Supereruptions in Northwestern Arabia Terra reveal an early stage of
Mars's mantle evolution
Abstract
Martian meteoritic petrology and regional chemistry of
Hesperian-Amazonian volcanism support secularly decreasing degrees of
partial melting and thickening crust underlain by simple mantle
convection. However, the applicability of this interior evolution model
and resurfacing trends to the Noachian remains unknown. Using regional
gamma spectroscopy and geophysical analysis, we find that supereruptions
characterized Noachian volcanism in NW Arabia with co-enriched K, Th,
and Si. Geophysical analysis reveals elastic thickness values below 20
km, indicating a heat flux exceeding many Hesperian volcanoes.
Collectively, our results support large ion lithophile loss from low
degrees of partial melting of the Noachian mantle, signifying an early
stage of interior evolution that contrasts with the Hesperian-Amazonian
model. Regional chemistry further suggests climate-altering
supereruptive exhalations of ~109 kg
S-phases.