Journal
SCIENCE
Volume 359, Issue 6372, Pages 199-201Publisher
AMER ASSOC ADVANCEMENT SCIENCE
DOI: 10.1126/science.aao1619
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Funding
- MRO project
- NASA [NNH13AV85I, NNX16AP09H]
- Blaustein Postdoctoral Fellowship at Johns Hopkins University
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Thick deposits cover broad regions of the Martian mid-latitudes with a smooth mantle; erosion in these regions creates scarps that expose the internal structure of the mantle. We investigated eight of these locations and found that they expose deposits of water ice that can be >100 meters thick, extending downward from depths as shallow as 1 to 2 meters below the surface. The scarps are actively retreating because of sublimation of the exposed water ice. The ice deposits likely originated as snowfall during Mars' high-obliquity periods and have now compacted into massive, fractured, and layered ice. We expect the vertical structure of Martian ice-rich deposits to preserve a record of ice deposition and past climate.
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