Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-jkksz Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-28T02:32:07.689Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The role of thermal contraction crack polygons in cold-desert fluvial systems

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 June 2008

Joseph S. Levy ,
James W. Head  and
David R. Marchant
Joseph S. Levy*
Affiliation:
Brown University Department of Geological Sciences, 324 Brook Street, Geological Sciences Box 1846, Providence, RI 02912, USA
James W. Head
Affiliation:
Brown University Department of Geological Sciences, 324 Brook Street, Geological Sciences Box 1846, Providence, RI 02912, USA
David R. Marchant
Affiliation:
Department of Earth Sciences, Boston University, 675 Commonwealth Ave, Boston, MA 02215, USA
*
*[email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Thermal contraction crack polygons modify the generation, transport, and storage of water in Wright Valley gullies. Water generation is contributed to by trapping of windblown snow in polygon troughs. Water transport is modified by changes to the ice-cement table and active layer topography caused by polygon trough formation. Water storage is modified by sediment grain-size distribution within polygons in gully distal hyporheic zones. Patterned ground morphological variation can serve as an indicator of fluvial modification, ranging from nearly unmodified composite-wedge polygons to polygons forming in association with gully channels. Thermal contraction crack polygons may also constrain the gully formation sequence, suggesting the continuous presence of permafrost beneath the Wright Valley gullies during the entire period of gully emplacement. This analysis provides a framework for understanding the relationships between polygons and gullies observed on Mars. If comparable stratigraphic relationships can be documented, the presence of an analogous impermeable ice-cemented layer beneath the gullies can be inferred, suggesting an atmospheric source for Martian gully-carving fluids.

Keywords

hyporheic zoneMcMurdo Dry Valleysmicroclimatespatterned groundpermafrost
Type
Earth Sciences
Information
Antarctic Science , Volume 20 , Issue 6 , December 2008 , pp. 565 - 579
Copyright
Copyright © Antarctic Science Ltd 2008

