41 Astrobiology: What’s the Latest on the Search for Life, Past or Present, Outside of Earth?

Friday, 8 April 2022
1:30 PM - 5:30 PM
North Meeting Room 206

SURVEY AND FIELD ANALYSIS OF FAN-SHAPED FEATURES IN NORTHERN NORWAY: ARCTIC ANALOGS FOR EXPLORATION ON MARS

Paper number: 41-1
Program: Theme Sessions
Time: 1:30 PM – 1:45 PM

Authors

Abstract

Fan-shaped features are ubiquitous on Earth and Mars and record the change from confined to unconfined flow in a fluid-rich system. On Earth, fan-shaped features in the Arctic can be used as modern analogs for fans that may have formed under a warm and wet Martian climate scenario during the Noachian and Early Hesperian time periods (4.7-3.2 Ga). Fans on Mars exhibit many of the same geomorphic characteristics as fans on Earth, including a wide variety of sizes and slopes indicative of fluid-rich (e.g. delta) to fluid-poor (e.g. alluvial fan) depositional environments.

Here, we present results from two studies of fan-shaped features in the Arctic: (1) a survey of >300 fan-shaped features mapped using orbital data on the Norwegian Svalbard Archipelago; and (2) field observations from 12 fan-shaped features in the Finnmark county of northernmost Norway. In both locations, fan-shaped features include alluvial fans (sheetflood and debris flow-type), fjord-head deltas (a subset of fan-deltas), and deltas with broad distributary networks. In the latter two cases, winter sea ice acts to stabilize the delta plain, and hypopycnal flow results where freshwater flows into more saline waters of fjords and the Arctic Ocean. With respect to astrobiological investigations, preserved organic material is most likely to occur in the submarine portions of fan-deltas or deltas, making such features on Mars ideal targets for crewed or robotic missions in the future.

Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs. Vol. 54, No. 4

doi: 10.1130/abs/2022NC-375042

© Copyright 2022 The Geological Society of America (GSA), all rights reserved. Permission is hereby granted to the author(s) of this abstract to reproduce and distribute it freely, for noncommercial purposes. Permission is hereby granted to any individual scientist to download a single copy of this electronic file and reproduce up to 20 paper copies for noncommercial purposes advancing science and education, including classroom use, providing all reproductions include the complete content shown here, including the author information. All other forms of reproduction and/or transmittal are prohibited without written permission from GSA Copyright Permissions.