Local late Amazonian boulder breakdown and denudation rate on Mars

Abstract

Inactive fan surfaces become smoother and develop desert pavement over time by weathering and erosion. We use this mechanism to estimate late Amazonian boulder breakdown and surface denudation rates on a young (∼1.25 Ma) (Schon et al., 2009) fan on Mars. This is done by comparing boulder size and surface relief between lobes of different ages. The boulder breakdown rate is 3.5 m/Myr, surface smoothing (denudation) rate is approximated as 0.89 m/Myr. These rates exceed previous estimates for the Amazonian by orders of magnitude. We attribute this to locality, high initial smoothing rates after morphological activity and obliquity and eccentricity-driven variation in the availability of (metastable) liquid water, which acts as a catalyst for weathering during these periods. The results have major implications for process interpretation of Martian landforms, as they imply that typical small-scale morphology may be subdued within <1 Myr.