EARLY CRUSTAL EVOLUTION OF MARS
Abstract
▪ Abstract The bulk of the ∼50-km-thick Martian crust formed at ∼4.5 Gyr B.P., perhaps from a magma ocean. This crust is probably a basaltic andesite or andesite and is enriched in incompatible and heat-producing elements. Later additions of denser basalt to the crust were volumetrically minor, but resurfaced significant portions of the Northern hemisphere. A significant fraction of the total thickness of the crust was magnetized prior to 4 Gyr B.P., with the magnetization later selectively removed by large impacts. Early large impacts also modified the hemispheric contrast in crustal thickness (the dichotomy), which was possibly caused by long-wavelength mantle convection. Subsequent Noachian modification of the crust included further impacts, significant fluvial erosion, and volcanism associated with the formation of the Tharsis rise. Remaining outstanding questions include the origin of the dichotomy and the nature of the magnetic anomalies.
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Claims the paper makes
Claims other papers make about this one
Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?
Mars' ancient crust is well-preserved, allowing a window to epochs as early as 3-4 Ga across large regions of the surface.
“One of the happy outcomes of this is that its ancient crust is incredibly well-preserved, allowing a window to epochs as early as 3-4 Ga across large regions of the surface (Nimmo & Tanaka 2005).”
From The Climate of Early Mars (2016) · cites this paper as Nimmo & Tanaka 2005
The citation lists haven’t been fetched yet
References 173 · Cited by 342
- Authors
- Nimmo, F., & Tanaka, K.
- Affiliations
- University of California, Los Angeles (US)
- United States Geological Survey (US)
- Venue
- Annual Review of Earth and Planetary Sciences
- Publisher
- Annual Reviews
- Published
- 2005-05-31
- Volume
- 33
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 133-161
- ISSN
- 0084-6597 (ISSN-L)
- 1545-4495
- OpenAlex
- W2119685988
- Cited by
- 342
- References
- 173
- Citations by year
- 2026: 9 · 2025: 11 · 2024: 12 · 2023: 12 · 2022: 12 · 2021: 18 · 2020: 19 · 2019: 49 · 2018: 14 · 2017: 9 · 2016: 9 · 2015: 14 · 2014: 18 · 2013: 11 · 2012: 19
- FWCI
- 1.22
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Annual Review of Earth and Planetary Sciences (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- National Aeronautics and Space Administration
- 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 › Geological and Geochemical Analysis
- Keywords
- Martian crust, crustal evolution, magma ocean, basaltic andesite, crustal magnetization, dichotomy, crustal thickness, mantle convection, Tharsis rise, volcanic activity, fluvial erosion, early Mars
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review
