes a

paleomagnetic record of martian meteorite alh84001 1 the natural remanent magnetization nrm of the martian meteorite alh84001 is predominantly carried by fine magnetite which is found in association with carbonate the magnetite is in epitaxial and topotactic relation with the carbonate and formed from the carbonate in the major impact event at 4 0 ga the nrm will therefore record this field the local preferential crystallographic and shape alignment of the magnetite defines local easy directions of magnetization may account for the observed inhomogeneity of the nrm on a microscopic scale normalizing the intensity of the nrm by the saturation isothermal remanence irms then gives an estimate for the 4 0 ga martian field one order smaller than the present geomagnetic field such a field is unlikely to be strong enough to generate the high intensity martian magnetic anomalies alh 84001 in its pristine state as an orthopyroxenite is not a plausible source rock for the martian anomalies because its magnetite was not formed until the 4 0 ga event

contribution of serpentinized ultramafics to marine magnetic anomalies at slow and intermediate spreading centres insights from the shape of the anomalies summary detailed characteristics of marine magnetic anomalies 33r and 20r suggest that the magnetization of the deeper magnetic layers including the lower crust and possibly the uppermost mantle is horizontally displaced with respect to that of the upper crust we examine the possibility that serpentinization of ultramafics in the lower crust and possibly the uppermost mantle delays the acquisition of magnetization and introduces a shift between the upper and lower crustal magnetization patterns thermal evolution models and the resulting magnetization patterns of the oceanic lithosphere are calculated for a wide range of physical parameters such as the nusselt number and the depth of hydrothermal circulation in the crust and the temperature range of serpentinization the models with moderate hydrothermal cooling of the whole crust and serpentinization temperatures ranging between 200 and 300 dc successfully explain the anomalous skewness and the hook shape of observed sea level magnetic anomalies created at slow and intermediate spreading rates

magnetic lineations in the ancient crust of mars the mars global surveyor spacecraft in a highly elliptical polar orbit obtained vector magnetic field measurements above the surface of mars altitudes 100 kilometers crustal magnetization mainly confined to the most ancient heavily cratered martian highlands is frequently organized in east west trending linear features the longest extending over 2000 kilometers crustal remanent magnetization exceeds that of terrestrial crust by more than an order of magnitude groups of quasi parallel linear features of alternating magnetic polarity were found they are reminiscent of similar magnetic features associated with sea floor spreading and crustal genesis on earth but with a much larger spatial scale they may be a relic of an era of plate tectonics on mars

degree 1 mantle convection and the crustal dichotomy on mars the surface of mars consists of an old heavily cratered and elevated southern hemisphere and younger resurfaced and depressed northern hemisphere a feature often termed the crustal dichotomy the global crustal structure zuber et al 2000 revealed by topography and gravity data from the mars global surveyor spacecraft and the possible late formation of the boundary zone between the hemispheres mcgill and dimitriou 1990 have been proposed to indicate an endogenic origin for the dichotomy however degree 1 mantle convection that is required for any endogenic process to be viable cannot be produced with conventional mantle convection models schubert et al 1990 we have studied the role of radially stratified viscosity on mantle deformation by using rayleigh taylor instability analyses in a spherical shell geometry our analyses reveal that when mantle viscosity is stratified with a weak asthenosphere deformation at long wavelengths is more efficient than that at short wavelengths the weaker the asthenosphere the longer the wavelength at which the deformation is the most efficient a thicker asthenosphere also favors the deformation at long wavelengths both the rayleigh taylor instability analyses and numerical modeling of mantle convection show that degree 1 convection can be produced within the martian mantle provided that the mantle had a weak asthenosphere v500 km thick and v10 2 times weaker than the underlying mantle early in planetary history the degree 1 convection causes preferential heating of one hemisphere that may explain the primary features associated with the dichotomy in crustal structure fl 2001 elsevier science b v all rights reserved

