Taking the pulse of Mars via dating of a plume-fed volcano.

ABSTRACT: Mars hosts the solar system's largest volcanoes. Although their size and impact crater density indicate continued activity over billions of years, their formation rates are poorly understood. Here we quantify the growth rate of a Martian volcano by ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar and cosmogenic exposure dating of six nakhlites, meteorites that were ejected from Mars by a single impact event at 10.7 ± 0.8 Ma (2σ). We find that the nakhlites sample a layered volcanic sequence with at least four discrete eruptive events spanning 93 ± 12 Ma (1416 ± 7 Ma to 1322 ± 10 Ma (2σ)). A non-radiogenic trapped ⁴⁰Ar/³⁶Ar value of 1511 ± 74 (2σ) provides a precise and robust constraint for the mid-Amazonian Martian atmosphere. Our data show that the nakhlite-source volcano grew at a

SUBMITTER: Cohen BE 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5626741 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature