Chaotic Terrain in Southern Circum-Chryse, Mars

Description

The presence of large outflow channels on Mars shows the importance of water in shaping the surface of the planet over geologic time. Chaotic terrain has been identified as the source region for flood waters responsible for carving out many of these channels. There are still many unanswered questions regarding chaotic terrains on Mars. Using the most up to date CTX, HRSC, and MOLA coverage, DEM and TIN models were used to investigate examples of smooth-topped chaotic terrains which include: Hydraotes Chaos, a crater pair in Hydaspis Chaos, Baetis Chaos, and Candor Chaos, all south of Chryse Planitia. The findings of this study suggest that the collapse of chaotic terrains is not regionally controlled. This study also suggests that the largest chaotic terrains do not require external heat sources to form. Finally, there is evidence that chaotic terrain forming events have occurred from the Middle Noachian to the Late Hesperian/Early Amazonian. This data set contains the raw data for the Chaotic terrains studied here. Specifically, for each terrain the following files are included: Baetis • Baeties+East_Statistics_All_Mesas o Spreadsheet of all Baetis and East Chaos mesas as well as some flat areas of the channel floor. • baetis+east_volume_depth_calc o Spreadsheet of volume calculations • Mosaic and DEM composites • Image of Mesa locations • TIN of Baetis and East Chaos • Volume surfaces used in volume calculation Candor • Candor_Statistics_All_Mesas o Spreadsheet of all Candor Chaos mesas as well as some flat areas of the floor. • Candor_volume_calc o Spreadsheet of volume calculations • Mosaic and DEM composites • Image of Mesa locations • TIN of Candor Chaos Hydaspis • Hydaspis_Statistics_All_Mesas o Spreadsheet of all Hydaspis Chaos mesas as well as some flat areas of the plateau. • Hydaspis_Calculation_Volume_Polygon o Spreadsheet of volume calculations • Hydaspis_Terrace_Measurements o Spreadsheet of elevation points of terraces • Mosaic and DEM composites • Image of Mesa locations • TIN of Hydaspis Chaos • Volume surfaces used in volume calculation Hydraotes • Hydraotes_Statistics_All_Mesas o Spreadsheet of all Hydraotes mesas as well as some flat areas of the plateau. • Hydraotes_Calculation_Volume o Spreadsheet of volume calculations • Hydraotes_Terrace_Elevation_Points o Spreadsheet of elevation points of terraces • Mosaic and DEM composites • Image of Mesa locations • TIN of Hydraotes Chaos

Steps to reproduce

High resolution digital elevation models were constructed using the best available elevation models for the areas of interest. Composite DEMs were first converted to Triangular Irregular Networks (TINs) in ArcGIS with an elevation tolerance of 10 m and a maximum of 1.5 million tie points. The volume between the bounding surface and TIN surface was then calculated.

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