crustal structure flexure and subsidence history of the hawaiian islands seismic reflection profile data have been used to estimate the long term 106 years mechanical properties of the oceanic lithosphere underlying the hawaiian islands the data show prominent reflectors associated with the top of the oceanic crust reflector 2 the m discontinuity and the base of the crust reflector 3 the two way travel time to the reflectors has been depth converted using velocity depth functions derived from seismic refraction expanding spread profile data and compared to calculated depths based on simple three dimensional elastic plate models a good fit to the reflector depths was obtained for a model with an effective elastic thickness of the lithosphere te of 40 km the main discrepancies with the refraction data occur beneath oahu and molokai where the predicted depth of the base of the flexed crust is too shallow and beneath the southeast flank of hawaii where it is too deep we attribute the thickened crust beneath oahu to ponding of magma at the base of the crust following the last phases of tholeiitic shield building and the thinned crust beneath the flanks of hawaii to crustal melting beneath the youngest part of the chain the effective te of 40 km is higher than expected for 80 m y oceanic lithosphere possibly due to the effects of subsurface loads that act at or near the base of the flexed crust according to free air gravity anomaly and bathymetry data te does not change significantly along the island chain retaining a similar value for hawaii as it does for oahu we have used this result to estimate the pattern of subsidence and uplift that would be expected along the hawaiian islands because of flexural loading of hawaii the observed depth of the haleakala wave cut terrace northeast of maui can be generally explained by the flexure model the main discrepancies between observed and the predicted depths occur northwest of hawaii where they suggest a somewhat higher value of te possibly due to incomplete adjustment of the lithosphere we suggest that the addition of loads to the end of a volcanic chain generated as a plate moves over a mantle hotspot is accommodated by progressive flexing downstream causing subsidence of preexisting volcanos that lie in the flexural moat and uplift of islands on the flanking bulge the progressive flexure model predicts a characteristic pattern of offlap and onlap in the regions flanking the hawaiian islands that is generally similar to stratigraphic relationships observed along previously published seismic profiles of the moat a progressive flexure model may also apply to the case of a continental plate moving over a mantle hotspot and could explain the observations of 1 a clinoform pattern of stratigraphy in some flood basalt provinces and 2 a seaward dipping reflector sequence at some passive continental margins

contribution of multidomain titanomagnetite to the intensity and stability of mars crustal magnetic anomalies two basalts with compositions relevant to the crusts of mars and earth were synthesized at igneous temperatures and held at 650 c for 21 to 257 days under quartz fayalite magnetite fo2 buffer conditions the run products are germane to slowly cooled igneous intrusions which might be a significant volumetric fraction of the martian crust and carriers of magnetic anomalies in the southern highlands both basalts acquired intense thermoremanent magnetizations and intense but easily demagnetized anhysteretic remanent magnetizations carried by homogeneous multidomain titanomagnetite hypothetical intrusions on mars composed of these materials would be capable of acquiring intense remanences sufficient to generate the observed anomalies however the remanence would be easily demagnetized by impact events after the cessation of the mars geodynamo coercivity enhancement by pressure or formation of single domain regions via exsolution within the multidomain grains is necessary for long term retention of a remanence carried exclusively by multidomain titanomagnetite grains

mapping and modeling of magnetic anomalies in the northern polar region of mars vector crustal magnetic field maps of the northern polar zone 60 n to 90 n are constructed from selected mars global surveyor magnetometer data obtained during the period from may 28 to september 13 1998 two medium anomalies amplitudes 50 nt at 170 km altitude are mapped in locations consistent with earlier studies no visible surface features correlate with the anomalies suggesting that the sources lie beneath the visible veneer of polar deposits and volcanic lava flows if so then they formed prior to the immediate end of the heavy bombardment upper hesperian period modeling of anomaly vector field components combined with independent constraints on the depth to the curie isotherm yields lower limits on bulk magnetization intensities 0 4 0 9 a m that are significantly greater than those measured for martian snc meteorite samples rocks that contain substantially more titanomagnetite than snc meteorites or that contain magnetic phases in addition to titanomagnetite possibly resulting from hydrothermal alteration are therefore suggested alternatively remanence acquisition in a field of earthlike intensity 50 t rather than in the relatively weak inferred paleointensities for snc meteorites 1 10 t would also help to explain the relatively strong inferred remanent magnetizations the approximate south paleomagnetic pole positions corresponding to these two anomaly sources are located in a region between olympus mons and the present north rotational pole this region is adjacent to the approximate location predicted by melosh 1980 for the paleopole prior to the formation of the tharsis gravity anomaly