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Berg, T.E. & Black, R.F. 1966. Preliminary measurements of growth of non-sorted polygons, Victoria Land, Antarctic. Antarctic Research Series, 8, 61–108.Google Scholar
Black, R.F. 1982. Patterned-ground studies in Victoria Land. Antarctic Journal of the United States, 17 (5), 53–54.Google Scholar
Bridges, N.T. & Lackner, C.N. 2006. Northern hemisphere Martian gullies and mantled terrain: implications for near-surface water migration in Mars' recent past. Journal of Geophysical Research, 111, 10.1029/2006/JE002702.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Burt, D.M. & Knauth, L.P. 2007. Impacts, salts, and ice on Mars: how brine flow in young gullies and elsewhere could be related to impact cratering. In 38th Lunar and Planetary Science ConferenceLeague City, TX. Abstract #2054, www.lpi.usra.edu/meetings/lpsc2007/pdf/2054.pdfGoogle Scholar
Dickson, J.L., Head, J.W., Marchant, D.R., Morgan, G.A. & Levy, J.S. 2007. Recent gully activity on Mars: Clues from late-stage water flow in gully systems and channels in the Antarctic Dry Valleys. In 38th Lunar and Planetary Science ConferenceLeague City, TX. Abstract #1678, www.lpi.usra.edu/meetings/lpsc2007/pdf/1678.pdf.Google Scholar
Fortier, D., Allard, M. & Shur, Y. 2007. Observation of rapid drainage system development by thermal erosion of ice wedges on Byot Island, Canadian Arctic Archipelago. Permafrost and Periglacial Processes, 18, 229–243.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gooseff, M.N., McKnight, D.M., Lyons, W.B. & Blum, A.E. 2002. Weathering reactions and hyporheic exchange controls on stream water chemistry in a glacial meltwater stream in the McMurdo Dry Valleys. Water Resources Research, 38, 10.1029/2001WR000834.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Harris, K.J., Carey, A.E., Lyons, W.B., Welch, K.A. & Fountain, A.G. 2007. Solute and isotope geochemistry of subsurface ice melt seeps in Taylor Valley, Antarctica. Geological Society of America Bulletin, 119, 548–555.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Head, J.W., Marchant, D.R., Dickson, J.L., Levy, J.S. & Morgan, G.A. 2007a. Mars Gully analogs in the Antarctic Dry Valleys: geological setting and processes. In 38th Lunar and Planetary Science ConferenceLeague City, TX. Abstract #1617, www.lpi.usra.edu/meetings/lpsc2007/pdf/1617.pdf.Google Scholar
Head, J.W., Marchant, D.R., Dickson, J.L., Levy, J.S. & Morgan, G.A. 2007b. Slope streaks in the Antarctic Dry Valleys: characteristics, candidate formation mechanism, and implications for slope streak formation in the Martian environment. In 38th Lunar and Planetary Science ConferenceLeague City, TX. Abstract #1935, www.lpi.usra.edu/meetings/lpsc2007/pdf/1935.pdf.Google Scholar
Isaac, M.J., Chinn, T.J., Edbrook, S. & Forsyth, J. 1996. Geology of the Olympus Range area, southern Victoria Land, Antarctica. Wellington: Institute of Geological and Nuclear Sciences, 60 pp.Google Scholar
Kowalewski, D.E., Marchant, D.R., Head, J.W. & Levy, J.S. 2007. Modeling vapour diffusion in sublimation tills of the Antarctic Dry Valleys: implications for the preservation of near-surface ice on Mars. In 38th Lunar and Planetary Science ConferenceLeague City, TX. Abstract #2143, www.lpi.usra.edu/meetings/lpsc2007/pdf/2143.pdf.Google Scholar
Kowalewski, D.E., Marchant, D.R., Levy, J.S. & Head, J.W. 2006. Quantifying low rates of summertime sublimation for buried glacier ice in Beacon Valley, Antarctica. Antarctic Science, 18, 421–428.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lachenbruch, A.H. 1962. Mechanics of thermal contraction cracks and ice-wedge polygons in permafrost. Geological Society of America Special Papers, 70, 1–69.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lachenbruch, A.H. 1963. Contraction theory of ice-wedge polygons: a qualitative discussion. In International Permafrost Conference, ProceedingsLafayette, Indiana. Washington, DC: National Academy of Sciences, National Research Council Publication, 1287, 63–71.Google Scholar
Leffingwell, E.de, K. 1915. Ground-ice wedges: the dominant form of ground-ice on the north coast of Alaska. Journal of Geology, 23, 635–654.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Levy, J.S., Head, J.W. & Marchant, D.R. 2005. The origin and evolution of oriented-network polygonally patterned ground: the Antarctic Dry Valleys as Mars Analogue. In 36th Lunar and Planetary Science ConferenceLeague City, TX. Abstract #1334, www.lpi.usra.edu/meetings/lpsc2005/pdf/1334.pdf.Google Scholar
Levy, J.S., Head, J.W., Marchant, D.R., Morgan, G.A. & Dickson, J.L. 2007a. Gully surface and shallow subsurface structure in the south fork of Wright Valley, Antarctic Dry Valleys: implications for gully activity on Mars. In 38th Lunar and Planetary Science ConferenceLeague City, TX. Abstract #1728, www.lpi.usra.edu/meetings/lpsc2007/pdf/1728.pdf.Google Scholar
