Analogs for Planetary Exploration

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Geological Society of America Special Papers
Periglacial landscapes on Svalbard: Terrestrial analogs for cold-climate
landforms on Mars
E. Hauber, D. Reiss, M. Ulrich, F. Preusker, F. Trauthan, M. Zanetti, H. Hiesinger, R. Jaumann, L.
Johansson, A. Johnsson, M. Olvmo, E. Carlsson, H.A.B. Johansson and S. McDaniel
Geological Society of America Special Papers 2011;483;177-201
doi: 10.1130/2011.2483(12)
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Notes
© 2011 Geological Society of America
The Geological Society of America
Special Paper 483
2011
Periglacial landscapes on Svalbard: Terrestrial
analogs for cold-climate landforms on Mars
E. Hauber1,†, D. Reiss2, M. Ulrich3, F. Preusker1, F. Trauthan1, M. Zanetti2,
H. Hiesinger2, R. Jaumann1, L. Johansson4, A. Johnsson4, M. Olvmo4, E. Carlsson5,
H.A.B. Johansson6, and S. McDaniel7
1
Institut für Planetenforschung, Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt (DLR),
Rutherfordstrasse 2, 12489 Berlin, Germany
2
Institut für Planetologie, Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität, 48149 Münster, Germany
3
Alfred-Wegener-Institut, 14473 Potsdam, Germany
4
Department of Earth Sciences, University of Gothenburg, Box 460, SE-405 30 Göteborg,
Sweden
5
Swedish Institute of Space Physics, Box 812, SE-981 28 Kiruna, Sweden
6
Department of Earth Sciences, Stockholm University, S-10691 Stockholm, Sweden
7
Reactive Surfaces, Ltd., 300 West Avenue, Austin, Texas 78701, USA
ABSTRACT
We present landforms on Svalbard (Norway) as terrestrial analogs for possible Martian
periglacial surface features. While there are closer climatic analogs for Mars, e.g., the
Antarctic Dry Valleys, Svalbard has unique advantages that make it a very useful study
area. Svalbard is easily accessible and offers a periglacial landscape where many different landforms can be encountered in close spatial proximity. These landforms include
thermal contraction cracks, slope stripes, rock glaciers, protalus ramparts, and pingos,
all of which have close morphological analogs on Mars. The combination of remotesensing data, in particular images and digital elevation models, with field work is a
promising approach in analog studies and facilitates acquisition of first-hand experience with permafrost environments. Based on the morphological ambiguity of certain
landforms such as pingos, we recommend that Martian cold-climate landforms should
not be investigated in isolation, but as part of a landscape system in a geological context.
INTRODUCTION
The surface of Mars shows many landforms that resemble
cold-climate features on Earth (e.g., Lucchitta, 1981; Rossbacher
and Judson, 1981). The potential use of these landforms as
indicators of the past and present Martian environment makes
them prime targets for paleoclimatic investigations (Clifford
et al., 2000; MEPAG Special Regions–Science Analysis Group,
2006; NRC, 2007). Since permafrost on Earth is known to host
rich habitats containing cold-adapted microbial communities
†
[email protected].
Hauber, E., Reiss, D., Ulrich, M., Preusker, F., Trauthan, F., Zanetti, M., Hiesinger, H., Jaumann, R., Johansson, L., Johnsson, A., Olvmo, M., Carlsson, E., Johansson,
H.A.B., and McDaniel, S., 2011, Periglacial landscapes on Svalbard: Terrestrial analogs for cold-climate landforms on Mars, in Garry, W.B., and Bleacher, J.E., eds.,
Analogs for Planetary Exploration: Geological Society of America Special Paper 483, p. 177–201, doi:10.1130/2011.2483(12). For permission to copy, contact editing@
geosociety.org. © 2011 The Geological Society of America. All rights reserved.
177
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Hauber et al.
(e.g., Friedmann, 1994; Gilichinsky and Wagener, 1995; Rivkina
et al., 2004; Gilichinsky, 2002; Steven et al., 2007), its exploration
is also important for exobiologic studies. Life might even have
originated in cold environments (e.g., see the studies of Trinks
et al. [2005], which were inspired by field experiments in Svalbard), and cryophilic (i.e., cold-tolerating) organisms may be analogs for possible psychrophiles (extremophilic organisms capable
of growing and reproducing in cold temperatures, ranging from
−15 °C to +10 °C) that exist on, or deep inside, the surface of Mars
(Seckbach, 2003; see also Buford Price, 2010, and references
therein). Here, we introduce landforms on Svalbard (Norway)
as useful terrestrial analogs for a number of surface morphologies
on Mars that have been interpreted to be the result of permafrost
or periglacial processes.
The use of terrestrial analogs has a long tradition among
scientists who study planetary landscapes (Sharp, 1988). The
basic premise is that a planetary feature looks similar to a
terrestrial feature, the properties and origin of which are known.
The known causes of the terrestrial analog might allow us to infer
the causes of the planetary feature under study. This method of
analogical reasoning was probably first formally described for the
field of geoscience by Gilbert (1886), and the reader is referred
to Baker (2008) for a more in-depth discussion of analogical
reasoning in planetary geomorphology. It has to be emphasized,
however, that analogs do not prove any causal relationships.
Instead, they can help to find lines for further reasoning (e.g.,
multiple working hypotheses) (see also Baker, 1996).
The most successful terrestrial analogs in planetary
science are based not on terrestrial field observations alone,
but also on additional remote-sensing data that have a quality
and scale comparable to that of planetary data. A similar
scale is particularly important, since only certain geomorphic
forms are scale-invariant. A classic case of self-similarity in
geomorphology (Burrough, 1981; review by Xu et al., 1993)
is the shape of a shoreline (Mandelbrot, 1967). Other typical
examples are the fractal geometry of the drainage pattern of
river basins (Rodriguez-Iturbe and Rinaldo, 1997) and the
size distribution of a fault population that is characterized by
a power law (e.g., Marrett and Allmendinger, 1992; however,
note that not all systems with power-law properties are fractal; Paola et al., 2009). In general, fractal geometries have
mostly been observed on erosional landscapes (Paola et al.,
2009). Among permafrost features, the regular forms of patterned ground might have the highest likelihood to be fractal,
and, e.g., polygons on Mars have been described to display
a fractal-like geometry (Mangold, 2005). Scale-invariant
spatial form does not imply, however, that the responsible
process also operates at all scales, and indeed processes such
as chemical weathering, frost action, or soil creep operate
only at microscale levels (Klinkenberg, 2004). Geomorphic
systems are commonly allometric, i.e., the components of the
systems do not change in constant proportions (Church and
Mark, 1980). One consequence of this is that many properties
of natural surfaces and landscapes are nonfractal, at least at
certain scales. Therefore, the question of how to transfer
results from one scale of investigation to another is one of the
most fundamental challenges in geomorphology (Slaymaker,
2006, 2009). This problem is overcome, at least partly, if
the scales of observations are similar for the planetary study
objects and their terrestrial analogs. Here, we report on
selected periglacial landforms on Svalbard and contrast them
with Martian landforms that have been interpreted to be the
result of permafrost processes. The scope of this paper is not
to prove or disprove these interpretations, or to put forward
new hypotheses, but to offer easily accessible examples of
periglacial landscapes that are (1) morphologically strikingly similar to Martian landforms and (2) well described
in the literature. As such, they should be useful analogs for
planetary scientists who seek to understand the climatic history of Mars. We begin with a short review of permafrost on
Mars and Earth, including important terrestrial analogs that
have been frequently cited in past studies. The next section
provides information on the image data used to illustrate the
Martian landforms. It also explains the High-Resolution Stereo Camera (HRSC-AX) instrument and the flight campaign
that provided the aerial images of Svalbard shown here, and
it gives an overview of the field sites visited in 2008 and
2009. We then briefly describe the climate, geology, soils,
and vegetation of the study areas. We continue with the comparison of permafrost landforms on Mars and Earth, and then
discuss possible implications.
PERMAFROST AND PERIGLACIAL FEATURES ON
MARS AND SVALBARD
Permafrost is defined as “ground (soil or rock […]) that
remains at or below 0 °C for at least two consecutive years,
regardless of the water content” (van Everdingen, 2005;
French, 2007). Permafrost is not necessarily frozen, since the
presence of mineral salts or pressure can depress the freezing
point of water below 0 °C. Ground ice is ice in freezing or frozen ground, and it is one of the most important attributes of
the terrain in permafrost regions. Ground ice occurs mainly as
structure-forming ice, bonding the enclosing sediments, and as
large bodies of more or less pure ice (e.g., Burgess and Smith,
2000; Heginbottom, 2000). The varieties of structure-forming
ice include segregated ice, injection ice, reticulate vein ice, ice
crystals, and icy coatings on soil particles (for a more comprehensive list of ground ice varieties, see Shumskii, 1959; for a
classification of ground ice, see Pihlainen and Johnston, 1963).
Large bodies of pure ground ice exist mainly in the upper part
of the ground. They form pingo cores, massive icy beds, and
ice wedges. The presence of ground ice influences topography,
geomorphology, vegetation, and the response of the landscape
to environmental changes (Burgess and Smith, 2000; Heginbottom, 2000).
