Abstract
AbstractAeolian features at Oxia Planum—the 2023 landing site for the ExoMars Rosalind Franklin Rover (ERFR)—are important for Mars exploration because they record information about past and current wind regimes, sand transport vectors, and lend insight to the abrasion, deposition, and transport of granular material. To characterize the wind regime and erosional history of Oxia Planum we used a combination of manual observational and machine‐learning techniques to analyze the morphometrics, distribution, and orientation of 10,753 aeolian bedforms (Transverse Aeolian Ridges[TARs]) and landforms (Periodic Bedrock Ridges [PBRs]) around the ERFR landing ellipses. We found that, irrespective of the scale of the TARs, crestline azimuths are consistent across the study area and we infer that the bedform forming winds blew from NW‐NNW toward SE‐SSE. PBR azimuths show a substantively different orientation to the aeolian bedforms, and we infer that the winds necessary to abrade PBRs had a N‐NNE or S‐SSE orientation (180° ambiguity). From observations of active dust devils and windstreaks from repeat imagery, we infer a W‐WNW or E‐ESE (180° ambiguity) wind dominates today. Finally, we compare the inferred wind direction results from the aeolian landscape to modeled wind data from Mars Global Circulation Models. We note that, despite landscape evidence to the contrary, modeled contemporary wind direction lacks the consistent directionality to be responsible for the orientation of aeolian features in Oxia Planum. These results characterize aeolian features ERFR will encounter and suggests multiple wind regimes have influenced the surficial expression of the landing site.
Highlights
Irrespective of the scale of the Transverse aeolian ridge (TAR), crestline azimuths are consistent across the study area and we infer that the bedform forming winds blew from NW-NNW toward SE-SSE
Aeolian features present in the Oxia Planum landing site include TARs and periodic bedrock ridges (PBRs), but we have not observed any examples of duneforms
We offer three plausible formation hypotheses that could explain the origins of these features: (i) they are the surface expression of an extensive set of shallow-dipping bedrock layers, (ii) they are lithified TARs, formed perpendicular to the dominant winds, possibly buried, re-exposed by regional-scale erosion, or (iii) they are erosional features, formed perpendicular to the dominant wind, and again probably buried and re-exposed
Summary
The surface of Mars is replete with evidence of extensive geomorphic modification by wind: dust devils (M. Balme & Greeley, 2006), centimeter-scale ripples (e.g., Lapotre et al, 2016, 2018), meter to decimeter-scale Transverse Aeolian Ridges (TARs; Bourke et al, 2006; M. Balme et al, 2008), periodic bedrock ridges (PBRs; Montgomery et al, 2012), wind streaks (e.g., P. Thomas et al, 1981), meter to kilometer-scale ventifacts and yardangs (e.g., Day et al, 2016; Kerber & Head, 2010; Mandt et al, 2008; Zimbleman et al, 2010), kilometer-scale dunes (e.g., Chojnacki et al, 2019; Hayward et al, 2014), and sand sheets (e.g., Runyon et al, 2017). The surface of Mars is replete with evidence of extensive geomorphic modification by wind: dust devils Balme & Greeley, 2006), centimeter-scale ripples (e.g., Lapotre et al, 2016, 2018), meter to decimeter-scale Transverse Aeolian Ridges Balme et al, 2008), periodic bedrock ridges (PBRs; Montgomery et al, 2012), wind streaks Thomas et al, 1981), meter to kilometer-scale ventifacts and yardangs (e.g., Day et al, 2016; Kerber & Head, 2010; Mandt et al, 2008; Zimbleman et al, 2010), kilometer-scale dunes (e.g., Chojnacki et al, 2019; Hayward et al, 2014), and sand sheets (e.g., Runyon et al, 2017). High-resolution orbital images and data from landers and rovers on the surface show that the sediment transport processes responsible for these aeolian features are currently active across much of the surface of Mars—a result of the interaction between surficial granular material and the thin Martian FAVARO ET AL.
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