Prospecting for Martian Ice

Abstract

During high Martian obliquity, ice is stable to lower latitudes than predicted by models of present conditions and observed by the Gamma Ray Spectrometer (approx. 60 deg N). An ice-rich layer deposited at mid-latitudes could persist to the present day; ablation of the top 1 m of ice leaving a thin insulating cover could account for lack of its detection by GRS. The presence of an ice-layer in the mid-latitudes is suggested by a network of polygons, interpreted as ice-wedge cracks. This study focuses on an exceptional concentration of polygons in Western Utopia (section of Casius quadrangle, roughly 40 deg - 50 deg N, 255 deg - 300 deg W). We attempt to determine the thickness and age of this ice layer through crater-polygons relations.