Both permafrost and ground ice belong to the realm of
the periglacial zone (Troll, 1944; Büdel, 1944). The term
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Periglacial landscapes on Svalbard
“periglacial” was first introduced by the Polish geologist
Walery von Łozinski (Łozinski, 1909), who established
the concept of a “periglacial zone” at the XI International
Geological Congress in Stockholm to describe climatic and
geomorphic phenomena occurring peripheral to the Pleistocene ice sheets (e.g., Huggett, 2003). In fact, the periglacial
concept came to be widely accepted during the postcongress
field excursion to Spitsbergen (French, 2003, 2008), and shortly
thereafter Meinardus (1912) and Blanck (1919) described coldclimate patterned ground on Svalbard. Later refinements of
the definition of the term periglacial, which was often used for
both regions and processes, led to the modern usage of the term
as a “range of conditions, processes and landforms associated
with cold, non-glacial environments” (Dylik, 1964; Washburn,
1973, 1979; van Everdingen, 2005; French, 2007). The two
diagnostic criteria of periglacial environments are (1) ground
freezing and thawing (Tricart, 1968), and (2) the presence of
permafrost (Péwé, 1969), and the reader is referred to French
(2007, 2008) and Thorn (1992) for a further discussion of the
history of the periglacial concept. Permafrost and ground ice
produce a wide variety of periglacial landforms on Earth, and
a wide body of literature covers their morphology and origins
(e.g., Jahn, 1975; Embleton and King, 1975; Washburn, 1979;
French, 2007; Yershov, 1998).
Following the definition of permafrost cited here, Mars
may well be regarded as a permafrost planet. Over most of
its geological history, the shallow subsurface probably experienced temperatures that were continuously below 0 °C (e.g.,
Shuster and Weiss, 2005). In the current Martian climate,
ground ice is thought to be stable only at higher latitudes
(e.g., Leighton and Murray, 1966; Smoluchowski, 1968;
Clifford and Hillel, 1983; Fanale et al., 1986). This view has
been vindicated by the instruments of the gamma-ray spectrometer (GRS) suite on Mars Odyssey (Boynton et al., 2002;
Feldman et al., 2002, 2004; Mitrofanov et al., 2002), which
have detected near-surface water-equivalent hydrogen (interpreted as ice) at latitudes higher than ~60°. The stability of
near-surface ground ice on Mars depends on the obliquity of its
rotational axis; at an obliquity of 32° (today: ~25°), it becomes
globally stable (Mellon and Jakosky, 1995). Since the average
value of the obliquity in the Martian past was probably higher
than today (Laskar et al., 2004), ground ice can be expected
to have been a significant factor in Martian landscape evolution. This view was recently confirmed by the detection of
relatively pure ice in the shallow subsurface in polar (Bibring
et al., 2004), subpolar (Smith et al., 2009), and midlatitude
regions (Byrne et al., 2009). Interestingly, relatively pure
water ice has been found at some locations in midlatitudes
(Holt et al., 2008; Byrne et al., 2009), where it should not be in
thermodynamic equilibrium today (Mellon et al., 1997). The
depth of the ground ice table on Mars is variable with respect
to the geographic distribution (e.g., Kuzmin et al., 1988) and
geologic time (Reiss et al., 2006). Permafrost- and ground
ice–related landforms on Mars were first reported from the
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study of Mariner 9 and Viking Orbiter images, with resolutions not better than tens of meters per pixel. These early
reports emphasize the morphological similarity of many Martian landforms to terrestrial analogs of the periglacial zone
(e.g., Carr and Schaber, 1977; Squyres, 1978, 1979; Rossbacher and Judson, 1981; Lucchitta, 1981, 1984; Jankowski
and Squyres, 1993; Costard and Kargel, 1995). More recently,
higher-resolution data have confirmed these early notions and
added new morphological evidence that permafrost processes
might have played an important role in shaping the Martian
landscape (see reviews by Clifford et al., 2000; Masson et al.,
2001; Baker, 2001, 2006; Head et al., 2003; Helbert et al.,
2007). While most of these studies discuss Amazonian-aged
periglacial surfaces, new data provide compelling evidence
that equatorial regions on Mars were affected by permafrost
processes even much earlier, during the Hesperian (Warner
et al., 2010). A comprehensive overview of Martian coldclimate landforms in particular, including comparisons with
Earth, is given by van Gasselt (2007).
In lieu of direct observations of permafrost processes on
Mars, comparisons with terrestrial analogs can constrain models of Martian cold-climate environments and their potential
as habitats. Since present-day Mars is cold and dry, surface
processes acting in terrestrial cold deserts should be considered as useful analogs. Probably the closest climatic analogs to
Mars on Earth are the Antarctic Dry Valleys (Anderson et al.,
1972; Marchant and Head, 2007), a polar desert environment
with exceptionally cold and dry conditions (Doran et al., 2002;
Bockheim et al., 2007). Many authors have studied this unique
environment to obtain insights into the climate, landforms, and
possible biologic activity on Mars (e.g., Gibson et al., 1983;
Priscu et al., 1998; Wynn-Williams and Edwards, 2000;
Wentworth et al., 2005; Levy et al., 2008a, 2008b). Nevertheless,
access to the Dry Valleys is logistically complicated and costly,
and some features of the morphologic inventory of permafrost
terrain (e.g., pingos) are missing. Therefore, other polar areas
(and perhaps high-altitude arid mountain regions) should also
be considered as terrestrial cold-climate analogs for Martian
landscapes. The circum-Arctic realm provides numerous periglacial landforms that have already been compared to Mars.
Ice-wedge polygons in permafrost-dominated coastal plains of
North America are similar to Martian polygonal ground (e.g.,
Seibert and Kargel, 2001; Mangold, 2005). Periglacial gullies
and debris fans on Greenland might have been formed similar
to young Martian gullies (Costard et al., 2002). Dundas et al.
(2010) compared pingos, e.g., on the Tuktoyaktuk peninsula
in Canada, to fractured mounds on crater floors on Mars.
Retrogressive thaw slumps on Herschel and Ellesmere Islands
(Lantuit and Pollard, 2008; Grom, 2008) have been used as
terrestrial analogs for morphologically similar niches near the
Cerberus Fossae in Elysium Planitia, Mars (Balme and
Gallagher, 2009). Also situated in Elysium Planitia, some
polygonal patterns bear a superficial similarity to sorted stone
circles, e.g., on Ellesmere Island in Canada (Balme et al., 2009).
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Hauber et al.
Figure 1. Context maps of study areas. (A) Map of the Arctic, with location of Svalbard highlighted. (B) Map of
Svalbard with study areas highlighted. (C) Study area in Adventdalen (cf. Fig. 3A). White outline shows coverage
by High-Resolution Stereo Camera (HRSC-AX) (base map: hillshaded version of Advanced Spaceborne Thermal
Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) digital elevation model [DEM]). (D) Brøgger peninsula with white
outline showing the coverage by HRSC-AX (cf. Fig. 3B) (base map: hillshaded version of ASTER DEM). The study
area, Kvadehuksletta, is located at the northwestern tip of the peninsula.
While these terrestrial analogs are scattered throughout the
huge area of the arctic zone of North America, the archipelago
of Svalbard and its largest island, Spitsbergen (Fig. 1A), offer
a diverse inventory of periglacial landforms in close spatial
proximity. Terrain phenomena such as pingos, ice wedges,
and rock glaciers are ubiquitous, especially in the dry central
regions of Spitsbergen. Periglacial features such as solifluction
lobes occur primarily in the more humid western regions. Various forms of patterned ground, such as stone circles and stripes,
are widespread and well developed (for a review of periglacial forms of Svalbard, see Åkerman, 1987). Svalbard is easily
accessible, and examples of periglacial landforms are closely
located to the settlements of Longyearbyen and Ny Ålesund on
the main island, Spitsbergen, making it a very useful morphological analog to Martian cold-climate landforms, which is so
far underrepresented in the literature.
DATA
Mars Images
The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) mission (Zurek
and Smrekar, 2007) carries two camera instruments that
commonly act in concert, i.e., they operate simultaneously
and cover the same ground area at different resolutions. The
Context Camera (CTX) (Malin et al., 2007) is a pushbroom
or line-scanning instrument with a 5000-element ChargeCoupled Device (CCD) detector. From a near-polar orbit with
an altitude of ~290 km above the ground and a field of view
of 5.7°, it acquires ~30-km-wide images with a spatial ground
resolution of ~6 m/pixel. The second camera, High-Resolution
Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE), provides images
up to 20,000 pixels wide with a typical ground resolution of
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~30 cm/pixel (McEwen et al., 2007). The swath width of HiRISE
is ~6 km, so that the higher-resolution images of HiRISE are
nested within the footprint of the CTX images, which provide
the geologic context over a wider area. All images displaying
Martian landforms in this paper were obtained by CTX and
HiRISE.
High-Resolution Stereo Camera (HRSC-AX)
HRSC (Fig. 2) is a multisensor pushbroom instrument with
9 CCD line sensors mounted in parallel that has been in orbit
around Mars since January 2004 on Mars Express (Jaumann
et al., 2007). It simultaneously obtains high-resolution stereo,
multicolor, and multiphase images. Based on five stereo channels,
which provide five different views of the ground, digital photogrammetric techniques are applied to reconstruct the topography.
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The four color channels (blue, green, red, and near-infrared) are
used to make true orthophotos in color and false color. As of
June 2011, high-quality digital elevation models (DEMs) and
corresponding ortho-images were available for more than 36%
of the Martian surface. The particular value of HRSC is the stereo capability, which allows the systematic production of highresolution DEMs with grid sizes between 50 and 100 m (Wewel
et al., 2000; Scholten and Gwinner, 2004; Scholten et al., 2005;
Gwinner et al., 2005, 2009, 2010). An airborne version of the
HRSC was used for the acquisition of stereo and color images
in Svalbard. Since 1997, different airborne versions of HRSC
have been developed. The principles of HRSC-AX data processing are described by Gwinner et al. (2006). The orientation
data of the camera are reconstructed from a global positioning
system inertial navigation system (GPS INS). HRSC-AX has
been applied in diverse technical and scientific applications
(e.g., Gwinner et al., 1999, 2000; Hauber et al., 2001; Otto et al.,
2007) and has also been successfully used to investigate rock
glacier activity (Roer and Nyenhuis, 2007). The flight campaign
in July–August 2008 covered a total of seven regions in Svalbard: (1) Longyearbyen and the surroundings of Adventfjorden,
(2) large parts of Adventdalen, (3) large parts of the Brøggerhalvøya (halvøya = peninsula) in western Spitsbergen, (4) the
Bockfjorden area in northern Spitsbergen, (5) the northeastern
shore of the Palanderbukta and the margin of the adjacent ice
cap in Nordaustlandet, (6) an area on Prins Karls Forland, and
(7) the area of the abandoned Russian mining settlement of
Pyramiden together with the nearby Ebbedalen. The landforms
discussed in this study are located on the Brøgger peninsula and
in Adventdalen and its vicinity (Fig. 3). Examples of true-color
and false-color HRSC-AX images of permafrost landforms in
Svalbard are shown in Figure 4.