a 50 degree spherical harmonic model of the magnetic field of mars this paper presents a 50 degree and order spherical harmonic model of the magnetic field of mars derived at 120 km altitude using the three orthogonal components of the vector magnetic field data acquired by the mars global surveyor within the 80 to 200 km altitude range the downward continued vector magnetic field components to the surface of mars delineate details of the martian magnetic field the strong magnetic anomalies in the southern hemisphere do not show compelling evidence for magnetic lineations similar to those associated with the seafloor spreading on earth the anomalies are more or less equidimensional the magnetic signatures surrounding the impact basins hellas argyre and isidis show that the prominent magnetic anomalies are older than the impact events an average magnetization of 2 a m is estimated for the upper crust surrounding hellas basin four isolated magnetic anomalies are modeled by vertical prisms with circular cross sections of 170 to 190 km radius and 20 to 30 km thickness the magnetization of the model prisms is 5 a m more than that of the surroundings

strength of martian lithosphere beneath large volcanoes this paper provides an estimate of the thermal state of martian lithosphere established since the formation of the shield volcanoes comparison of the spherical harmonic models of martian topography derived using harmonics truncated at degrees 10 11 12 and 14 shows that the volcanoes have almost no contribution from harmonic coefficients of the topography less than degree 11 therefore intermediate scale surface topography and gravity anomalies of mars specified by harmonics of degree 11 50 are considered in this study these harmonics are dominated by shield volcanoes alba patera and isidis basin the central part of valles marineris is also well defined by these harmonics the strong correlation of the topography and gravity anomalies over these harmonics and the positive bouguer anomalies of the volcanoes suggest significant excess masses beneath these surface features in addition to their topographic masses this indicates that the martian lithosphere has been strong enough to support both the topography and the internal excess masses we determine the rigidity of the lithosphere beneath a given surface feature the lithosphere is modeled by a thin elastic spherical shell that overlies an inviscid interior of higher density and is subjected to both surface and internal loads the thickness of the shell and the magnitude of the internal load are calculated such that the deformed structure resulting from the flexure of the shell under both surface and internal loads gives rise to the observed topography and gravity anomaly it is shown that the lithosphere beneath elysium mons alba patera and the central part of valles marineris can be modeled by elastic shells subjected to topographic loads alone whereas the lithosphere beneath olympus and tharsis montes cannot internal excess masses of at least 40 and more likely 50 of the topographic masses are required and the lithosphere beneath must have an elastic core of 100 80 km to support these volcanoes the mean thermal gradient beneath this region of tharsis is estimated to be 7 10 k km on the basis of the strength envelopes calculated using diabase rheology for the crust of 50 km thickness and olivine rheology for the underlying mantle

on the possibility of single domain pseudo single domain magnetic particles existing in the lower crust of mars source of the strong magnetic anomalies 1 this paper shows that single domain or pseudo single domain sd psd magnetite grains can exist in the upper 30 45 km of the martian crust the upper 50 km of the martian crust have likely formed by volcanic eruptions on a stagnant lithosphere a given lava flow cools very rapidly at the surface but is then gradually heated up through burial heating as it is overlain by other successive flows the thermal evolution models of a lava flow show that its temperature remains below the magnetic blocking temperatures of magnetite 480 580 c until it reaches 30 45 km depth the highly magnetic sd psd magnetite grains can easily explain the strong magnetic anomalies of mars less than 1 by volume of magnetite particles is sufficient

variations in magnetization intensity and low temperature titanomagnetite oxidation of ocean floor basalts the remanent magnetization of the oceanic crust exhibits a systematic long term variation which correlates with the amplitudes of marine magnetic anomalies after a sharp initial decrease of natural remanent magnetization intensity a minimum is reached at 20myr followed by a gradual increase up to ages of 120 myr the progressive sea floor alteration of the magnetic minerals carrying the crustal magnetism is proposed as a cause for this behaviour

