Late alluvial fan formation in southern Margaritifer Terra, Mars

Abstract

Crater statistics indicate alluvial fans, crater floor, and fill/mantling deposits within impact craters >50 km in diameter in southern Margaritifer Terra were likely emplaced during multiple epochs: fans formed during the Amazonian or near the Amazonian-Hesperian boundary, crater floor deposits are likely Hesperian in age, and most fill/mantling deposits are Amazonian. The regional distribution of fans points to a late period of widespread water-driven degradation. Two of the final candidate landing sites for the 2011 Mars Science Laboratory mission would land on or near some of these fans, which appear younger than previously considered. Copyright 2011 by the American Geophysical Union.