Field Work
Figure 2. Operating principle of High-Resolution Stereo Camera
(HRSC) on Mars Express, and viewing geometry of the individual
Charge-Coupled Device (CCD) sensors. The airborne version of
HRSC (HRSC-AX), which was used for the Svalbard campaign, follows the same principle. ND—nadir channel; S1, S2—stereo 1 and
stereo 2 (±18.9° viewing direction, measured from nadir orientation);
P1 and P2—photometry 1 and photometry 2 (±12.8°); IR—near-infrared channel (+15.9°); GR—green channel (+3.3°); BL—blue channel
(–3.3°); RE—red channel (–15.9°). All nine line sensors have a crosstrack field of view of ±6°.
In two field campaigns conducted during the summers of
2008 and 2009, selected landforms were investigated in situ.
One of the objectives was the acquisition of ground truth data for
HRSC-AX measurements, e.g., by determining with laser range
meters the dimensions of landforms that had been observed
with HRSC-AX. More important, however, we collected samples (e.g., soil samples of the active layer) and took in situ measurements of soil properties such as thermal conductivity. Field
photographs helped to increase the range of scales for which
textural information was available from airborne images. Three
field camps were established. In July and early August 2008,
the base camp was situated near Hiorthhamm, at the northeastern shore of Adventfjorden, opposite to Longyearbyen (central
Spitsbergen; Fig. 3A). The main purpose was to study gullies
and fans resembling the young gullies on Mars that had been
detected in MOC (Mars Orbiter Camera) images (Malin and
Edgett, 2000). First results of these investigations are reported
elsewhere (Hauber et al., 2009; Reiss et al., this volume).
The second study area was Kvadehuksletta, a strandflat at the
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Hauber et al.
northwesternmost part of Brøggerhalvøya in western Spitzbergen
(Fig. 3B). The site is renowned for its well-developed stone circles
and was visited in July 2009. Another objective at this site was the
exploration of protalus ramparts, a class of rock glaciers, which are
prominent landforms at a nearby location called Stuphallet. A third
study area (July–August 2009) was the Adventdalen in central
Spitsbergen (Fig. 3A). It offered a variety of periglacial landforms
in close spatial proximity, such as polygons and other types of patterned ground, rock glaciers, and pingos.
SVALBARD: CHARACTERIZATION OF
STUDY AREAS
Climate
The present climate of Svalbard is arctic. The mean annual
air temperature ranges between about –6 °C at sea level and
–15 °C in the high mountains. In Longyearbyen (78°130N,
15°380E), which is located near the study area in Adventdalen (Figs. 1 and 3A), the coldest (February) and warmest
(July) months have mean temperatures of –15.2 °C and 6.2 °C,
respectively (Table 1). The mean annual air temperature is
–5.8 °C (average 1975–2000), but it can get as low as -15 °C in
mountain areas. Precipitation is low and reaches only ~180 mm
in central Spitsbergen (Table 1). At the coasts of Svalbard, the
precipitation is ~400–600 mm. The central part of Spitsbergen
can therefore be considered to be a polar (semi)desert, which is
defined as an area with annual precipitation less than 250 mm
and a mean temperature during the warmest month of less
than 10 °C (Walker, 1997). Interannual differences in mean
precipitation and temperatures can be very high. Heavy snowfalls can occur in December and January in some years, and
snow is the dominant type of precipitation. Snow avalanches
are frequent, especially on downwind slopes. Svalbard lies at
the border zone between cold arctic air in the north and mild
maritime air in the south. This border zone can be meteorologically very active, with cyclones generating unstable and often
stormy weather. Strong winds can occur in winter and redistribute the snowpack, so that wind-exposed sites, particularly in the
more arid regions of central Spitsbergen, can be more or less
snow-free even in high winter, enhancing heat loss from the
ground (Humlum et al., 2003). At the more maritime western
coast, the thicker snowpack in winter acts as an effective insulator (Winther et al., 2003). About 60% of Svalbard is covered
by glaciers and ice caps. The remaining part (~25,000 km2) is
characterized by continuous permafrost (Brown et al., 1997).
Permafrost thickness is 10–40 m in coastal regions and ~100 m
in the major valleys, but it can increase to more than 450 m in
the highlands (Liestøl, 1976; Isaksen et al., 2001; Sollid et al.,
2000). The age of the permafrost on Svalbard is Weichselian
in the mountains and late Holocene in the coastal areas and in
the valleys (Humlum et al., 2003). Permafrost temperature is
between –2.3 °C and –5.6 °C, with a trend toward warming
(Christiansen et al., 2010).
Figure 3. Locations of field sites and figures shown in this paper. (A) High-Resolution Stereo Camera (HRSC-AX)
image mosaic (approximately true color) of Longyearbyen and large parts of Adventdalen. (B) HRSC-AX image mosaic
(approximately true color) of Brøggerhalvøja (western Spitsbergen). See Figure 1 for context.
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Season
Year
Winter
Spring
Summer
Autumn
(DJF)
(MAM)
(JJA)
(SON)
Mean
–6.3
–14.0
–10.8
4.3
–4.8
TABLE 1. CLIMATE AT SVALBARD AIRPORT 1912 TO 1993
Observed temperature
Modeled temperature
(°C)
(°C)
SD
Minimum
Maximum
Mean
SD
Minimum
1.7
–12.2
–3.1
–6.4
1.0
–8.9
3.6
–23.2
–7.6
–14.1
2.4
–19.1
2.4
–19.3
–6.7
–10.8
1.7
–15.2
0.7
2.5
6.1
4.2
0.5
3.2
2.0
–11.3
–1.3
–4.9
1.5
–8.7
183
†
Correlation
Maximum
–4.0
–9.1
–7.5
5.4
–1.8
0.61
0.62
0.58
0.54
0.66
†
Season
Observed precipitation
Modeled precipitation
Correlation
(mm)
(mm)
Mean
SD
Minimum
Maximum
Mean
SD
Minimum
Maximum
Year
180.7
49.8
86.4
317.0
178.7
33.5
93.5
286.6
0.54
Winter
(DJF)
53.4
24.3
16.8
140.0
52.8
11.5
24.5
86.8
0.40
Spring
(MAM)
35.6
10.4
6.4
125.9
34.3
13.6
10.6
65.5
0.60
Summer
(JJA)
43.7
21.2
3.0
114.0
43.7
18.7
8.3
100.8
0.57
Autumn
(SON)
48.1
17.0
18.4
109.0
47.9
13.1
21.5
79.1
0.54
Note: For the series of observed and modeled annual and seasonal precipitation sums from 1912 to 1993, the following values are given: mean,
standard deviation (SD), absolute minimum, and absolute maximum. For comparison, the mean annual temperature at the floor of the Dry Valleys in
Antarctica ranges from –14.8 °C to –30 °C, and the mean annual precipitation is <<100 mm, but can be as low as 13 mm (Doran et al., 2002;
Campbell and Claridge, 2004).
†
Correlation coefficient between observed and modeled precipitation series (data from Hanssen-Bauer and Førland, 1998).
Geology
The geology of Svalbard is extremely diverse, given the
limited size of the archipelago. A comprehensive description
is available from Harland (1997). For the purpose of this study,
a brief description of the overall geography and geology of the
study sites is sufficient.
At the largest scale, the topography of central Spitsbergen
(Nordenskjøld Land) is dominated by mountain massifs that are
separated from each other by valleys, which are in some cases
interconnected. The largest of these valleys are Sassendalen, Reindalen, Colesdalen, and Adventdalen. Adventdalen, the site where
most of the terrestrial features discussed in this study are located,
has been ice free since ~10,000 yr ago (Mangerud et al., 1992). It
is ~40 km long and hosts many periglacial landforms. Geologically, the bedrock of the massifs bordering Adventdalen consists of
Jurassic and Cretaceous sediments (Dallmann et al., 2002). Most
of the bedrock in the study area belongs to the Helvetiafjellet and
Carolinefjellet Formations (Dallmann et al., 2001). Their lithology is characterized by sandstones, siltstones, shales, and some
thin coal seams (Parker, 1967; Major and Nagy 1972). The rocks
are thinly layered (centimeters to tens of centimeters), and the layering is generally subhorizontal. The rocks are heavily fractured
by frost-shattering and—particularly near the coast—salt weathering. Valley marginal terraces in lower Adventdalen are thought
to be proximal loess deposits that were likely derived by deflation
and local deposition of fluvial sediments (Bryant, 1982). Most of
the periglacial landforms in Adventdalen (e.g., pingos, ice-wedge
polygons) were formed in the late Holocene and are only ~3000 yr
old (Svensson, 1971; Jeppesen, 2001; Humlum, 2005), but some
ice wedges at high elevations might have survived the Weichselian ice age under cold-based ice (Sørbel and Tolgensbakk, 2002).
A useful overview of glacial and permafrost features in Nordenskjøld Land is given by Meier and Thannheiser (2009).
The second study site is located on the outermost part of the
Brøggerhalvøya. The lithology of the mountains in the hinterland
is predominantly dolomitic (Challinor, 1967). The study area at
Kvadehuksletta is a strandflat with well-developed raised beach
ridges up to an elevation of 80 m above sea level (asl). Forman
and Miller (1984) subdivided the beach ridges with respect to
their elevation into three classes, at the intervals 0–44 m asl,
44–55 m asl, and 55–80 m asl, and assigned the associated deposits ages of <12 ka, 60–160 ka, and 130–290 ka, respectively. The
sediments covering the strandflat have a calcitic and dolomitic
composition (Dallmann et al., 2002). The reader is referred to
Svendsen et al. (2002) for an in-depth description of the physical
environment of the Kongsfjord region.
