Comprehensive analysis of glaciated martian crater Greg

The 66-km diameter martian crater, Greg, east of Hellas, hosts various distinctive features, including dendritic valleys filled with chevron-textured masses (south wall), and lobate tongues a few kilometers long (north wall). We analyze these features by various quantitative techniques to illuminate martian geologic and climatic history. Crater retention model ages indicate that Greg is at least 1–3 Gy old, but surface layers of mantles and glacial features are orders of magnitude younger. Properties of the dendritic valleys, combined with climate models, suggest that fluvial activity began under a thicker, warmer atmosphere, soon after the crater’s formation. The oldest exposed fluvial systems have surface crater retention ages of a few hundred My, indicating runoff in recent geologic time. Much of Greg is covered by ice-rich mantle deposits, for which we infer gradual accumulation and depths of order 30–85 m; they mask pre-existing landforms. The lobate tongues are interpreted as glaciers with mean slope of 10.2 ± 2.3° and average thickness of 33 ± 19 m. Our calculations and data suggest that these glaciers were originally ice-rich and that their surface layers have been depleted by volatile loss. The glaciers probably formed when ice-rich mantle deposits reached critical thickness and flowed downhill. The top 5–10 m of the mantle and glaciers show crater survival times of order a few My to ∼15 My, which, remarkably, is the time since the last 1–4 episodes of obliquity >45°. Global climate models affirm that Greg lies in one of two non-polar areas with extremes of ice deposition during high-obliquity epochs. This match with observations supports the use of such models in studies of planetary climate change.