Through the Thick and Thin: New Constraints on Mars Paleopressure History 3.8 – 4 Ga from Small Exhumed Craters

Abstract

AbstractMars' climate history depends in part on its atmospheric pressure evolution, but most existing constraints on atmospheric pressure are indirect. Thin atmospheres allow small objects to reach the surface and form impact craters; therefore, ancient impact craters can constrain past atmospheric pressure. To identify ancient craters preserved in sedimentary rocks and exhumed by wind erosion, we use HiRISE orthoimages, anaglyphs, and digital terrain models (DTMs). We compare measured crater populations from two sites to predictions from an atmosphere‐impactor interaction model for atmospheres of different pressures. Our upper limits on continuous atmospheric pressure are 1.9±0.1 bar around 4 Ga and 1.5±0.1 bar at 3.8±0.2 Ga. We demonstrate that atmospheric pressure cannot have been continuously above these upper limits. During the interval 3.8±0.2 Ga, our crater counts require that atmospheric pressure was less than 5% of Earth's modern pressure for at least 104 yrs, or at higher pressure for a correspondingly longer duration of time (at least 105−106 years at 1.5 bar for our Mawrth phyllosilicates and Meridiani Planum data, respectively). Therefore, atmospheric pressure around 4 Ga was either continuously 1.9±0.1 bar or varied between higher (>1.9 bar) and lower (<1.9 bar) pressures. Similarly, atmospheric pressure at 3.8±0.2 Ga was either continuously 1.5±0.1 bar, or varied between higher (>1.5 bar) and lower (<1.5 bar) pressures. Finally, we synthesize all available paleopressure estimates for early Mars to constrain a 2‐component model of Mars' long‐term atmospheric pressure evolution. In our model, atmospheric pressures <1 bar early in Mars' history best fit existing paleopressure constraints.