Soil
The surfaces of the northernmost portions of ice-free land are
primarily mantled with polar desert soils (Tedrow, 1966). Such
soils are commonly characterized by low temperatures, relatively
dry soil conditions, a desert pavement, mildly acid to alkaline reaction, and salt efflorescences (Tedrow, 1966). For a map of soil
types on Svalbard, see Låg (1993). Portions of Svalbard, in particular at higher elevations, lie within the polar desert soil area (Charlier, 1969; Tedrow, 1977), which is characterized by mineral soil
without identifiable horizons, and with little humus content. Polar
desert soil is also found at the study site on Brøggerhalvøya (Mann
et al., 1986; Ugolini and Sletten, 1988). The recently published Soil
Atlas of the Arctic (Jones et al., 2010) classifies the soils of Svalbard as leptic cryosols, i.e., shallow permafrost soils developed
over a rocky substrate. A detailed description of the micromorphology of cryosols, including a discussion of cryoturbation and
solifluction processes, is given by Van Vliet-Lanoë et al. (2004).
Since the respective map in the Soil Atlas of the Arctic has a very
small scale, however, it does not differentiate between mountains
and valley floors, the latter of which have greater soil thicknesses.
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Hauber et al.
Figure 4. Examples of High-Resolution Stereo Camera (HRSC-AX) coverage of permafrost features in Svalbard. (A) Unsorted nets and stripes
on the western slopes of Hiorthfjellet. The flat top of a SE-NW–trending ridge is characterized by unsorted nets (“N”). The low troughs between the centers of the net are accentuated by vegetation (shown in red tones in this HRSC-AX false-color view, which was produced via IHS
(Intensity-Hue-Saturation) transformation from the near-infrared, red, and green color channels to a red-green-blue representation, respectively).
Where the slope gets steeper, the nets transform into stripes (“S”; see, e.g., Kessler and Werner, 2003; 78.258°N, 15.722°E). (B) Debris-covered
glacier on Operafjellet. HRSC-AX false-color image (78.227°N, 16.0°E). (C) Polygons on fluvial terrace in central Adventdalen (east of the
mouth of Helvetiadalen, upper part of image). A ground view of the distinct troughs between the polygon centers is shown in Figure 6B. A small
pingo (labeled “P” and named “Riverbed Pingo” by Yoshikawa, 1993) is visible in the braided river bed. HRSC-AX false-color image (78.195°N,
16.451°E). (D) “Lagoon pingo” (Yoshikawa, 1993) in lower Adventdalen at the distal end of a debris-flow fan (“DFF”). This pingo group (“P”) is
very young and was only initiated when the area was raised above sea level. Note the irregular form of the mounds (maximum elevation: 4.5 m)
and craters (the youngest of which formed in 1993; Yoshikawa and Harada, 1995). Small lakes could be thaw lakes resulting from the degradation of ice cores. HRSC-AX false-color image (78.230°N, 15.755°E). (E) Rock glacier (“RG”) on Hiorthfjellet (Isaksen et al., 2000). HRSC-AX
false-color image (78.256°N, 15.786°E). (F) Thaw slumps or active-layer detachment slides near Advent City, an abandoned mining site near
the mouth of Hannaskogdalen. These slumps (white arrows point to slump heads) resemble active-layer detachment failures in morphology and
dimension (e.g., see fig. 6 in Lewkowicz, 2007). HRSC-AX true-color image (78.283°N, 15.614°E). North is up in all images.
In Adventdalen, loess (Bryant, 1982) and arctic meadow
soil are present (Van Vliet-Lanoë, 1998). The relatively high
organic content of the soils in Adventdalen is responsible for
the limited depth of the active layer (<1 m; Christiansen and
Humlum, 2008), since the insulating effect of the thick vegetation cover prevents the wave of enhanced summer temperatures from penetrating deeply into the subsurface. In contrast,
the active layer in sandy and gravelly soils has a larger depth.
The effect of a vegetation cover has been found to be a more
important control on the variations of active-layer depth than
regional geographic differences (Stäblein, 1970).
Vegetation
For a general description of circum-Arctic vegetation
zones, see Bliss and Matveyeva (1992). With respect to plant
ecology, three climatic zones are present on Svalbard: The midarctic tundra zone, the northern arctic tundra zone, and the polar
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desert zone (Elvebakk 2005; Alsos et al., 2007). The mean air
temperature during the warmest month in these three zones
in Svalbard are 4–6 °C, 2.5–4 °C, and 1–2.5 °C, respectively
(Elvebakk, 2005). Mann et al. (1986) mentioned polar desert
vegetation on Brøggerhalvøya, but Elvebakk (2005) assigned
the strandflat of Kvadehuksletta to the northern arctic tundra
zone. Adventdalen is more densely vegetated than the Brøgger peninsula. The main plant species are Salix polaris and
the mosses Polytrichum hyperboreum and Saninonia uncinata
(Rozema et al., 2006).
MORPHOLOGIC COMPARISONS BETWEEN MARS
AND SVALBARD
In this chapter, we compare examples of presumed
periglacial features on Mars with terrestrial analogs on
Spitsbergen (Table 2). The selection is restricted to features that
have been covered by HRSC-AX data, so that a comparison
among Mars, HRSC-AX, and field photographs is enabled.
Landform
Ice-wedge
polygons
Sorted and
unsorted stripes
Sorted circles
Rock glaciers
Pingos
Retrogressive
thaw slumps or
active-layer
detachments
185
Wherever possible, we tried to present features that have
similar scales on Mars and on Spitsbergen. The use of genetic,
not descriptive, terms for the section headings applies for the
features on Svalbard only and does not imply that the Martian
landforms have the same origin.
Patterned Ground
The term patterned ground was introduced by Washburn
(1956, p. 824) to denote all sorts of “more or less symmetrical
forms, such as circles, polygons, nets, steps, and stripes, […].”
This definition includes sorts of patterned ground that are not
restricted to cold-climate environments (e.g., desiccation polygons), but generally—and in the following—the term is used
to refer to cold-climate patterned ground. Patterned ground
consists of sorted and nonsorted varieties. The sorted classes of
patterned ground commonly exhibit a marginal zone of stones
that surround a central area of finer material. The mechanisms
thought to form patterned ground include particle sorting,
TABLE 2. OVERVIEW OF PERIGLACIAL LANDFORMS
Definiti on
Selected references
Images
(van Everdingen, 2005)
(Earth; general)
(this study)
A polygon outlined by ice wedges underlying its
boundaries
Dostovalov and Popov
(1966); Lachenbruch
(1962, 1966); Black
(1976); Washburn (1979);
Mackay and Matthews
(1983)
Sorted stripes form patterned ground with a striped
Washburn (1956)
and sorted appearance, due to parallel strips of
stones and intervening strips of finer material,
oriented down the steepest available slope
Nonsorted stripes form patterned ground with a
striped and nonsorted appearance, due to
parallel strips of vegetation-covered ground and
intervening strips of relatively bare ground,
oriented down the steepest available slope
A sorted circle is a patterned ground form that is
Washburn (1956)
equidimensional in several directions, with a
dominantly circular outline, and a sorted
appearance commonly due to a border of stones
surrounding a central area of finer material
A mass of rock fragments and finer material, on a Capps (1910); Washburn
slope, that contains either interstitial ice or an ice
(1979); Barsch (1996)
core and shows evidence of past or present
movement
A perennial frost mound consisting of a core of
Porsild (1938); Mackay
massive ice, produced primarily by injection of
(1973, 1979); Washburn
water, and covered with soil and vegetation
(1979)
A slope failure resulting from thawing of ice-rich
permafrost
page 185
Figure 5
Figure 6
Selected
Selected references
references
(Svalbard)
(Mars)
Mangold (2005); Christiansen (2005)
Levy et al.
(2009a, 2010)
Figure 7
Mangold (2005)
Van Vliet-Lanoë
(1991)
Figure 8
Balme et al.
(2009)
Hallet and Prestrud
(1986); Hallet et al.
(1988); Etzelmüller
and Sollid (1991)
Figures 9
and 10
Figure 11
Squyres (1978); Sollid and Sørbel
Degenhardt and (1992); Humlum et
Giardino (2003) al. (2007); Isaksen
et al. (2000)
Dundas et al.
Liestøl (1976);
(2008); Dundas Yoshikawa (1993);
and McEwen
Yoshikawa and
(2010)
Harada (1995);
Ross et al. (2007)
Balme and
Larsson (1982)
Gallagher (2009)
Mackay (1966);
Figure 4F
McRoberts and
Morgenstern (1974);
Washburn (1979); Lantuit
and Pollard (2008);
Lewkowicz (2007);
Lacelle et al. (2010)
Note: Overview of periglacial landforms discussed in this study. Definitions are from the “English Language Glossary of Permafrost and Related
Ground-Ice Terms,” provided by the Frozen Ground Data Center of the National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC) (van Everdingen, 2005). Where
possible, those references on Svalbard’s periglacial landforms were selected that cover the study sites described in this work.
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Hauber et al.
freeze-and-thaw cycles, the deformation of frozen soil, and soil
creep (see Kessler and Werner, 2003, and references therein),
but there is still no consensus whether the range of forms can be
explained by a single model (e.g., Kessler and Werner, 2003).
Polygons
Polygonal ground in cold climates on Earth is widespread. It
is caused by thermal contraction cracking (Lachenbruch, 1962,
1966), but depending on the temperatures and amount of available liquid water, different formation mechanisms are known.
