Paleogeographic Reconstructions of an Ocean Margin on Mars Based on Deltaic Sedimentology at Aeolis Dorsa

Abstract

The evidence for an ancient ocean in Mars' northern hemispheric basin during the Noachian/Hesperian is contentious. Much of the work is based on the modern topography by assuming that erosion has not significantly reshaped the Martian surface over the last 3.5 billion years, despite evidence to the contrary. Here, we provide new evidence for a northern ocean or large sea based on stratigraphic analysis of sedimentary basin fill exposed at Aeolis Dorsa. We mapped over 6,500 km of fluvial ridges, grouped them into 20 systems, and present evidence that they are the eroded remnants of river deltas or submarine-channel belts, together defining the stratigraphy of an ancient ocean margin. We used Context Camera stereo-pair elevation models to measure the stratigraphic positions of each system and used branching directions to determine paleoflow directions. By grouping landforms based on stratigraphic position and paleoflow directions, we reconstructed the paleogeography at Aeolis Dorsa over 5 timesteps; all cases differ from the modern topography. We tracked the initial regression and later transgression of a shoreline during at least 900 m of sea-level rise, a scale consistent with a northern ocean on a warm and wet early Mars.