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Supervolcanoes within an ancient volcanic province in Arabia Terra, Mars

Nature volume 502, pages 47–52 (2013)Cite this article

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Abstract

Several irregularly shaped craters located within Arabia Terra, Mars, represent a new type of highland volcanic construct and together constitute a previously unrecognized Martian igneous province. Similar to terrestrial supervolcanoes, these low-relief paterae possess a range of geomorphic features related to structural collapse, effusive volcanism and explosive eruptions. Extruded lavas contributed to the formation of enigmatic highland ridged plains in Arabia Terra. Outgassed sulphur and erupted fine-grained pyroclastics from these calderas probably fed the formation of altered, layered sedimentary rocks and fretted terrain found throughout the equatorial region. The discovery of a new type of volcanic construct in the Arabia volcanic province fundamentally changes the picture of ancient volcanism and climate evolution on Mars. Other eroded topographic basins in the ancient Martian highlands that have been dismissed as degraded impact craters should be reconsidered as possible volcanic constructs formed in an early phase of widespread, disseminated magmatism on Mars.

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Figure 1: Geographic context of the northern Arabia Terra region.
Figure 2: The geology of Eden patera.
Figure 3: The geology of Siloe and Euphrates paterae.
Figure 4: Comparison of thermokarst features, terrestrial supervolcanoes and the putative supervolcanoes on Mars.
Figure 5: Comparison of the depth-to-diameter ratios of possible Martian supervolcanoes with those of known impact craters.
Figure 6: Links to global geology.

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Acknowledgements

We thank H. Frey, B. Hynek, S. Wright, J. Zimbelman and L. Tornabene for discussions that improved the quality of the manuscript. Funding was provided by the NASA Mars Data Analysis programme.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Planetary Science Institute, Tucson, 85719, Arizona, USA

    Joseph R. Michalski

  2. Department of Earth Sciences, Natural History Museum, London SW7 5BD, UK,

    Joseph R. Michalski

  3. NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, 20771, Maryland, USA

    Jacob E. Bleacher

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Contributions

J.R.M. performed the initial observations, processed image and topographic data and wrote most of the manuscript. J.E.B. wrote portions of the manuscript, performed geological mapping and processed imaging and topographic data. Both authors synthesized the results, developed the ideas and edited the paper.

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Correspondence to Joseph R. Michalski.

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Michalski, J., Bleacher, J. Supervolcanoes within an ancient volcanic province in Arabia Terra, Mars. Nature 502, 47–52 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1038/nature12482

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