With more and more missions being launched to explore the Mars, the fact that water must have once flown it is no more a mere speculation. Keeping this is mind, this paper attempts to interpret Martian and terrestrial images and provides an insight into the conditions that must have prevailed on Mars when water flowed on it. This is achieved by comparing regions selected on Mars that have evidences of a fluvial past, with regions of the Earth having similar geologic, geomorphic and physiographic characteristics. The Martian images and DEM were obtained from HiRISE onboard MRO of NASA. For the terrestrial regions, LandSat 8 (OLI) images and SRTM DEMs were used. This study has brought out many similarities in the fluvial geomorphic regime of the two planets. The presence of lobate structures, mouth bars and bifurcated channels in the Eberswalde Delta system on Mars is an indication of the interaction of the fluvial system with a large standing body of water, similar to the Mississippi Delta system on Earth. Also, the presence of braided pattern, streamlined bars and palaeochannels observed in the channels to the south of Ascraeus Mons on Mars indicates a prominent flow of water through time, similar to the Yellowstone River system present on Earth. This study thus aids in better understanding of the Martian fluvial processes and landforms.

Date Published: 8 November 2014
PDF: 14 pages
Proc. SPIE 9260, Land Surface Remote Sensing II, 926035 (8 November 2014); doi: 10.1117/12.2068897

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 9260:
Land Surface Remote Sensing II
Thomas J. Jackson; Jing Ming Chen; Peng Gong; Shunlin Liang, Editor(s)