2005 Salt Lake City Annual Meeting (October 16–19, 2005)
Paper No. 249-6
Presentation Time: 3:10 PM-3:25 PM

MARTIAN ALLUVIAL FANS

KRAAL, Erin, Department of Earth Science 1156 High Street, University of California Santa Cruz, 1156 High Street, Santa Cruz, CA 95064, ekraal@pmc.ucsc.edu, ASPHAUG, Erik, Department of Earth Sceince, University of California Santa Cruz, 1156 High Street, 1156 High Street, Santa Cruz, CA 95064, MOORE, Jeff, NASA Ames Research Center, MS 245-3, Moffet Field, CA 94035, and HOWARD, Alan, Department of Environmental Science, University of Virginia, 205 Clark Hall, Charlottesville, VA 22904

The recent discovery of alluvial fans in impact crater basins indicates yet another dynamic sedimentary system is active on the Martian surface. All Martian alluvial fans identified to date originate from the rims of craters, the alcoves are in the steep rim topography and the aprons are in the shallow crater bowl basins. Martian fans have the same distinctive ‘cone-shaped' debris apron and similar topographic profiles as their terrestrial counterparts; some of the fans have fluvial channel networks preserved on their surface. Martian fans are large compared to terrestrial fans and have a distinctive regional grouping in the southern hemisphere. Here we discuss the formation of these features under Martian conditions and focus in particular on the reasons for the distinctive grouping including impact cratering processes, regional geology, and Martian climate history.

2005 Salt Lake City Annual Meeting (October 16–19, 2005)
General Information for this Meeting
Session No. 249
Sedimentology Goes to Mars
Salt Palace Convention Center: 151 DEF
1:30 PM-5:30 PM, Wednesday, 19 October 2005

Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs, Vol. 37, No. 7, p. 545
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