Encyclopedia of Planetary Landforms

2015 Edition
| Editors: Henrik Hargitai, Ákos Kereszturi

Water Track (Antarctica)

Reference work entry
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-3134-3_597

Definition

Linear or patchy feature of enhanced soil moisture observed in permafrost in the absence of precipitation.

Category

Proposed terrestrial analog of  recurring slope lineae.

A type of  permafrost landform.

Description

Water tracks normally appear as subtle sublinear depressions, but during peak flow conditions, they are damp, darkened patches of soil (Levy and Fountain 2011; Levy 2012) (Fig. 1).
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References

  1. Levy JS (2012) Hydrological characteristics of recurrent slope lineae on Mars: evidence for liquid flow through regolith and comparisons with Antarctic terrestrial analogs. Icarus 219(1):1–4CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  2. Levy JS (2013) Water tracks in the McMurdo Dry Valleys, Antarctica: investigating habitability conditions in a terrestrial analogue to recurring slope lineae. EPSC abstracts 8, EPSC2013-119Google Scholar
  3. Levy JS, Fountain AG (2011) “Water tracks” in the McMurdo dry valleys, Antarctica: a permafrost-based hydrological system supporting complex biological and geochemical processes in a Mars-analog environment. 42nd Lunar Planet Sci Conf, abstract #1210, HoustonGoogle Scholar
  4. Levy JS, Fountain AG (2012) Hydrological characteristics of recurrent slope lineae on Mars based on time-resolved HiRISE analyses and comparisons with fluid flow through an Antarctic terrestrial analog regolith. 43rd Lunar Planet Sci Conf, abstract #1029, HoustonGoogle Scholar
  5. Levy JS, Fountain AG, Gooseff MN, Welch KA, Lyons WB (2011) Water tracks and permafrost in Taylor Valley, Antarctica: extensive and shallow groundwater connectivity in a cold desert ecosystem. Geol Soc Am Bull. doi:10.1130/B30436.1Google Scholar
  6. McNamara JP, Kane DL, Hinzman LD (1999) An analysis of an arctic channel network using a digital elevation model. Geomorphology 29(3–4):339–353CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  7. Rowland JC, Jones CE, Altmann G, Bryan R et al (2010) Arctic landscapes in transition: responses to thawing permafrost. Eos 91(26):229–236CrossRefGoogle Scholar

Copyright information

© Springer Science+Business Media New York 2015

Authors and Affiliations

  1. 1.Johns Hopkins UniversityBaltimoreUSA