A hybrid origin of the Martian crustal dichotomy: Degree-1 convection antipodal to a giant impact

Citron, Robert I.; Manga, Michael; Tan, Eh

doi:10.1016/j.epsl.2018.03.031

A hybrid origin of the Martian crustal dichotomy: Degree-1 convection antipodal to a giant impact

Journal Article · Thu Apr 05 00:00:00 EDT 2018 · Earth and Planetary Science Letters

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.epsl.2018.03.031· OSTI ID:1479414

^[1]; Manga, Michael ^[1]; Tan, Eh ^[2]

Univ. of California, Berkeley, CA (United States)
Academia Sinica, Taipei (Taiwan)

The Martian crustal dichotomy is the stark ~5 km difference in surface elevation and ~26 km difference in crustal thickness between the northern lowlands and southern highlands that originated within 100s of Myr of Mars’ formation. The origin of the dichotomy has broad implications for the geodynamic history of Mars, but purely exogenic or endogenic theories so far cannot explain all of the large scale geophysical observations associated with dichotomy formation. A giant impact can produce the shape and slope of the dichotomy boundary, but struggles to explain Mars’ remanent crustal magnetic signatures and the ultimate formation of Tharsis. Degree-1 mantle convection can relate the crustal dichotomy to the formation of Tharsis, but does not explain the elliptical dichotomy shape and must be initiated by a large pre-existing viscosity jump in the mantle. We propose a hybrid model of dichotomy formation in which a giant impact induces degree-1 convection with an upwelling antipodal to the impact site. In this scenario, a giant impact in the northern hemisphere excavates crust, creating an initial difference in crustal thickness and possibly composition between the two hemispheres. Over 10s to 100s of Myr, the dominant upwelling(s) would migrate to be under the thicker, insulating crust in the southern hemisphere, generating melt that further thickens the southern crust. We examine this process using 3-D mantle convection simulations, and find that a hemispherical difference in crustal thickness and composition caused by a giant impact can induce degree-1 convection with the upwelling(s) antipodal to the impact site in <100 Myr.

View Accepted Manuscript (DOE)

Research Organization:: Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE; USDOE Office of Science (SC)

Grant/Contract Number:: AC02-05CH11231

OSTI ID:: 1479414

Alternate ID(s):: OSTI ID: 1548465

Journal Information:: Earth and Planetary Science Letters, Journal Name: Earth and Planetary Science Letters Journal Issue: C Vol. 491; ISSN 0012-821X

Publisher:: ElsevierCopyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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