IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/nat/nature/v397y1999i6720d10.1038_17557.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Bright dunes on Mars

Author

Listed:
  • P. C. Thomas

    (Center for Radiophysics and Space Research, Cornell University)

  • M. C. Malin

    (Malin Space Science Systems)

  • M. H. Carr

    (US Geological Survey)

  • G. E. Danielson

    (California Institute of Technology)

  • M. E. Davies

    (The Rand Corporation)

  • W. K. Hartmann

    (Planetary Science Institute)

  • A. P. Ingersoll

    (California Institute of Technology)

  • P. B. James

    (University of Toledo)

  • A. S. McEwen

    (Lunar and Planetary Laboratory, University of Arizona)

  • L. A. Soderblom

    (US Geological Survey)

  • J. Veverka

    (Center for Radiophysics and Space Research, Cornell University)

Abstract

Seasonal changes observed on the surface of Mars can in part be attributed to the transport of geological materials by wind1. Images obtained by orbiting spacecraft in the 1970s showed large wind-formed features such as dunes, and revealed regional time-varying albedos that could be attributed to the effects of dust erosion and deposition. But the resolution of these images was insufficient to identify different types and sources of aeolian materials, nor could they reveal aeolian deposits other than large dunes or extensive surface coverings that were redistributed by dust storms. Here we present images of Mars with up to 50 times better resolution. These images show that martian dunes include at least two distinct components, the brighter of which we interpret to be composed of relatively soft minerals, possibly sulphates. We also find large areas of the martian surface that have several metres or more of aeolian mantle lacking obvious bedforms.

Suggested Citation

  • P. C. Thomas & M. C. Malin & M. H. Carr & G. E. Danielson & M. E. Davies & W. K. Hartmann & A. P. Ingersoll & P. B. James & A. S. McEwen & L. A. Soderblom & J. Veverka, 1999. "Bright dunes on Mars," Nature, Nature, vol. 397(6720), pages 592-594, February.
  • Handle: RePEc:nat:nature:v:397:y:1999:i:6720:d:10.1038_17557
    DOI: 10.1038/17557
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.nature.com/articles/17557
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1038/17557?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Lima, A.R & Sauermann, G & Herrmann, H.J & Kroy, K, 2002. "Modelling a dune field," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 310(3), pages 487-500.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:nat:nature:v:397:y:1999:i:6720:d:10.1038_17557. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.nature.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.