1. Department of Geological Sciences, Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island 02912, USA
2. Institut fuer Geologische Wissenschaften, Freie Universitaet Berlin, Malteserstrasse 74-100, Bldg D, 12249 Berlin, Germany
3. DLR-Institut fuer Planetenforschung, Rutherfordstrasse 2, 12489, Berlin, Germany
4. US Geological Survey, MS 975, Menlo Park, California 94025, USA
5. Orsay-Terre, F-91405, Orsay Cedex, France
6. ESTEC/SCI-SR, Postbus 299, NL2200AG Noordwijk, The Netherlands
7. A list of all members of The HRSC Co-Investigator Team and their affiliations appears at the end of the paper

Correspondence to: J. W. Head¹ Correspondence and requests for materials should be addressed to J.W.H. (Email: james_head@brown.edu).

Abstract

Images from the Mars Express HRSC (High-Resolution Stereo Camera) of debris aprons at the base of massifs in eastern Hellas reveal numerous concentrically ridged lobate and pitted features and related evidence of extremely ice-rich glacier-like viscous flow and sublimation. Together with new evidence for recent ice-rich rock glaciers at the base of the Olympus Mons scarp superposed on larger Late Amazonian debris-covered piedmont glaciers, we interpret these deposits as evidence for geologically recent and recurring glacial activity in tropical and mid-latitude regions of Mars during periods of increased spin-axis obliquity when polar ice was mobilized and redeposited in microenvironments at lower latitudes. The data indicate that abundant residual ice probably remains in these deposits and that these records of geologically recent climate changes are accessible to future automated and human surface exploration.

1. Department of Geological Sciences, Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island 02912, USA
2. Institut fuer Geologische Wissenschaften, Freie Universitaet Berlin, Malteserstrasse 74-100, Bldg D, 12249 Berlin, Germany
3. DLR-Institut fuer Planetenforschung, Rutherfordstrasse 2, 12489, Berlin, Germany
4. US Geological Survey, MS 975, Menlo Park, California 94025, USA
5. Orsay-Terre, F-91405, Orsay Cedex, France
6. ESTEC/SCI-SR, Postbus 299, NL2200AG Noordwijk, The Netherlands
7. A list of all members of The HRSC Co-Investigator Team and their affiliations appears at the end of the paper

Correspondence to: J. W. Head¹ Correspondence and requests for materials should be addressed to J.W.H. (Email: james_head@brown.edu).

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