Levy, J.S., Head, J.W., Marchant, D.R., Morgan, G.A. & Dickson, J.L. 2007b. Gully-polygon interactions and stratigraphy on Earth and Mars: sand-wedge polygons as part of cold-desert, near-surface fluvial systems. In Seventh International Conference on MarsPasadena, CA, www.lpi.usra.edu/meetings/7thmars2007/pdf/3059.pdf.Google Scholar
Lyons, W.B., Welch, K.A., Carey, A.E., Wall, D.H., Virginia, R.A., Fountain, A.G., Doran, P.T., Csatho, B.M. & Tremper, C.M. 2005. Groundwater seeps in Taylor Valley, Antarctica: an example of a subsurface melt event. Annals of Glaciology, 40, 200–207.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Malin, M.C. & Edgett, K.S. 2001. Mars Global surveyor Mars Orbiter camera: interplanetary cruise through primary mission. Journal of Geophysical Research, 106, 23 429–23 540.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Marchant, D.R. & Head, J.W. 2007. Antarctic Dry Valleys: microclimate zonation, variable geomorphic processes, and implications for assessing climate change on Mars. Icarus, 192, 187–222.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Marchant, D.R., Lewis, A.R., Phillips, W.M., Moore, E.J., Souchez, R.A., Denton, G.H., Sugden, D.E., Potter, N.J. & Landis, G.P. 2002. Formation of patterned ground and sublimation till over Miocene glacier ice in Beacon Valley, southern Victoria Land, Antarctica. Geological Society of America Bulletin, 114, 718–730.2.0.CO;2>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Masch, F.D. & Denny, K.J. 1966. Grain size distribution and its effect on the permeability of unconsolidated sands. Water Resources Research, 2, 665–677.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McGinnis, L.D. & Jensen, T.E. 1971. Permafrost-hydrogeologic regimen in two ice-free valleys, Antarctica, from electrical depth sounding. Quaternary Research, 1, 31–38.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McKay, C.P., Mellon, M.T. & Friedman, E.I. 1998. Soil temperatures and stability of ice-cemented ground in the McMurdo Dry Valleys, Antarctica. Antarctic Science, 10, 31–38.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
McKnight, D.M., Niyogi, D.K., Alger, A.S., Bomblies, A., Conovitz, P.A. & Tate, C.M. 1999. Dry valley streams in Antarctica: ecosystems waiting for water. BioScience, 49, 985–995.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mellon, M.T. 1997. Small-scale polygonal features on Mars: seasonal thermal contraction cracks in permafrost. Journal of Geophysical Research, 102, 25 617–25 628.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Morgan, G.A., Head, J.W., Marchant, D.R., Dickson, J.L. & Levy, J.S. 2007. Gully formation on Mars: testing the snowpack hypothesis from analysis of analogs in the Antarctic Dry Valleys. In 38th Lunar and Planetary Science ConferenceLeague City, TX. Abstract #1656, www.lpi.usra.edu/meetings/lpsc2007/pdf/1656.pdf.Google Scholar
Murton, J.B. & Bateman, M.D. 2007. Syngenetic sand veins and anti-syngenetic sand wedges, Tuktoyaktuk coastlands, Western Arctic Canada. Permafrost and Periglacial Processes, 18, 33–47.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Péwé, T.L. 1959. Sand-wedge polygons (tessellations) in the McMurdo Sound region, Antarctica - a progress report. American Journal of Science, 257, 545–552.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Péwé, T.L. 1974. Geomorphic processes in polar deserts. In T.L., Smiley & Zumberge, J.H.eds. Polar deserts and modern man. Tucson, AZ: University of Arizona Press, 35–52.Google Scholar
Ragotzkie, R.A. & Likens, G.E. 1964. The heat balance of two Antarctic lakes. Limnology and Oceanography, 9, 412–425.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Riordan, A.J. 1973. The climate of Vanda Station, Antarctica. In Raasch, G.O., ed. Geology of the Arctic. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 268–275.Google Scholar
Sheldrick, B.H. & Wang, C. 1993. Particle size distribution. In Carter, M.R., ed. Soil sampling and methods of analysis. Boca Raton, FL: Lewis Publishers, 499–511.Google Scholar
Summers, W.K. & Weber, P.A. 1984. The relationship of grain-size distribution and hydraulic conductivity - an alternate approach. Ground Water, 22, 474–475.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Thompson, D.C. 1973. Climate of the Dry Valleys area of southern Victoria Land. New Zealand Geographical Society Conference Series, 4, 259–265.Google Scholar
Topp, G.C. 1993. Soil water content. In Carter, M.R., ed. Soil sampling and methods of analysis. Boca Raton, FL: Lewis Publishers, 541–557.Google Scholar
Wentworth, S.J., Gibson, E.K. Jr & McKay, D.S. 2003. Low-temperature, aqueous alteration of soil in Wright Valley, Antarctica, compared with aqueous alteration on Mars. In Third Mars Polar Science ConferenceAlberta, Canada. Abstract #8128, www.lpi.usra.edu/meetings/polar2003/pdf/8128.pdf.Google Scholar