Internal Layers in an "Accublation" Ice Cap: A Test for Flow

Abstract Assuming the white areas of the north polar cap of Mars accumulate water ice and the dark scarp/trough spirals ablate and assuming there is ice motion from one type of zone to the other, the question is asked, “What do the isochrone layers look like internally and on the surface?” A simple two-dimensional time-varying isothermal model is used to demonstrate that the layering internally and in the ablation zones is strongly determined by the migrating scarp system and that waviness and discontinuities are to be expected in the internal layering and in the surface expressions of the layers on the ablation scarps.