The Global Topography of Mars and Implications for Surface Evolution
- Creators
- Smith, David E.
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Zuber, Maria T.
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Solomon, Sean C.
- Phillips, Roger J.
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Head, James W.
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Garvin, James B.
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Banerdt, W. Bruce
- Muhleman, Duane O.
- Pettengill, Gordon H.
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Neumann, Gregory A.
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Lemoine, Frank G.
- Abshire, James B.
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Aharonson, Oded
- Brown, C. David
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Hauck, Steven A.
- Ivanov, Anton B.
- McGovern, Patrick J.
- Zwally, H. Jay
- Duxbury, Thomas C.
Abstract
Elevations measured by the Mars Orbiter Laser Altimeter have yielded a high-accuracy global map of the topography of Mars. Dominant features include the low northern hemisphere, the Tharsis province, and the Hellas impact basin. The northern hemisphere depression is primarily a long-wavelength effect that has been shaped by an internal mechanism. The topography of Tharsis consists of two broad rises. Material excavated from Hellas contributes to the high elevation of the southern hemisphere and to the scarp along the hemispheric boundary. The present topography has three major drainage centers, with the northern lowlands being the largest. The two polar cap volumes yield an upper limit of the present surface water inventory of 3.2 to 4.7 million cubic kilometers.
Additional Information
© 1999 American Association for the Advancement of Science. Received 21 April 1999; accepted 10 May 1999. We acknowledge the MOLA instrument team and the MGS spacecraft and operation teams at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory and Lockheed-Martin Astronautics for providing the engineering foundation that enabled this analysis. We also thank G. Elman, P. Jester, and J. Schott for assistance in altimetry processing, D. Rowlands and S. Fricke for help with orbit determination, S. Zhong for assistance with the Hellas relaxation calculation, and G. McGill for a constructive review. The MOLA investigation is supported by the NASA Mars Global Surveyor Project.Errata
In note 14 (p. 1502) of the Research Article "The global topography of Mars and Implications for surface evolution" by D. E. Smith et al. (28 May, p. 1495), the last line should have read, "3,396,000 m."Additional details
- Eprint ID
- 52119
- Resolver ID
- CaltechAUTHORS:20141125-075410579
- NASA
- Created
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2014-11-25Created from EPrint's datestamp field
- Updated
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2023-03-07Created from EPrint's last_modified field
- Caltech groups
- Division of Geological and Planetary Sciences