They all involve cooling and cracking of the ground in the winter season and subsequent filling of the cracks by water, sand,
or soil. The most common type of thermal contraction polygons are ice-wedge polygons (Leffingwell, 1915; Black, 1976),
which form by refreezing of the molten liquid water that filled
the cracks in spring and summer. If there is a lack of liquid water
in hyperarid polar deserts (e.g., the ice-free areas of Antarctica
or the polar deserts of the Canadian High Arctic), the cracks
may be filled by loess or sand (sand-wedge polygons; Péwé,
1959; Sletten et al., 2003), or soil (Black, 1976; French, 2007).
Repeated cracking in subsequent years leads to lateral expansion of the ice or sand wedge. A further type of cold-climate
polygonal ground has been described by Marchant et al. (2002)
from the Antarctic Dry Valleys, where ice buried beneath sediment is cracking by thermal contraction. Fine-grained sediment
collects in the cracks, and coarser-grained material (>2 cm)
is left at the surface near the cracks, enhancing sublimation due
to the relatively higher porosity and permeability. These socalled sublimation polygons can be considered to be a special
type of sand-wedge polygons (Marchant and Head, 2007).
Polygonal ground is widespread on Mars and has been recognized at different scales, with polygon diameters ranging from
meters to tens of kilometers (e.g., Lucchitta, 1981; Lucchitta
et al., 1986; Mellon, 1997; Malin and Edgett, 2001; Seibert and
Kargel, 2001; van Gasselt et al., 2005; Pondrelli et al., 2008).
While the giant polygons in the northern lowlands might have
a tectonic origin (Pechmann, 1980; Hiesinger and Head, 2000),
and some very small-scale polygonal patterns might be the result
of rock jointing, several classes of polygons with diameters of
meters and tens of meters bear a striking resemblance to terrestrial
polygons that formed by freeze-thaw processes in cold-climate
regions (e.g., Figures 5A and 5B). There seems to be a clear
geographic control of their distribution on Mars (Kuzmin
and Zabalueva, 2003; Seibert and Kargel, 2001; Mangold,
2005; Levy et al., 2009a). This distribution indicates a possible
control by climatic factors, and many workers have inferred
that these polygons formed as thermal contraction cracks analogous to terrestrial ice-wedge or sand-wedge polygons (e.g.,
Seibert and Kargel, 2001; Mangold, 2005; Levy et al., 2009a).
Mechanical modeling shows that the maximum size of polygons formed by thermal contraction cracking on Mars is limited,
however, and that a formation of many polygons on crater
floors by desiccation might be a viable alternative (El Maarry
et al., 2010). Recently, detailed comparisons among polygons
on Mars, particularly those found at the Phoenix landing site,
and terrestrial polygons in the Antarctic Dry Valleys have led
Levy et al. (2008b, 2009b) to conclude that high-latitude Martian polygons are more likely to be sand wedge or sublimation
polygons than ice-wedge polygons.
Polygonal ground occurs throughout Adventdalen in many
locations on terraces of the valley’s river, Adventelva, and on
the slopes of the adjacent massifs (Tolgensbakk et al., 2000)
(Figs. 5C–5F). Polygons are known to exist on slopes with an
inclination of up to 25° (Sørbel and Tolgensbakk, 2002). Typically, these polygons have diameters of 10–80 m, separated by
1–6-m-wide troughs (Sørbel et al., 2001). According to most
researchers, they are active ice-wedge polygons (e.g., Sørbel
and Tolgensbakk, 2002; Christiansen, 2005, and references
therein). With respect to their morphology, however, different
varieties can be distinguished. Low-centered polygons appear
to be more common in the flat parts near Adventelva in lower
Adventdalen (Figs. 5E and 5F). On the other hand, highcentered polygons prevail on many flat and inclined surfaces in
central and upper Adventdalen (Figs. 5C and 5D). They have
diameters of 10–20 m and are separated by well-developed
wide and deep troughs (Figs. 6A and 6B). A direct correlation
could be established between the widths of the ice wedge and
the overlying trough, and it was found that the oldest, most
distinct troughs occur on the highest terrace (Malmström et al.,
1973; cited in Christiansen, 2005). This notion is supported by
HRSC-AX image inspection. Field observations show that the
shoulders of the troughs are often disrupted by trough-parallel
fractures (Fig. 6B). HRSC-AX data have a sufficient spatial
and vertical resolution to enable the three-dimensional analysis of polygons and troughs (Fig. 6F). Troughs are commonly
~50 cm deep (Fig. 6F), but they can reach depths of up to 1 m
(Fig. 6A).
Of the many morphologically different polygons on Mars
(Mangold, 2005; Levy et al., 2009a), some polygons, for example,
those situated near gully alcoves, share the characteristics of
the high-centered polygons of the upper Adventdalen. A direct
comparison reveals this similarity (Figs. 6D and 6E). In both
cases, distinct troughs separate polygon centers with flat surfaces.
The troughs display an orthogonal pattern in both cases, but on
Mars, it is oriented-orthogonal, whereas on Svalbard, it appears
random-orthogonal (for an overview on the various geometries
of polygonal ground, see French, 2007). The diameters of
the polygons are 5–10 m and 10–20 m on Mars and Svalbard,
respectively.
Based on morphology alone, however, it would appear to
be problematic to interpret the Martian polygons shown in
Figure 6D as ice-wedge, sand-wedge, or sublimation polygons.
The morphology of different thermal contraction cracks has
recently been discussed by Levy et al. (2010, their Fig. 2). For
example, polygons on the northern margin of Victoria Valley
(Antarctic Dry Valleys) appear morphologically very similar to
the examples in Svalbard (with the exception of the trough shoulders, which are slightly elevated with respect to the polygon centers in Victoria Valley), yet they are more likely to be sand-wedge
polygons (cf. Fig. 6 in Marchant and Head, 2007). On the other
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187
Figure 5. Polygonal structures on Mars and
in Svalbard. (A) Polygons of different
sizes on the floor of an impact crater
on Mars (High-Resolution Imaging
Science Experiment [HiRISE] image
PSP_007372_2475 at 67.2°N, 47.8°E).
(B) Enlarged detail of A. Note how a
population of smaller polygons (diameters of a few meters to 10 m) is nested
within a population of larger polygons
(˜50–100 m). North is up. (C) Polygons
of different sizes on the northern side
of central Adventdalen (Spitsbergen).
Labels “x” and “y” denote two polygons
highlighted in panel D. High-Resolution
Stereo Camera (HRSC-AX) falsecolor image; north is up (78.196°N,
16.584°E). (D) Field photograph of
area shown in C. Both small and large
polygons are high-centered. The ratio
between the diameters of small and large
polygons is similar on both examples
shown here from Mars and Svalbard.
(E) Well-developed ice-wedge polygons
on the northern side of lower Adventdalen, near Longyearbyen (HRSC-AX
approximately true-color image; north
is up; 78.206°N, 15.888°E). (F) Oblique
aerial photograph of scene shown in
E. Ponding water indicates low-center
polygons.
Figure 6. Polygons on Mars and Svalbard. (A) Large trough-bounding high-center polygons in central Adventdalen (Spitsbergen). Person for
scale. (B) Trough between high-center polygons in central Adventdalen. Note the fractured and degraded appearance of the trough shoulders.
Spade for scale. (C) Ice-wedge polygons in lower Adventdalen, near Isdammen. Person for scale. (D) Oriented-orthogonal polygons pattern on
a ridge between two gullies on the northern wall of Hale crater, Mars (see Fig. 10A for location). The polygons have high centers and diameters
between ~5 and ~10 m (High-Resolution Imaging Science Experiment [HiRISE] image PSP_004072_1845; near 34.6°S, 323.1°E). (E) Highcenter orthogonal polygons in central Adventdalen. The polygons have high centers and diameters between ~10 and ~20 m. A typical trough
between these polygons is shown in panel B (78.196°N, 16.545°E). (F) Hillshaded digital elevation model derived from High-Resolution Stereo
Camera (HRSC-AX) stereo images of a subscene of panel E (in lower left part). White line a–a marks location of profile shown below. The
profile shows that the troughs are typically ~50 cm deep (cf. panel B).
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Hauber et al.
hand, sublimation polygons, e.g., in Beacon Valley (Antarctica),
can also display an almost identical morphologic expression with
high-centered, flat-topped, 10–20-m-wide polygons (cf. fig. 4 in
Marchant et al., 2002). A further complication is introduced by
the possibility that some varieties of polygonal ground on Mars
might be desiccation cracks, resulting from the drying out of
ancient crater lakes (El Maarry et al., 2010). Hence, we conclude
that an unambiguous interpretation of polygonal ground based
on remotely sensed data alone is difficult even on Earth, let alone
on Mars. This is even more true because the reconstruction of
paleoenvironmental conditions from current-day (ice-wedge)
polygons (which are the basis of analog studies) appears to be
problematic (e.g., Harry and Godzik, 1988) due to the limited
understanding of the constraints on cracking within modern
permafrost environments (see Christiansen, 2005). A promising approach is the detailed study of not only polygons, but the
entire suite of associated landforms, as was shown by Levy et al.
(2009b) in their study of the Phoenix landing site.
Nets and Stripes
Sorted patterned ground (polygons, circles, stripes) is a class
of patterned ground that forms as a result of differential frostheaving (e.g., Washburn, 1956; Goldthwait, 1976; Van VlietLanoë, 1991). Unsorted stripes and nets resemble their sorted
relatives, but according to Washburn (1956, p. 837), the striping
is due to the presence of vegetated and nonvegetated areas.
Slope stripes on Mars have been reported by Malin and
Edgett (2001) and Mangold (2005). From the inspection of MOC
images, Mangold (2005) found them to be concentrated in two
latitudinal belts (±55° to ±75°), with a higher frequency in the
southern hemisphere. Stripes occur with and without association
to polygons. Higher-resolved images acquired by the HiRISE
(High-Resolution Imaging Science Experiment) onboard the
Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) add new evidence for slope
stripes (Fig. 7). The examples shown in Figures 7C and 7D are
situated on slopes of the inner wall of an impact crater (Fig. 7A)
in the immediate vicinity of gully alcoves (Fig. 7B). These stripes
display an alternating pattern of bright and dark albedo. Their width
typically ranges from ~50 cm to 1.5 m, and their orientation is consistently downslope, although it cannot be excluded that it sometimes slightly deviates from the steepest topographic gradient. It
is unlikely that the stripes are the result of wind-sculpting, since
the pattern is clearly controlled by local slope azimuth (Fig. 7C).
