Recent volcano–ice interaction and outburst flooding in a Mars polar cap re-entrant

Abstract

Formation of chasms in the polar ice caps of Mars has been attributed to meltwater outburst floods, but the cause of melting has remained uncertain. In a cap re-entrant enveloping Abalos Colles, west of Casma Boreale in the north polar cap, we have found possible evidence of recent volcano–ice interaction and outburst flooding. In this paper we demonstrate that these two mechanisms can have acted together to form or expand the Abalos re-entrant. Flat-topped ridges and circular rims protruding above the ice cap surface in the re-entrant apex may be lava ridges and volcano craters, and can have caused melting of 3.3 to 7.7 × 10 3 km 3 of ice. The surrounding cap surface appears to have subsided and the likely volume of missing ice matches the melt estimate. Outburst flooding from this area may have reached peak discharges of 0.3 to 1.5 × 10 8 m 3 s −1 according to scour patterns in one of the re-entrant channels. This required ponding of melt water during lava eruption and catastrophic release through a sub- or englacial melt water tunnel, the collapse of which has left a chasm in the ice cap margin. The flood features are geologically recent, and volcano–ice interaction may have occurred within the last 20,000 years.