No cryosphere-confined aquifer below InSight on Mars

This is a Preprint and has not been peer reviewed. The published version of this Preprint is available: https://doi.org/10.1029/2021GL093127. This is version 1 of this Preprint.

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Authors

Michael Manga, Vashan Wright 

Abstract

The seismometer deployed by the InSight lander measured the seismic velocity of the Martian crust. We use a rock physics model to interpret those velocities and constrain hydrogeological properties. The seismic velocity of the upper ~10 km is too low to be ice-saturated. Hence there is no cryosphere that confines deeper aquifers. An increase in seismic velocity at depths of ~10 km could be explained by a few volume percent of mineral cement (1-5%) in the pores and may document the past or present depth of aquifers.

DOI

https://doi.org/10.31223/X5SG71

Subjects

Planetary Geophysics and Seismology, Planetary Hydrology, Planetary Sciences

Keywords

Dates

Published: 2021-02-24 07:40

Last Updated: 2021-02-24 15:40

License

CC BY Attribution 4.0 International

Additional Metadata

Conflict of interest statement:
None

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