An estimate of the amount of a material removed from the Martian fretted terrain
An estimate is made of the volume of plateau material removed from the area of Martian fretted terrain between 270 W and 360 W. Depending on the model chosen for the former extent of plateau, between 0.5 and 3.3 million cubic km have been removed. This corresponds to a global equivalent layer between 3 and 21 m or a lowland equivalent layer between 9 and 60 m of redistributed sediment. The preferred model is at the lower end of this range. The material could have been removed during a relatively short period of Martian history by aeolian abrasion following in situ weathering. The volume of material is an order of magnitude smaller than the total amount likely to be present in the northern lowlands.