Mars's Crustal and Volcanic Structure Explained by Southern Giant Impact and Resulting Mantle Depletion

Title data

Cheng, Kar Wai ; Rozel, Antoine B. ; Golabek, Gregor J. ; Ballantyne, Harry A. ; Jutzi, Martin ; Tackley, Paul J.:
Mars's Crustal and Volcanic Structure Explained by Southern Giant Impact and Resulting Mantle Depletion.
In: Geophysical Research Letters. Vol. 51 (2024) Issue 6 . - e2023GL105910.
ISSN 1944-8007
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1029/2023GL105910

Official URL:

Abstract in another language

Mars features a crustal dichotomy, with its southern hemisphere covered by a thicker basaltic crust than its northern hemisphere. Additionally, the planet displays geologically recent volcanism only in its low latitude regions. Previous giant impact models coupled with simulations of mantle convection have shown that the crustal dichotomy can be explained by post-impact melt crystallization that emplaced a thick crust in the southern hemisphere. In this study, we show that the depleted residue left behind by the original post-impact crustal formation can spread laterally, potentially persisting beneath the northern hemisphere to the present-day. Such a large-scale mantle province would concurrently explain both the prevalence of long-term magmatism on Mars and its strong preference for localized equatorial regions.

Further data

Item Type:	Article in a journal
Refereed:	Yes
Additional notes:	e2023GL105910 2023GL105910
Keywords:	Mars; Martian dichotomy; geodynamical modeling; giant impact
Institutions of the University:	Faculties > Faculty of Mathematics, Physics und Computer Science > Group Material Sciences > Chair Crystallography
Result of work at the UBT:	Yes
DDC Subjects:	500 Science > 530 Physics
Date Deposited:	22 Oct 2024 07:57
Last Modified:	22 Oct 2024 07:57
URI:	https://eref.uni-bayreuth.de/id/eprint/90788