Taking the pulse of Mars via dating of a plume-fed volcano

Cohen, Benjamin E.; Mark, Darren F.; Cassata, William S.; Lee, Martin R.; Tomkinson, Tim; Smith, Caroline L.

doi:10.1038/s41467-017-00513-8

Title: Taking the pulse of Mars via dating of a plume-fed volcano

Journal Article · 03 October 2017 · Nature Communications

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-017-00513-8 · OSTI ID:1497295

^[1]; Mark, Darren F. ^[2]; Cassata, William S. ^[3];

^[4]; Tomkinson, Tim ^[5]; Smith, Caroline L. ^[6]

Scottish Universities Environmental Research Centre (SUERC), East Kilbride, Scotland (United Kingdom). Isotope Geoscience Unit; Univ. of Glasgow, Scotland (United Kingdom). School of Geographical and Earth Sciences
Scottish Universities Environmental Research Centre (SUERC), East Kilbride, Scotland (United Kingdom). Isotope Geoscience Unit; Univ. of St. Andrews, Scotland (United Kingdom). Dept. of Earth & Environmental Science
Lawrence Livermore National Lab. (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States). Nuclear & Chemical Sciences Division
Univ. of Glasgow, Scotland (United Kingdom). School of Geographical and Earth Sciences
Scottish Universities Environmental Research Centre (SUERC), East Kilbride, Scotland (United Kingdom). Isotope Geoscience Unit
The Natural History Museum, London (United Kingdom). Dept. of Earth Sciences

Mars hosts the solar system’s largest volcanoes. Although their size and impact crater density indicate continued activity over billions of years, their formation rates are poorly understood. Here we quantify the growth rate of a Martian volcano by ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar and cosmogenic exposure dating of six nakhlites, meteorites that were ejected from Mars by a single impact event at 10.7 ± 0.8 Ma (2σ). We find that the nakhlites sample a layered volcanic sequence with at least four discrete eruptive events spanning 93 ± 12 Ma (1416 ± 7 Ma to 1322 ± 10 Ma (2σ)). A non-radiogenic trapped ⁴⁰Ar/³⁶Ar value of 1511 ± 74 (2σ) provides a precise and robust constraint for the mid-Amazonian Martian atmosphere. Our data show that the nakhlite-source volcano grew at a rate of ca. 0.4–0.7 m Ma^-1—three orders of magnitude slower than comparable volcanoes on Earth, and necessitating that Mars was far more volcanically active earlier in its history.

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Research Organization:: Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States); Scottish Universities Environmental Research Centre (SUERC), East Kilbride, Scotland (United Kingdom); Univ. of Glasgow, Scotland (United Kingdom)

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA); National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA); Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC) (United Kingdom)

Grant/Contract Number:: AC52-07NA27344; NNH14AX56I; ST/H002472/1; ST/H002960/1; ST/K000918/1

OSTI ID:: 1497295

Report Number(s):: LLNL-JRNL-739514; 892871

Journal Information:: Nature Communications, Vol. 8; ISSN 2041-1723

Publisher:: Nature Publishing GroupCopyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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Cited by: 49 works

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