Abstract.
Landslides on Mars exhibit features such as steep collapse, extreme deposit thinning, and long runout. We study the flow dynamics of Martian landslides particularly in Valles Marineris, where landslides are among the largest and longest. Firstly, we observe that landslides in Valles Marineris share a series of features with terrestrial landslides fallen onto glaciers. The presence of suspected glacial and periglacial morphologies from the same areas of Valles Marineris, and the results of remote sensing measurements suggest the presence of ice under the soil and into the rock slopes. Thus, we explore with numerical simulation the possibility that such landslides have been lubricated by ice. To establish a plausible rheological model for these landslides, we introduce two possible scenarios. One scenario assumes ice only at the base of the landslide, the other inside the rock-soil. A numerical model is extended here to include ice in these two settings, and the effect of lateral widening of the landslide. Only if the presence of ice is included in the calculations, do results reproduce reasonably well both the vertical collapse of landslide material in the scarp area, and the extreme thinning and runout in the distal area, which are evident characteristics of large landslides in Valles Marineris. The calculated velocity of landslides (often well in excess of 100 m/s and up to 200 m/s at peak) compares well with velocity estimates based on the run-up of the landslides on mounds. We conclude that ice may have been an important medium of lubrication of landslides on Mars, even in equatorial areas like Valles Marineris.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
B.K. Lucchitta, J. Geophys. Res. 84, 8097 (1979)
B.K. Lucchitta, Icarus 72, 411 (1987)
P.J. Shaller, Analysis and implications of large Martian and terrestrial landslides, PhD Thesis, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena (1991)
C. Quantin, P. Allemand, C. Delacourt, Planet. Space Sci. 52, 1011 (2004)
M.H.K. Bulmer, in Landslides: Types, Mechanisms and Modelling, edited by J.J. Clague, D. Stead (Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 2012) pp. 393--408
O. Debniak, O. Kromuszczyńska, in 47th LPSC Conference (2016) paper 1890
M.T. Brunetti, F. Guzzetti, M. Cardinali, F. Fiorucci, M. Santangelo P. Mancinelli, G. Komatsu, L. Borselli, Earth Planet. Sci. Lett. 405, 156 (2014)
G.B. Crosta P. Frattini, F.V. De Blasio, E. Valbuzzi, Introducing a new large inventory of Martian landslides, submitted to Earth Space Sci. (2017)
K.P. Harrison, R.E. Grimm, Icarus 163, 347 (2003)
V. Soukhovitskaya, M. Manga, Icarus 180, 348 (2006)
M.H. Bulmer, B.A. Zimmerman, Geophys. Res. Lett. 32, L06201 (2005)
A. Lucas, A. Mangeney, Geophys. Res. Lett. 34, L10201 (2007)
F.V. De Blasio, Planet. Space Sci. 59, 1384 (2011)
G.B. Crosta, F.V. De Blasio, P. Frattini, Global scale analysis of Martian landslide mobility and paleoenvironmental clues, submitted to J. Geophys. Res - Planets (2017)
R.A. Schulz, Geophys. Res. Lett. 29, 38-1 (2002)
F. Bigot-Cormier, D.R. Montgomery, Earth Planet. Sci. Lett. 260, 179 (2007)
G.B. Crosta, S. Utili, F.V. De Blasio, R. Castellanza, Earth Planet. Sci. Lett. 388, 329 (2014)
B.K. Lucchitta, A.S. McEwen, G.D. Clow, P.E. Geissler, R.B. Singer, R.A. Schultz, S.W. Squyres, The canyon system on Mars, in Mars, edited by H.H. Kiefer (University of Arizona Press, 1992) pp. 453-492
C. Quantin, P. Allemand, N. Mangold, C. Delacourt, Icarus 172, 555 (2004)
P. Mazzanti, F.V. De Blasio, C. Di Bastiano, F. Bozzano, Earth Planets Space 68, 1 (2016)
G. Laskar, M. Gastineau, F. Joutel, P. Levrard, A. Correia, Icarus 170, 343 (2004)
V.R. Baker, Nature 412, 228 (2001)
R.L. Shreve, Science 154, 1639 (1996)
A.S. Post, Effects on glaciers, in The Great Alaska Earthquake of 1964, Vol. 3: Hydrology (National Academy of Sciences, Washington, U.S.A, 1968) part A, pp. 266--308
D. Schneider et al., Earth Surf. Process. Landforms 36, 1948 (2011)
R. Sosio, G.B. Crosta, J.H. Chen, O. Hungr, Quat. Sci. Rev. 47, 23 (2012)
F.V. De Blasio, Geomorphology 213, 88 (2014)
A. Dufresne, T.R. Davies, Geomorphology 105, 171 (2009)
M. Gourronc, O. Bourgeois, D. Mège, S. Pochat, B. Bultel, M. Massé, L. Le Deit, S. Le Mouélic, D. Mercier, Geomorphology 204, 235 (2014)
A.S. McEwen, Geology 17, 1111 (1989)
T. Erismann, G. Abele, Dynamics of Rockslides and Rockfalls (Springer Verlag, Berlin, 2001)
F.V. De Blasio, Introduction to the Physics of Landslides (Springer Verlag, Berlin, 2011)
G. Laskar, M. Gastineau, F. Joutel, P. Levrard, A. Correia, Icarus 170, 343 (2004)
F.V. De Blasio, G.B. Crosta, P. Frattini, E. Valbuzzi, Characters of glacialism in Melas-Coprates Chasma and eastern Valles Marineris (Mars) as revealed by mass wasting, glacial, and periglacial deposits, submitted to Geomorphology (2017)
J. Imran, P. Harff, G. Parker, Comput. Geosci. 27, 717 (2001)
L. Schilirò, F.V. De Blasio, C. Esposito, G. Scarascia Mugnozza, Earth Surf. Process. Landforms 40, 1847 (2015)
F.V. De Blasio, H. Breien, A. Elverhøi, Earth Surf. Process. Landforms 36, 753 (2011)
F.V. De Blasio, Rock Mech. Rock Eng. 41, 219 (2007)
J. Locat, D. Demers, Can. Geotech. J. 25, 799 (1988)
P. Coussot, Mudflow Rheology and Dynamics (Balkema, 1997)
L. Eppelbaum, I. Kutasov, A. Pilchin, in Applied Geothermics, Lecture Notes in Earth System Sciences (Springer-Verlag, Berlin, Heidelberg, 2014) DOI: 10.1007/978-3-642-34023-9_2
F.V. De Blasio, Earth Planet. Sci. Lett. 312, 126 (2011)
R. Smoluchowski, Science 159, 1348 (1968)
S.M. Clifford, D. Hillel, J. Geophys. Res. 88, 2456 (1983)
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
De Blasio, F.V., Crosta, G.B. Modelling Martian landslides: dynamics, velocity, and paleoenvironmental implications. Eur. Phys. J. Plus 132, 468 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1140/epjp/i2017-11727-x
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1140/epjp/i2017-11727-x