magnetic properties of martian meteorites implications for an ancient martian magnetic field the magnetic properties of samples of seven martian meteorites eet 79001 zagami nakhla lafayette governador valadares chassigny and alh 84001 have been investigated all possess a weak very stable primary natural remanent magnetization nrm and some have less stable secondary components in some cases the latter are associated with magnetic contamination of the samples imparted since their recovery and with viscous magnetization acquired during exposure of the meteorites to the geomagnetic field since they fell the magnetic properties are carried by a small content 1 of titanomagnetite and in alh 84001 possibly by magnetite as well the most likely source of the primary nrm is a thermoremanent magnetization acquired when the meteorite material last cooled from a high temperature in the presence of a magnetic field current evidence is that this was 1 3 ga ago for the nakhlites and chassigny and 180 ma for shergottites the time of the last relevant cooling of alh 84001 is not presently known preliminary estimates of the strength of the magnetizing field are in the range 0 5 5 ut which is at least an order of magnitude greater than the present field it is tentatively concluded that the magnetic field was generated by a dynamo process in a martian core with appropriate structure and properties

rigidity of the atlantic oceanic lithosphere beneath new england seamounts abstract investigation of the flexural response of the oceanic plate subject to loading of new england seamounts provides an insight into the rigidity of the lithosphere fourier domain analysis of the bathymetry and gravity anomalies over new england seamounts suggests that internal density perturbations exist in the crust and or uppermost mantle the loads due to the topography of the seamounts and density perturbations must have been supported by the lithosphere we group the seamounts into three representative ages and adopt a 3 d thin elastic plate model over an invicid mantle to assess the rigidity of the lithosphere under these loads the rigidity values are about 3 7 10 23 n m for lithospheric ages ranging from 30 to 60 my the base of the elastic part of the lithosphere follows an isotherm in the range of 750 850 c suggesting a strong lithosphere that makes the north atlantic ocean difficult to initiate subduction however the thermal blanketing by the thick sediments at scotian basin reduces the rigidity by one to two orders of magnitude and may facilitate initiation of subduction of the north atlantic oceanic lithosphere at scotian margin

thermoviscous remanent magnetization of oceanic lithosphere inferred from its thermal evolution remanent magnetization patterns of the oceanic lithosphere determined on the basis of the thermal evolution of the lithosphere while taking into account both thermal and viscous magnetizations give rise to magnetic anomalies similar to those observed by magsat over the cretaceous quiet zones of the atlantic ocean and by marine magnetic surveys over anomaly 33 viscous magnetization acquired during a given core field polarity period is not removed completely by that acquired in the next period of opposite polarity because of cooling of the lithosphere and the strong temperature dependence of viscous magnetization the magnetization pattern of layer 2a resembles that of the standard seafloor spreading magnetic model consisting of normally and reversely magnetized zones separated by vertical boundaries and produces symmetric magnetic anomalies the magnetization pattern of the middle crust is similar to that of layer 2a for high magnetic blocking temperature models but it is slightly skewed with respect to layer 2a for low magnetic blocking temperature models the magnetization pattern of the lower crust is strongly skewed relative to that of layer 2a and has diffuse boundaries with pronounced slopes between normally and reversely magnetized zones it produces magnetic anomalies with appreciable skewness suggesting that observed skewness of marine magnetic anomaly 33 arises from the magnetization of this layer the magnetization pattern of the upper mantle is appreciably skewed and almost devoid of small scale variations it produces strongly skewed magnetic anomalies at satellite altitudes which may explain the observed skewness of magsat anomalies over the cretaceous quiet zones of the atlantic ocean

mapping crustal magnetic fields at mars using electron reflectometry 1 we present a kinetic model for the interaction of electrons precipitating along magnetic field lines into mars atmosphere and develop a technique for detecting crustal magnetic fields which act as magnetic mirrors reflecting some of the incident electrons back to spacecraft altitudes we present an initial map covering 20 of the planet which shows the topology of magnetic sources along the dichotomy boundary and reveals new magnetic sources in the northern lowlands implying the existence of preserved noachian crust beneath at least some regions of the apparently young plains

novel high pressure magnetic measurements with application to magnetite 1 we report a novel system designed to measure reversible magnetic susceptibility of micron sized samples under high pressures in a diamond anvil cell we find that magnetite reversible hysteresis parameters vary 15 below 0 6 to 1 0 gpa while at higher pressures significant increases occur in 1 bulk coercivity hc and 2 the ratio of saturation remanent magnetization mrs to saturation magnetization ms the net effect of pressure is to displace magnetite toward a truer single domain state with both higher mrs ms and hc our data together with the fact that magnetite curie temperature increases with pressure suggest that magnetite can account for geomagnetic anomalies related to some subduction zones and potentially to meteorite impact sites on earth as well as magnetic signatures observed on some planetary bodies like mars