These Martian stripes are almost identical in appearance to
sorted stripes that can be observed on slopes of the valley sides in
Adventdalen (Bibus et al., 1976; Figs. 7E and 7F). The width of
the stripes in Adventdalen is commonly between 50 and 100 cm,
and the orientation is downslope. The bright stripes correspond to
vegetation-free areas of rock particles, and the dark parts correspond to vegetated areas. In many cases, the stripes are connected
to sorted nets on flat-lying terrain, from which they develop
downslope (Fig. 4A). This spatial association between nets on
Figure 7. Comparison between alternating bright and dark stripes on Mars and sorted stripes on Svalbard. (A) Context for
Martian examples; the location of B is marked by white box (center of crater at 39°S, 195.9°E; Context Camera [CTX]
images P14_006497_1406 and B11_013894_1412). (B) Gullies on the pole-facing inner wall of the crater; locations
of C and D are marked by white boxes (High-Resolution Imaging Science Experiment [HiRISE] PSP_001684_1410).
(C) Stripes on the crater wall near the gullies. Three different expressions of the stripes (I–III) are controlled by local
slope orientation (HiRISE image PSP_001684_1410; near 38.9°S, 196.0°E). (D) Alternating dark and bright stripes near
gullies on the inner wall of a Martian impact crater (HiRISE image PSP_001684_1410; near 38.9°S, 196.0°E). The orientation of the stripes is approximately downslope. (E) Sorted stripes on the western slopes of the Hiorthfjellet massif (east
of Adventfjorden, Spitsbergen; 78.255°N, 15.701°E). Note the striking similarity in scale between D and E. (F) Sorted
stripes in Adventdalen (Spitsbergen). Coarser and slightly elevated unvegetated stripes alternate with finer-grained and
vegetated stripes (field photography, person for scale).
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flat terrain and stripes on adjacent slopes is well known from
observations (Washburn, 1956), and it could also be reproduced
by numerical modeling (Kessler and Werner, 2003).
The presence of slope stripes on Mars might indicate the
action of cryoturbation processes. If so, the difference between
the bright and dark stripes could perhaps be associated to
frost heave and particle sorting (in contrast to vegetated and
nonvegetated bands in unsorted stripes on Earth; see Fig. 7C).
An alternative model could be the preferential deposition of
relatively brighter dust or frost in long and narrow, parallel
depressions that are oriented downslope. Even if this were the
case, the existence of such depressions requires an explanation.
Stone Circles
Stone circles are a class of sorted ground. The exact process of formation is still not fully understood (see discussion in
Balme et al., 2009), but there is a consensus that some form of
churning of the ground by freeze-thaw cycles in ice-rich sediment is required. Some researchers hold that free convection in
thawed fine-grained soils might be involved (Hallet and Prestrud, 1986), but this view was challenged by Van Vliet-Lanoë
(1991), who questioned the assumption that conditions in the
active layer meet the requirements for convection. The significance of weathering and accumulation of fines was emphasized
by Etzelmüller and Sollid (1991), who also pointed out in their
study of the stone circles at Kvadehuksletta that dissolution of
dolomitic bedrock and, therefore, bedrock petrography play an
important role.
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189
Polygonal structures in Elysium Planitia, Mars, with zones
of coarse (up to 1 m) particles surrounding interior areas of
homogeneous texture have been interpreted by Balme et al.
(2009) as possible sorted stone circles or nets (Fig. 8D). These
authors infer that ground ice in equatorial regions on Mars may
have been subject to freeze-thaw cycles and recent cryoturbation, with implications for a warmer-than-thought climate in the
geologically young history of Mars. According to Balme et al.
(2009), given the known ratio of 3–4 between the diameter of
sorted circles and the depth of the active layer, respectively
(Ballantyne and Harris, 1994), the uppermost regolith in Elysium
Planitia would have contained ice to depths of a few meters.
Sorted stone circles and nets are particularly well developed at Kvadehuksletta on Brøggerhalvøya (Figs. 8A–8C).
They are commonly found in shallow depressions dammed by
beach ridges (Tolgensbakk and Sollid, 1987). Typical diameters
are a few meters (Figs. 8E and 8F), and the raised rims, consisting of stones with diameters of a few centimeters, reach heights
of up to 50 cm (Figs. 8A and 8B; Etzelmüller and Sollid, 1991).
The planform shape and dimensions are significantly different
among the polygonal patterns in Elysium Planitia and on Kvadehuksletta. The size of particles in the stone rings, in particular,
is much larger on Mars than in Svalbard, but the diameter of the
circles is also larger. The mesoscale topography (i.e., the location of the sorted circles in areas behind the beach ridges, where
water supply is high) appears also to be different. Nevertheless,
larger sorted circles than those on Svalbard are known from
the colder and drier Canadian Arctic (e.g., Bjorne Peninsula,
Ellesmere Island; see also Goldthwait, 1976) and match in scale
Figure 8. Stone circles on Svalbard and polygonal structures on Mars. (A) Well-developed closed and circular stone
circles on Svalbard. (B) Network of irregular stone circles (sorted circles or sorted nets) on Svalbard. Both A and B are
located at Kvadehuksletta (Brøgger peninsula, western Spitsbergen). Black squares on scale bar (arrows) are 5 × 5 cm.
(C) Close-range aerial photograph of stone circles near Ny Ålesund (Brøgger peninsula, western Spitsbergen; diameter
of individual circles is ~2 m). (D) Polygonal structures in Elysium Planitia, Mars. A network of coarse particles outlines low-center polygons with finer-grained interiors (High-Resolution Imaging Science Experiment [HiRISE] image
PSP_004072_1845, near 4.5°N, 156.0°E). (E–F) Examples of stone circles as seen by the High-Resolution Stereo Camera (HRSC-AX), which has a similar spatial resolution (~20 cm/pixel) as the HiRISE camera (25–32 cm/pixel). Both
images are from Kvadehuksletta (Brøgger peninsula, western Spitsbergen, see Fig. 1D for location).
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the purported Martian examples of Balme et al. (2009). If the
polygonal patterns observed by Balme et al. (2009) are indeed
sorted circles, this would have interesting implications for the
recent Martian climate at equatorial regions. The observed
differences between the features in Elysium Planitia and on Svalbard, however, with respect to their morphology (cf. Figs. 8D,
8E, and 8F), geomorphic setting, and clast lithology (i.e.,
dolomitic at Kvadehuksletta and basaltic on Mars [e.g., Diez
et al., 2009], with implications for dissolution processes) require
some caution in the interpretation, and careful investigations
should identify if some mantling process could preferentially
deposit fines (e.g., airborne dust) in the low-lying interior of the
polygons, creating a homogeneous texture.
Rock Glaciers
Rock glaciers are common phenomena on Earth, and they
occur both as active and relict (fossil) features in a variety of
mountainous environments. They are sensitive to environmental
changes and, therefore, are important landforms in climatic studies (e.g., Humlum, 1998). Many definitions of rock glaciers exist
in the literature (for overviews, see Barsch, 1996; van Gasselt,
2007), and here we refer to that of Barsch (1988, p. 72), who
defines active rock glaciers as “lobate or tongue-shaped bodies
of frozen debris with interstitial ice and ice lenses, which move
downslope or downvalley by deformation of the ice contained
within them.” It is still a matter of debate (e.g., Humlum et al.,
2007) whether rock glaciers are strictly periglacial landforms (a
view promoted by Barsch, 1996), or if they are part of a continuum, with rockfall-derived talus on one end and true glaciers
on the other end (Giardino and Vitek, 1988). This debate shall
not further be considered here. The definition does not address
the source of the ice and is, therefore, applicable to both models.
Rock glacier–like landforms on Mars have been reported
since the acquisition of the Viking Orbiter images. The
descriptive term “lobate debris apron” was assigned to distinctive
geomorphic landforms showing evidence for the creep and
deformation of ice-rich debris in Martian midlatitudes (e.g.,
Carr and Schaber, 1977; Squyres, 1978, 1979; Lucchitta, 1984;
Degenhardt and Giardino, 2003). They were first described in
detail by Squyres (1978, 1979), who ascribed them to downslope
transport of erosional debris mixed with ice, analogous to terrestrial rock glaciers (e.g., Barsch, 1996). The global distribution of lobate debris aprons was found to be concentrated in
two latitudinal bands with a width of 25°, centered at 40°N and
45°S (Squyres, 1979; Squyres and Carr, 1986; Hauber et al.,
2008), implying a climatic influence on their formation. A concentration of small-scale viscous flow features in the same
latitudinal belts was later observed by Milliken et al. (2003),
who compared them with terrestrial rock glaciers. On Svalbard,
more than 500 active and inactive rock glaciers have been identified in aerial images (Kristiansen and Sollid, 1986). Many
of them are located at coastal areas in western and northern
Spitsbergen (see fig. 2 in Sollid and Sørbel, 1992), but some of
the best explored examples are also situated in Adventdalen.
Based on their geometrical or morphological expression (Wahrhaftig and Cox, 1959), rock glaciers have been subdivided into
different classes (e.g., Humlum, 1982; Martin and Whalley,
1987). It should be emphasized that there exists some ambiguity in the classification of rock glacier landforms. The interested reader is referred to Hamilton and Whalley (1995) for a
discussion of rock glacier nomenclature. Here, we focus on two
frequently mentioned classes of rock glaciers and related landforms that will be compared among Mars and Svalbard: tongueshaped rock glaciers and protalus lobes or ramparts.
