Dichotomy in crustal melting on early Mars inferred from antipodal effect
Open accessAbstract
The Martian crustal dichotomy (MCD) between the southern highlands and the northern lowlands is the planet's most ancient crustal structure, but its origins and evolution remain enigmatic. Understanding of the MCD comes largely from present-day and shallow crustal constraints. Lacking ancient and deeper constraints, hypotheses for the origin of the MCD range from an early giant impact, partial melting from sustained mantle convection, or some combination. We investigate with seismological modeling the best-preserved case of the "antipodal effect"-energy from an impact that concentrates and induces uplift and fracturing promoting volcanism at its antipode-the Hellas crater and the Alba Patera volcano on Mars. The volcano is latitudinally offset ∼2° (∼119 km) from the expected antipode, and we explore whether the MCD can explain this deflection. Variations across the MCD in topography, thickness, and composition have only minor effects. Simulations capable of sufficiently decelerating southern surface waves require the presence of 2%-5% more partial melt in the southern highlands. As the age of impact ca. 4 billion years ago post-dates the formation of the MCD, our partial melting results thus imply that, with or without an early giant impact, the MCD was modified by mantle convection in order to supply enough heat for crustal melts for several hundreds of millions of years after Mars formation.
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For subface water ice, various drill-based excavation methods have been proposed.
“For the subface water ice, various drill-based excavation methods have been proposed. 94-99”
From Energy system and resource utilization in space: A state-of-the-art review (2024) · cites this paper as [95]
The paper’s “Impact-induced seismic waves on Mars” section discusses impact simulations and crustal properties, not excavating subsurface water ice. Searches for subsurface water ice, drilling, and excavation found no passage addressing proposed drill-based methods; page numbers were unavailable in our copy. (LLM, conf=0.76)
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredA representative drill-based technology is the Mobile In-Situ Water Extractor (MISWE).
“Representative technologies are named 'Mobile In-Situ Water Extractor (MISWE)' Figure 3B. 95”
From Energy system and resource utilization in space: A state-of-the-art review (2024) · cites this paper as [95]
The paper’s Figure 3 caption (Impact-induced seismic waves on Mars; page unavailable) describes simulated seismic waveforms, not a drill-based water extractor. Searches for “Mobile In-Situ Water Extractor,” “MISWE,” and drilling-based water extraction found no passage addressing the claimed technology. (LLM, conf=0.77)
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Energy system and resource utilization in space: A state-of-the-art review
Wu, W., Shen, J., Kong, H., Yang, Y., Ren, E., Liu, Z., Wang, W., Dong, M., Han, L., Yang, C., et al. (2024) · The Innovation Energy · doi:10.59717/j.xinn-energy.2024.100029 · Cited by 44 · see citing works
- Authors
- Zhang, L., Zhang, J., & Mitchell, R. N.
- Affiliations
- Chinese Academy of Sciences (CN)
- Corresponding author
- Zhang, Jinhai
- Mitchell, Ross N.
- Venue
- The Innovation
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2022-09
- Volume
- 3
- Issue
- 5
- Pages
- 100280
- ISSN
- 2666-6758 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC9307670
- OpenAlex
- W4283816393
- Cited by
- 5
- References
- 37
- Citations by year
- 2026: 2 · 2025: 1 · 2024: 1 · 2022: 1
- FWCI
- 0.30
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- The Innovation (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc-nd)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc-nd)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
- Funders
- Chinese Academy of Sciences (ZDBS-SSWTLC00104)
- China Postdoctoral Science Foundation (2021M703193)
- Tsinghua University
- National Natural Science Foundation of China (41888101, 41941002)
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Physics and Astronomy › Astronomy and Astrophysics › Planetary Science and Exploration
- Physical Sciences › Physics and Astronomy › Astronomy and Astrophysics › Astro and Planetary Science
- Physical Sciences › Earth and Planetary Sciences › Geophysics › High-pressure geophysics and materials
- Keywords
- giant impacts, mantle convection, partial melting, Alba Patera, crustal thickness, Martian highlands
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