degree 1 convection in the martian mantle and the origin of the hemispheric dichotomy 1 the surface of mars appears dramatically different between the northern and southern hemispheres any endogenic origin for this hemispheric dichotomy must involve a pattern of mantle convection that reflects the shape of the dichotomy primarily spherical harmonic degree 1 we investigated two mechanisms by which degree 1 convection may be initiated in the martian mantle 1 an endothermic phase change near the cmb and 2 viscosity layering in the mid mantle using two dimensional 2 d and 3 d spherical finite element convection models we explored the conditions under which each mechanism can produce degree 1 structures the phase transition is only effective at generating degree 1 structures when the mantle viscosity is constant or weakly temperature dependent activation energy 100 kj mol but the degree 1 pattern requires several billion years to develop increasing convective vigor in phase change models leads to reduced wavelengths for convective structures degree 1 convection can also develop in a layered viscosity mantle with temperature and depth dependent viscosity an overall sublithospheric radial viscosity variation of a factor of 100 including a factor of 8 25 jump in the midmantle can lead to formation of degree 1 structure in a timescale ranging from 100 my to several hundred my consistent with the timescale for the formation of the dichotomy neither convective vigor nor the internal heating rate greatly affects the formation of degree 1 structures we propose that degree 1 mantle convection induced by a layered viscosity structure may be responsible for the formation of the crustal dichotomy

reply to the comment on the paper grain size dependent potential for self generation of magnetic anomalies on mars via thermoremanent magnetic acquisition and magnetic interaction of hematite and magnetite by gunther kletetschka norman f ness j e p connerney m h acuna p j wasilewski phys earth planet inter 148 2005 149 156 made by jafar arkani hamed

possible ancient giant basin and related water enrichment in the arabia terra province mars a circular albedo feature in the arabia terra province was first hypothesized as an ancient impact basin using viking era information to test this unpublished hypothesis we have analyzed the viking era information together with layers of new data derived from the mars global surveyor mgs and mars odyssey mo missions our analysis indicates that arabia terra is an ancient geologic province of mars with many distinct characteristics including predominantly noachian materials a unique part of the highland lowland boundary a prominent paleotectonic history the largest region of fretted terrain on the planet outflow channels with no obvious origins extensive exposures of eroded layered sedimentary deposits and notable structural albedo thermal inertia gravity magnetic and elemental signatures the province also is marked by special impact crater morphologies which suggest a persistent volatile rich substrate no one characteristic provides definitive answers to the dominant event s that shaped this unique province collectively the characteristics reported here support the following hypothesized sequence of events in arabia terra 1 an enormous basin possibly of impact origin formed early in martian history when the magnetic dynamo was active and the lithosphere was relatively thin 2 sediments and other materials were deposited in the basin during high erosion rates while maintaining isostatic equilibrium 3 sediments became water enriched during the noachian period and 4 basin materials were uplifted in response to the growth of the tharsis bulge resulting in differential erosion exposing ancient stratigraphic sequences parts of the ancient basin remain water enriched to the present day

crustal heat production and the thermal evolution of mars the chemical composition of soils and rocks from the pathfinder site and phobos 2 orbital gamma ray spectroscopy indicate that the martian crust has a bulk composition equivalent to large ion lithophile lil and heat producing element k th u enriched basalt with a potassium content of about 0 5 a variety of radiogenic isotope data also suggest that separation of lil enriched crust and depleted mantle reservoirs took place very early in martian history 4 0 ga accordingly if the enriched martian crust is 30 km thick it is likely that a large fraction up to at least 50 of the heat producing elements in mars was transferred into the crust very early in the planet s history this would greatly diminish the possibility of early widespread melting of the martian mantle