An example of a tongue-shaped flow feature on Mars is
shown in Figures 9A and 9C. It is located on the inner, southfacing wall of an impact crater in Promethei Terra and has a size
of ~2600 m × 600 m. The shape in plan view resembles that of the
tongue-shaped rock glaciers in Adventdalen (Figs. 4E and 9B),
which occur on the south-facing slopes of the mountain massifs
north of the valley floor (Isaksen et al., 2000). Their movement
has been measured in several studies, and a rock glacier on the
Hiorthfjellet massif moves at a rate of ~10 cm yr–1 (Isaksen et al.,
2000; Ødegård et al., 2003), while another tongue-shaped rock
glacier on Birkafjellet has about half this velocity. A third rock
glacier of this type is perched on the southern slopes of Operafjellet between two bedrock spurs (Figs. 9B and 9C). Despite the
similarity of the planform, however, some differences are apparent between the lobate feature in the Martian crater (Figs. 9A and
9C) and the tongue-shaped rock glaciers in Adventdalen. First,
the former is ~10 times larger. Second, the interior of the Martian
feature seems to be bounded by high-standing sharp ridges, but
there are no such ridges at the Adventdalen rock glaciers. Third,
the Adventdalen rock glaciers have well-developed, relatively
steep flow fronts. Fourth, there is a pattern of contour-parallel
bands or stripes on the Martian flow, whereas there is little visible texture (at this scale of observation) on the surfaces of the
Adventdalen rock glaciers (see also Ødegård et al., 2003). Probably the most important differences are the low-lying interior,
the marginal high-standing ridges, and the lack of a conspicuous
flow front of the Martian feature. A possible explanation is that
the flow features on Mars were initially ice-rich (perhaps more
like glaciers or debris-covered glaciers) and have since experienced a volume loss by sublimation, leaving behind a “deflated”
interior and lateral moraines. This would agree with the notion of
Head et al. (2008) and Dickson and Head (2009), who theorized
that the current morphologies in midlatitude craters reflect a latestage phase in the most recent ice age on Mars.
The second class of viscous flow features that we compare
to possible Martian counterparts consists of protalus lobes and
protalus ramparts (for a review, see Shakesby, 1997). Protalus
lobes are different from tongue-shaped rock glaciers in their
geomorphic setting (along the side of a valley, in contrast to
tongue-shaped rock glaciers, which occur usually in cirquelike depressions) and in their aspect ratio (width > length).
Some researchers, e.g., Hamilton and Whalley (1995), suggest
that protalus lobes should be distinguished from rock glaciers,
but others do not make this distinction (for a discussion, see
Whalley and Azizi, 2003). Fine examples of protalus lobes occur
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Figure 9. Comparison between possible rock glaciers on Mars and tongue-shaped rock glacier on
Svalbard. (A) Tongue-shaped structure (white arrows) at inner wall of an unnamed crater on Mars (at
35.5°S, 111.9°E; image; Context Camera [CTX] image P03_002386_1444). The shape in plan view
suggests the viscous flow of material. (B) Tongue-shaped rock glacier (white arrows) on northern
margin of central Adventdalen (Spitsbergen). Part of High-Resolution Stereo Camera (HRSC-AX)
image mosaic. (C) Close-up of detail in A. The central part of the feature seems to be lowered with
respect to its margin, possible indicating a degraded (or “deflated”) rock glacier, having experienced
a loss of its ice content. (D) Close-up of detail in B. Note the morphological (planform) similarity
between C and D. (E) Hillshaded version of a HRSC-AX digital elevation model (DEM) of the rock
glacier shown in B. The steep distal scarp is clearly visible. Artifacts are caused by poor texture in
snow-covered areas (cf. the snow-covered areas in Fig. 9B). Inset shows slope map derived from
HRSC-AX DEM. The surface slope of the rock glacier becomes gradually more gentle from the proximal parts (>25°) toward the distal edge (<10°), and it steepens again along the flow front (35°–40°).
These values are in excellent agreement with independent measurements of tongue-shaped rock glaciers in Adventdalen (see Table 1 in Isaksen et al., 2000). North is up in all images.
at Fuglehuken, on the northernmost tip of Prins Karls Forland,
an island off the western coast of Spitsbergen (Berthling et al.,
1998). Other protalus lobes are observed at Nordenskjøldkysten
in western Spitsbergen (Kääb et al., 2002; Farbrot et al., 2005).
Protalus ramparts are similar to protalus lobes. A definition of a
protalus rampart that considers form and process has been given
by Ballantyne and Benn (1994, p. 146): “A protalus rampart is a
ridge or ramp of predominantly coarse detritus, usually located
at or near the foot of a talus slope, that has formed through
the accumulation of debris along the downslope margins of a
perennial firn field following supranival gravitational transport.”
The Martian surface displays landforms that are closely
analogous to protalus lobes (Figs. 10A, 10C, and 10E). They
occur at the foot of talus-producing slopes, commonly at inner or
outer crater walls. They exhibit all macroscopic morphological
characteristics of protalus forms, i.e., concave-upward topographic profiles, a width that is much larger than their length, and
steep distal scarps. The examples shown in Figures 10A and 10C
bear a remarkable similarity to the protalus forms on Prins Karls
Forland (cf. fig. 3 in Berthling et al., 1998), but protalus forms
at the study site on Brøggerhalvøya are also close morphological
analogs (Figs. 10B, 10D, and 10E). Depressions between the
protalus ramparts and the talus-producing scarp in the hinterland
(Fig. 10D, middle background) are thought to have hosted perennial snowfields or small glaciers (cf. fig. 4.9 in Barsch, 1988).
A similar interpretation of such proximal depressions as former
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Figure 10. Possible protalus forms on Mars (left) and Svalbard (right). (A) Protalus lobe-like structures at the base of a large scarp on the northern
wall of Hale Crater (Context Camera [CTX] image P15_006756_1454; near 34.6°S, 323.1°E) (Reiss et al., 2009). (B) Oblique aerial photograph
of protalus forms at Stuphallet on the Brøgger peninsula (western Spitsbergen; viewing direction toward west; image from Sollid and Sørbel,
1992; photograph by Johan Ludwig Sollid). Note the similarity between A and B, both of which display steep talus-producing cliffs in the hinterland, a concave-upward slope at the base of the cliff, and a steep distal scarp. (C) Possible protalus lobes on the eastern wall of Hale crater. The
steep distal scarp is partly dissected by fans, which are fed by gullies carved into the cliff in the hinterland. Similar morphologic assemblages
near Kapp Mitra (Svalbard) have been interpreted as protalus ramparts (or “talus-foot rock glaciers”) that have been fossilized and dissected by
debris-flow deposits (André, 1995) (CTX image P14_006545_1445; image center at 35.26°S, 324.7°E). (D) Field photograph of the same area as
shown in B, viewing direction toward northeast. The snow-covered lower slopes highlight the concave-upward topography of the deposits. Protalus lobes are in the foreground, and protalus ramparts are in the background. Kongsfjord is in the far background. (E) Possible protalus rampart
at the outer-wall slope of an unnamed crater on Mars (near 36°S, 112.3°E; CTX image mosaic of P04_002742_1439 and P05_003164_1446).
(F) Close-up image of protalus rampart shown in A and C. Note the sharp transition from the steep scarp toward the flat foreland (see person for
scale). North is up in all Mars images.
locations of ice in association with Martian lobate flow features
was put forward by Milkovich et al. (2006). An inactive phase in
the development of Martian rock glacier–like landforms is also
indicated by the dissection and superposition by gullies and debrisflow cones, respectively (Fig. 10C). Similar spatial relationships at Kapp Mitra in western Spitsbergen have been interpreted
to reflect a fossilization of protalus forms (or “talus-foot rock glaciers”; cf. fig. 7 in André, 1995).
These comparisons demonstrate that some landforms
on Mars, i.e., the protalus-like forms shown in Figs. 10A,
10C, and 10E, are indeed closely analogous to rock glaciers
on Earth. For other surface features, however, the case is
less obvious, and interpretations as glacier-derived moraines
or degraded debris-covered glaciers (Milkovich et al.,
2006) seem to be plausible alternatives (Figs. 9A and 9C).
Regardless of this, the degradation of the Martian features
(depressed interior [Fig. 9A]; superposition by debris-flow
cones [Fig. 10C]) as compared with active forms on Svalbard might indicate that the possible rock glaciers on Mars
are not currently active.
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Pingos
Pingos are perennial, ice-cored mounds that are only
known from permafrost environments (e.g., Mackay, 1987).
Two types of pingos can be distinguished with respect to
their hydrology, which both need a pressure gradient for their
formation. Closed- or hydrostatic-system–type pingos form by
pore-water expulsion, typically from a formerly unfrozen body
of water (i.e., a talik) that is exposed to freezing by the drainage
of an overlying and protective thaw lake (e.g., Mackay, 1998).
Spectacular examples of this type are observed in Arctic lowlands, e.g., on the Tuktoyaktuk Peninsula area in the Northwest
Territories (Canada) (Mackay, 1979). The second type is the
open- or hydraulic-system–type pingo, which is supplied by
pressurized (artesian) water from a hydraulic head. This type of
pingo is found in areas of considerable topographic relief, e.g., in
valleys of East Greenland (Müller, 1959; Worsley and Gurney,
1996; Mackay, 1998). The basal diameters of both types of
pingos commonly do not exceed a few hundred meters, and their
heights are a few meters to a few tens of meters (Gurney, 1998).
