Lineations on the “White” Accumulation Areas of the Residual Northern Ice Cap of Mars: Their Relation to the “Accublation” and Ice Flow Hypothesis

Abstract Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) images of the whiter areas of the residual North Polar Cap (P. C. Thomas et al. 2000, Nature404, 161–164) show a gentle hummocky pitted surface that has been popularly called “cottage cheese” terrain. The pits are 1 or 2 m deep and tens of meters across. They are typically joined in roughly linear strings or long depressions and these features are referred to here as “lineations.” The lineations tend to have one or occasionally two preferred directions. We have examined the MOC imagery for the North Cap and using high-resolution images that have good wide-angle context images were able to determine the lineation angles for 31 sites scattered over most of the ice cap. We propose a process that will produce linear features in the white areas, then relate the orientation of the lineations over much of the North Cap to these processes and the inferred ice flow direction. There is first-order agreement between the measured sign of the lineation angles and those predicted assuming ice flow. Higher accumulations and velocities are predicted in the catchment for ice that flows into Chasma Boreale. This comes from the indications that katabatic winds are concentrated in this catchment.

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