large impact basins and the mega impact origin for the crustal dichotomy on mars the origin of the fundamental crustal dichotomy on mars remains the outstanding unsolved problem in martian geologic evolution the hypothesis that this dichotomy is due to a single giant mega impact early in martian history is tested by comparing the observed number of large impact basins on mars with the number expected from a d 2 distribution this test is based on the assumption that the mega impact borealis basin is the largest member of such a distribution the difference between observed and expected basins is the number of missing basins that might have been obscured by subsequent geologic events if the borealis basin were the largest member of a d 2 impact population there would be a very large number of missing basins on mars 1 larger than 5000 km 10 larger than 2000 km and 40 50 larger than about 1000 km diameter the area occupied by these missing basins allowing for overlap is too large to be hidden by the younger surface units a large population of presently unrecognized large impact basins would have to be located in the well preserved cratered highlands by contrast if chryse is the largest member of a d 2 impact population the more modest number of missing basins could in principle be confined to areas of mars that have been resurfaced or reworked by subsequent geologic processes a possible alternative to the mega impact hypothesis is that the crustal dichotomy is due to the cumulative effects of multiple overlapping large but not giant impacts

growth of the continental crust a planetary mantle perspective abstract this paper addresses the net growth through time of the total continental crust cc not to be confused with sporadic growth of individual continental masses e g by accretion of island arcs a process that does not necessarily require net growth geochemists tend to emphasize differences between cc and oceanic crust oc but from a whole planet perspective cc and oc are remarkably similar in composition and density the cc oc distinction is canonically defined in terms of elevation however the earth s bimodal elevation pattern clearly reflects a genetic distinction the oc participates directly in mantle convection whereas the cc is the remaining relatively stable portion of the crust the earth s advective cooling mechanism requires massive subduction of lithosphere which due to the inherent buoyancy of crust tends to require a low crust total lithosphere thickness ratio given relatively constant lithosphere thickness except near thermally buoyant mid ocean ridges the earth responds by heaping most of its crust into a few thick continents allowing subduction to freely operate over a large area of relatively thin crust this crustal thickness bimodality engenders the bimodal elevation pattern prevailing wisdom tends to hold that the rate of cc growth has been slow and ongoing typical models show cc volume roughly proportional to 1 h where h is the total heat generation by the earth s k th and u however such models are generally vague as to the mechanism that supposedly holds back growth even after 4 5 ga the strong t dependence of mantle rheology probably ensured that the mantle took only a few million years to cool within a few hundred degrees of its modern t gradual compositional evolution of the cc from a plausible initial composition e g basaltic anorthositic might have slightly lowered the mean cc density but this effect is of second order importance in comparison to the general increase in crust total lithosphere thickness ratio for any given crustal thickness engendered by temporal cooling of the mantle intense cratering occurring coevally with early intense crust mantle recycling probably reconstituted virtually all of the cc extant prior to 3 9 ga but cc was probably not recycled into the mantle any faster than it was regenerated lunar samples and meteorites provide strong circumstantial evidence that in primordial times the outer few hundred kilometers of all terrestrial planets were largely molten outcomes of primordial magmatism must have been strongly dependent on the pressure regimes within the planetary interiors in general the far greater dt dp of silicate melting curves vs adiabats probably tended to foster a layered magmasphere with a partially molten or paracumulate layer constrained by dt dp relationships to a p range of roughly 3 gpa surmounted by fully molten magma ocean layer also limited in thickness by efficient convective cooling in the earth p stabilized garnet and al rich pyroxene were key factors limiting ultimate yield of crustal feldspar this effect has been examined with quantitative models of high p fractional crystallization including in some models periodic replenishment of the magma ocean from below results indicate that a plausibly deep 300 400 km magma ocean would produce a crust comparable in both composition and thickness to that of the modern earth mildly worrisome discrepancies involve cao for which high p pyroxene compositions are poorly constrained and sio 2 the crust probably evolved to its present sio 2 rich composition through differentiation catalyzed by h 2 o which presumably was not as abundant in the magma ocean as in the crust soon afterward nominal model results for mean crustal thickness are typically 1 2 1 3 the modern global mean but for this parameter the model is designed to give conservatively high results so the discrepancy is probably not significant after the chaotic first few million years of solar system history i suggest that planetary size and composition for more than time govern crustal volume

