Catastrophic flood sediments in Chryse Basin, Mars, and Quincy Basin, Washington: Application of sandar facies model

Abstract

Viking visible and thermal infrared observations and terrestrial catastrophic flood deposits provide clues to identify the outflow channel sediments that went into Chryse Basin on Mars. On Earth, sandar (outwash plains formed by coalescence of many jökulhlaup floods) are described in terms of three laterally adjacent facies: proximal, midfan, and distal. The Missoula Flood sediments deposited in Quincy Basin, Washington, comprise a miniature analog of Chryse Basin. The terminology and general characteristics of the sandar facies model are applied to Quincy Basin, although the depositional environment and clast sizes are somewhat different (higher‐energy flood, larger clasts, subaqueous rather than subaerial deposition). For example, the Ephrata Fan (a deposit of boulders, cobbles, and pebbles) forms the midfan facies analog; a downfan sandy deposit (reworked into a dune field) comprises the distal facies analog. In Chryse Basin the midfan is defined by a heterogeneous rocky (0–25%), intermediate‐albedo (0.21–0.26), intermediate thermal inertia (260–460 J m−2 s−0.5 K−1) surface, while the distal facies has a low albedo (0.14–0.16) and higher thermal inertia (340–700 J m−2 s−0.5 K−1). The Chryse midfan unit has rocks and windblown dust exposed at the surface. The sand of the distal facies in Chryse/Acidalia is reworked by the wind, as in Quincy Basin. The Viking 1 and Mars Pathfinder landing sites are located on the midfan unit. Observations that can be made at the Mars Pathfinder site might help in reevaluating whether or not Viking 1 landed on outflow channel sediments.