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Small mounds at many sites on Mars have been tentatively
interpreted as pingos (see Dundas and McEwen, 2010, and
references therein). Some of the earlier observations were based
on relatively low-resolution Viking Orbiter images (commonly
60–100 m/pixel). One problem with the identification of pingos
in remotely sensed data is that other landforms of completely
different origin may be morphologically very similar. Indeed,
higher-resolution images suggest that alternative interpretations
(e.g., pseudo-craters, volcanic cones, eroded craters, etc.) seem
to be more plausible explanations for several of the purported
Martian “pingos” (Burr et al., 2009a; Dundas and McEwen,
2010). It seems that some previous interpretations of small
mounds on Mars as pingos and the subsequent paleoenvironmental inferences were premature and did not take into
account the geologic and hydrologic context. An assessment of
different pingo-like features on Mars based on the very highresolution HiRISE images concluded that fractured mounds on
the floors of midlatitude craters (Figs. 11A and 11B) are morphologically most consistent with terrestrial pingos (Dundas
and McEwen, 2010).
Figure 11. Comparison of possible icecored mounds on Mars and pingos on
Svalbard. (A) Low mound with radial
fractures on top (Mars, southern hemisphere at 33.6°S, 124°E; detail of HighResolution Imaging Science Experiment
[HiRISE] image PSP_002135_1460;
see Dundas et al., 2008). (B) Fractured mound on floor of crater in
southern hemisphere (detail of HiRISE
image PSP_007533_1420; near 37.9°S,
347.2°E; see Dundas and McEwen,
2010). (C) Pingo in upper Eskerdalen,
central Spitsbergen. Note the pattern of
radial fractures on top of the eastern,
more elevated part of the pingo, which
closely resembles the fractures seen in A.
High-Resolution Stereo Camera (HRSCAX) image, acquired in July 2008.
(D) Synthetic perspective view of the
pingo shown in C, generated from HRSCAX stereo images. (E) Field photograph
of shallow pingo in DeGeerdalen, central
Spitsbergen (described by Liestøl, 1976).
Note the morphologic similarity to the
shallow fractured mound shown in A.
See group of sitting persons on summit
for scale (circle), the diameter of the pingo is ~150 m. North is up in panels A–D
and toward the left in panel E.
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Pingos are numerous in Svalbard and occur mainly on the
floors of the large valleys of Nordenskjøld Land in central Spitsbergen (Tolgensbakk et al., 2000). Most, if not all, of them are
thought to be of the open-system type (Liestøl, 1976; Yoshikawa,
1993; Ross et al., 2007), but the exact mechanism by which they
form is still poorly understood. One of these questions is: How can
hydraulic pingos, which are thought to require artesian pressure,
develop in river beds (Fig. 4C)? (For a discussion, see Gurney
[1998].) Several pingos are located in Adventdalen and Eskerdalen and are covered by HRSC-AX data. They are described
in detail by Yoshikawa and Harada (1995). A large and welldeveloped example is located in upper Eskerdalen (central Spitsbergen) (Figs. 11C and 11D). It has an area of ~440 m × 144 m,
with the long axis oriented parallel to the valley. The height is
variable, with the easternmost (and probably youngest) part
reaching a height of ~35 m above the valley floor. The dimensions of this pingo are remarkably large (for comparison, the
Ibyuk pingo on the Tuktoyaktuk Peninsula has a basal diameter
of ~300 m and a height of 49 m, and it was considered to be “[…]
one of the largest pingos in the world” by Mackay [1986, p. 68]).
The flank slopes can be quite steep, in particular, at the flanks
paralleling the valley, and they exceed 45° on the southern flank
of the highest, eastern part of the pingo. Erosion by the river is
probably responsible for this steepness, which is unusual for pingos (Gurney, 1998). The top of the easternmost mound displays
a radial pattern of up to 5-m-deep fractures, similar to those seen
at some Martian fractured mounds (cf. Figs. 11A and 11B). Interestingly, the morphological expression of the pingos on Svalbard
is quite diverse, and Liestøl (1976) noted that the “classical”
regular cone shape seems to be the exception rather than the rule.
Instead, a spatial shift in activity might have caused a change
of the active part of a pingo, resulting in a cluster of cones and
older, more degraded craters (Liestøl, 1976). If such clustering
of pingos and irregularity in shape (e.g., Fig. 4D) are also true
for Martian pingos, the implication is that an identification based
on morphology alone is even more complicated than suggested
previously. It would seem that independent evidence (e.g., other
periglacial landforms in close association) is required before firm
conclusions on paleoclimatic implications may be drawn.
Thermokarst
The term thermokarst is used for “the process by which
characteristic landforms result from the thawing of ice-rich
permafrost or the melting of massive ice” (van Everdingen,
2005). Thermokarst is a characteristic process in the northern
lowlands of Alaska, Canada, and Siberia (e.g., Grosse et al.,
2007). The probably best-known examples of landforms resulting from thermokarst are thaw lakes (e.g., Hinkel et al., 2003).
Other thermokarst features are retrogressive thaw slumps and
active-layer detachments (Lewkowicz, 2007; Lantuit and
Pollard, 2008; Lacelle et al., 2010).
Thermokarst possibly affected the surface at different areas
on Mars (e.g., Costard and Kargel, 1995; Soare et al., 2008; see
also Morgenstern et al., 2007, and references therein). A landscape
exhibiting evidence of thaw slumping was recently discovered
by Balme et al. (2009). Perhaps the best example for morphologies indicative of thermokarst, including evidence for melting,
is reported by Warner et al. (2010), who showed depressions in
the Ares Vallis area that are strongly reminiscent of thermokarst
depressions on Earth. Some of these depressions are connected by
small channels, which is very similar to thaw lakes in Alaska that
are drained by outlet channels (e.g., fig. 2 in Brewer et al., 1993;
see also Jones et al., 2009). Svalbard is (so far) not heavily affected
by thermokarst processes. Some small lakes (e.g., associated with
the pingo cluster shown in Fig. 4D) might have been formed by the
degradation of a former ice core and could be interpreted as thaw
lakes. Active-layer detachments have been described by Larsson
(1982), and HRSC-AX images reveal several small slumps on a
fluvial terrace south of the mouth of Hannaskogdalen (Fig. 4F).
They are isolated features, however, and local factors (e.g., fluvial
erosion of the river terrace; Lacelle et al., 2010) were probably
responsible for their formation. It is not obvious that their investigation as terrestrial analogs would reveal any significant properties
of the Martian environment.
DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS
The surface of Mars exhibits a variety of landforms that
resemble terrestrial periglacial structures (Table 2). The
unambiguous interpretation of Martian surface features as
periglacial or permafrost landforms is not without problems,
however, since a particular morphologic form can be the result of
different processes. The fact that different initial states can evolve
to indistinguishable final states (convergence or equifinality:
e.g., King, 1953; Chorley, 1962; Pitty, 1982; Haines-Young and
Petch, 1983; Beven, 1996; Harrison, 2009) is especially important for planetary geomorphologists, who lack the possibility
to acquire ground truth data by field work. For example, rows
of pitted cones on Mars, e.g., in Isidis Planitia (“thumbprint
terrain”), have alternatively been interpreted as pseudo-craters,
cinder cones, pingos, and moraines (see Hiesinger et al., 2009,
and references therein). The morphology of landforms can be
ambiguous (for a discussion of the problems in distinguishing
pingos from morphologically similar landforms, e.g., see Burr
et al., 2009b), and inferences on climatic conditions from morphologic interpretations seem to be tenuous. This is even more
true because it is not clear whether periglacial landforms really
develop in periglacial climates (see André [2003], who emphasized the importance of chemical reactions and microbiological activity in landscape evolution). In fact, it is suggested that
many periglacial landscapes bear a heritage of either glacial or
non–cold-climate environments (French, 2007). It seems mandatory, therefore, that any study using morphological features to
infer climatic conditions should investigate not a single class of
landforms, but a suite of landforms (a landscape) in their geological context. Such approaches have recently been realized in
a number of studies (e.g., Soare et al., 2005; Balme et al., 2009;
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Levy et al., 2009b; Mellon et al., 2009). Interestingly,
even the additional information available from landed missions
does not always lead to consensus. While Mellon et al. (2009)
suggested that cryoturbation has affected the soils at the Phoenix landing site, Levy et al. (2009b) held that the environment
is more stable, and churning of the subsurface did not occur.
The investigation of Martian polar environments has
benefited from the in situ data acquired by the Phoenix mission, since these data revealed information that was not accessible from orbit. For instance, “puzzle” rocks (for a terrestrial
example, see fig. 10 in Marchant and Head, 2007) cannot
be identified even in the very high-resolution images of the
HiRISE instrument (~30 cm/pixel) and are only visible in
images taken by the lander camera (Levy et al., 2009b). In a
similar manner, the use of terrestrial analogs in planetary science benefits from both the use of remote-sensing data and
field work. The former provide an integrated view of the largescale relationships (Sharp, 1988; for the use of remote-sensing
data in Arctic periglacial research, see Grosse et al., 2005, and
references therein). They are ideal for creating base maps for
permafrost mapping (Heginbottom, 2002), and the additional
availability of a DEM enables morphometric measurements
over large areas (e.g., slope maps [Fig. 9E]), which are hard
to obtain by field work. Field work is the ideal complement
for analyses based on remote-sensing data. It provides ground
truth, increases the spatial resolution of the observations (e.g.,
particle sizes), and allows us the subsurface to be sampled.
The combination of remote-sensing data, which provide both
(multispectral) imagery and topographic information (e.g.,
HRSC-AX), with field work seems to be a promising trend in
the study of terrestrial analogs to increase our knowledge of
Martian landforms.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
This study would not have been possible without the logistical
support of the German-French research station AWIPEV and the
kind hospitality of their staff, in particular, Marcus Schumacher
and Damien Isambert. The generous help from University Centre
in Svalbard and the Norwegian Polar Institute with transport and
safety equipment for the field campaigns is highly appreciated. We
thank the High-Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE)
and Context Camera (CTX) teams for making their data publicly
available. Detailed and insightful reviews by Caleb Fassett and
Nick Warner helped to improve the manuscript and are warmly
acknowledged. We also thank Brent Garry and Jacob Bleacher for
their editorial support. This research has been partly supported by
the Helmholtz Association through the research alliance “Planetary Evolution and Life.”
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