a coherent model of the crustal magnetic field of mars 1 the immense amount of the mapping phase mars global surveyor mgs magnetic data allows us to derive a highly accurate magnetic map of mars the data acquired at nighttimes within the first 3 years of the mapping phase are divided into two almost equal parts and each part is expressed in spherical harmonics of degree up to 90 the two models are almost identical over harmonics of degree up to 62 but show appreciable differences over higher degree harmonics indicating that the higher degree harmonic coefficients have appreciable noncrustal contribution the most repeatable components of the two models are combined to produce an accurate 62 degree harmonic model of the magnetic field of the martian crust it is further demonstrated that the altitude of mgs is the major limiting factor of the resolution of the mapping phase data the small scale features of the data with wavelengths shorter than 400 km have significant contribution from noncrustal sources they are not useful for delineating the details of the magnetic source bodies in the crust

constraints on the depth of magnetized crust on mars from impact craters large diameter greater than 500 km martian impact basins are associated with observed magnetic fields which are statistically distinct from and smaller than fields associated with smaller craters we suggest that this effect arises because impacts cause shock heating and excavation reducing the magnetization of previously magnetized crust for a simple uniformly magnetized model the magnetic field at 100 km altitude is reduced by 50 when a crater shaped demagnetization zone reaches the base of the magnetized layer by analogy with terrestrial data we assume that in martian craters the zone of demagnetization extends to a depth of 0 04 0 15 crater diameters on the basis of this assumption the data suggest that the depth to the base of the magnetized layer on mars if uniform is 35 km with lower and upper bounds of 10 and 100 km respectively these bounds imply magnetizations of 5 40 a m 1 and are consistent with likely mars geotherms at 4 gyr b p

magnetic properties of rocks of the kapuskasing uplift ontario canada and origin of long wavelength magnetic anomalies summary the sources of long wavelength magnetic anomalies lwa in the crust are poorly understood we have measured remanent and induced magnetizations of 210 samples of anorthosite tonalite and mafic gneiss from the kapuskasing uplift an exposed partial crustal crosssection in northwestern ontario canada anorthosites have generally high q ratios of remanent induced magnetization in the range 0 3 60 and their natural remanent magnetization nrm is resistant to both thermal and alternating field af demagnetization however anorthositenrms 0 001 0 3am 1 aretooweaktoexplainlwaamplitudes maficgneisses also have relatively high q ratios peaking in the range 1 10 and the nrm is resistant to thermal and af demagnetization nrm and induced magnetization im intensities are in the ranges 0 01 2 and 0 01 0 6 a m 1 respectively tonalites have a bimodal distribution of magnetization the more strongly magnetic group has both nrm and im intensities in the range 0 1 5 a m 1 and wide ranging q values from 0 1 to 10 approximately some tonalites could be an lwa source although the long term stability of their nrms at high temperature in the crust is questionable because unblocking temperatures are broadly distributed from 100 to 600 c in general q values measured at surface temperatures overestimate remanence at depth in the deep crust im remains more or less constant but remanence decreases both reversibly and irreversibly leading to q ratios of 0 2 0 3 for multidomain grains and 1 3 for single domain grains near their blocking temperatures thermoviscous magnetization over the brunhes chron could add substantially to the effective induced magnetization typically induced thermoviscous magnetization in the direction of the present earth s field will outweigh remanence in the direction of an ancient field as a source of lwa originating in the deepest crust remanence may play a larger role for mid crustal sources where single domain grains are well below their blocking temperatures

paleomagnetic pole positions and pole reversals of mars the paleomagnetic pole positions of mars obtained by modeling 10 small size isolated magnetic anomalies show considerable clustering 7 out of 10 are within a circle of 30 degrees radius centered at 230e 25n the directions of the magnetization of some nearby source bodies differ by 180 degrees and both north and south poles are found in the cluster suggesting the magnetic pole reversals of mars

magnetization of the martian crust 1 this paper presents the lateral variations of the vertically averaged magnetization model of the martian crust determined from the degree 50 spherical harmonic model of the magnetic potential the model potential is derived using the mars global surveyor low altitude magnetic data acquired within elevations of 85 200 km the potential model is first verified by comparing the three orthogonal components of the corresponding vector field with the observed high altitude 380 km data using the paleopole positions calculated through modeling 10 isolated small magnetic anomalies the model potential is inverted to determine the vertically averaged magnetization of a nominal 50 km thick crust the crust is highly magnetic with a magnetization contrast peak to trough as high as 35 a m the lack of distinct magnetic signatures for the giant impact basins hellas argyre and isidis and the absence of a magnetic anomaly associated with the north south topographic dichotomy indicate that the upper parts of the crust are low magnetic and that the strong magnetic source bodies are in the lower parts

the composition and thickness of the crust of mars estimated from rare earth elements and neodymium isotopic compositions of martian meteorites isotopic and trace element compositions of martian meteorites show that early differentiation of mars produced complementary crustal and mantle reservoirs that were sampled by later magmatic events this paper describes a mass balance model that estimates the rare earth element ree content and thickness of the crust of mars from the compositions of shergottites the diverse ree and nd isotopic compositions of shergottites are most easily explained by variable addition of light rare earth element lree enriched crust to basaltic magmas derived from lree depleted mantle source regions antarctic shergottites eet 79001 alh 77005 lew 88516 and que 94201 all have strongly lree depleted patterns and positive initial 143nd isotopic compositions which is consistent with the generation of these magmas from depleted mantle sources and little or no interaction with enriched crust in contrast shergotty and zagami have negative initial 143nd isotopic compositions and less pronounced depletions of the lree which have been explained by incorporation of enriched crustal components into mantle derived magmas jones 1989 longhi 1991 borg et al 1997 the mass balance model presented here derives the ree composition of the crustal component in shergotty by assuming it represents a mixture between a mantle derived magma similar in composition to eet 79001a and a lree enriched crustal component the amount of crust in shergotty is constrained by mixing relations based on nd isotopic compositions which allows the ree pattern of the crustal component to be calculated by mass balance the effectiveness of this model is demonstrated by the successful recovery of important characteristics of the earth s continental crust from terrestrial columbia river basalts self consistent results for nd isotopic compositions and ree abundances are obtained if shergotty contains 10 30 of lree enriched crust with 10 ppm nd this crustal component would have moderately enriched lree sm nd 0 25 0 27 147sm 144nd 0 15 0 17 la yb 2 7 3 8 relatively unfractionated heavy rare earth elements hree and no eu anomaly crust with these characteristics can be produced from a primitive lherzolitic martian mantle by modest amounts 2 8 of partial melting and it would have a globally averaged thickness of 45 km which is consistent with geophysical estimates mars may serve as a laboratory to investigate planetary differentiation by extraction of a primary basaltic crust

mineralogy of the sources for magnetic anomalies on mars abstract recent discovery of intense magnetic anomalies on mars which are due to remanent magnetization requires some explanation for the possible minerals responsible for the anomalous signature thermoremanent magnetization trm in single domain sd and multidomain md sized magnetite hematite and pyrrhotite all potential minerals are considered the intensity of trm in 0 05 mt is in descending order sd sized magnetite sd sized pyrrhotite md sized hematite md sized pyrrhotite md sized magnetite sd sized hematite the trm intensity is 50 of the sirm each of these minerals and estimated concentrations of magnetic remanence carriers assumed to be titanomagnetite in the shergotty nakhlaxhassigny martian meteorites are used in a thin sheet approximation model to reveal the concentration of each mineral required for the generation of an observed magnetic anomaly 1 500 nt at 100 km altitude assuming trm acquisition in a 0 05 mt magnetic field

claritas rise mars pre tharsis magmatism claritas rise is a prominent ancient noachian center of tectonism identified through investigation of comprehensive paleotectonic information of the western hemisphere of mars this center is interpreted to be the result of magmatic driven activity including uplift and associated tectonism as well as possible hydrothermal activity coupled with its ancient stratigraphy high density of impact craters and complex structure a possible magnetic signature may indicate that it formed during an ancient period of mars evolution such as when the dynamo was in operation as tharsis lacks magnetic signatures claritas rise may pre date the development of tharsis or mark incipient development since some of the crustal materials underlying tharsis and older parts of the magmatic complex respectively could have been highly resurfaced destroying any remanent magnetism here we detail the significant characteristics of the claritas rise and present a case for why it should be targeted by the mars odyssey mars reconnaissance orbiter and mars express spacecrafts as well as be considered as a prime target for future tier scalable robotic reconnaissance