The Mars Orbiter Laser Altimeter (MOLA), an instrument on the Mars Global Surveyor spacecraft, has measured the topography, surface roughness, and 1.064-μm reflectivity of Mars and the heights of volatile and dust clouds. This paper discusses the function of the MOLA instrument and the acquisition, processing, and correction of observations to produce global data sets. The altimeter measurements have been converted to both gridded and spherical harmonic models for the topography and shape of Mars that have vertical and radial accuracies of ~1 m with respect to the planet's center of mass. The current global topographic grid has a resolution of 1/64° in latitude × 1/32° in longitude (1 × 2 km^2 at the equator). Reconstruction of the locations of incident laser pulses on the Martian surface appears to be at the 100-m spatial accuracy level and results in 2 orders of magnitude improvement in the global geodetic grid of Mars. Global maps of optical pulse width indicative of 100-m-scale surface roughness and 1.064-μm reflectivity with an accuracy of 5% have also been obtained.

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Mars Orbiter Laser Altimeter: Experiment summary after the first year of global mapping of Mars

An accurate representation of the spatial distribution of stable hydrogen and oxygen isotopes in modern precipitation is required for many hydrological, paleoclimate, and ecological applications. No standardized method for achieving such a representation exists, and potential errors associated with previously employed methods are not understood. Using resampling, we test the accuracy of interpolated bD and δ 1 8 O estimates made using four methods. Prediction error for all methods is strongly related to number of data and will likely decline with the addition of new data. The best method lowers estimation error by 10-15% relative to others tested and gives an average error, using all available data, 2.5% of the global range. We present and interpret global maps of interpolated δD, δ 1 8 O, and deuterium excess in precipitation and the 95% confidence intervals for these values created using the optimal method. These depict global and regional patterns, make evident the robustness of interpolated isotopic patterns, and highlight target areas for future precipitation sampling.

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Interpolating the isotopic composition of modern meteoric precipitation

Elevations measured by the Mars Orbiter Laser Altimeter have yielded a high-accuracy global map of the topography of Mars. Dominant features include the low northern hemisphere, the Tharsis province, and the Hellas impact basin. The northern hemisphere depression is primarily a long-wavelength effect that has been shaped by an internal mechanism. The topography of Tharsis consists of two broad rises. Material excavated from Hellas contributes to the high elevation of the southern hemisphere and to the scarp along the hemispheric boundary. The present topography has three major drainage centers, with the northern lowlands being the largest. The two polar cap volumes yield an upper limit of the present surface water inventory of 3.2 to 4.7 million cubic kilometers.

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The Global Topography of Mars and Implications for Surface Evolution

Isotopic analyses of 75 samples from the Samail ophiolite indicate that pervasive subsolidus hydrothermal exchange with seawater occurred throughout the upper 75% of this 8-km-thick oceanic crustal section; locally, the H_2O even penetrated down into the tectonized peridotite. Pillow lavas (δ^(18)O = 10.7 to 12.7) and sheeted dikes (4.9 to 11.3) are typically enriched in ^(18)O, and the gabbros (3.7 to 5.9) are depleted in ^(18)O. In the latter rocks, water/rock ≤ 0.3, and δ^(18)O_(cpx) ≈ 2.9 + 0.44 δ^(18)O_(feld), indicating pronounced isotopic disequilibrium. The mineral δ^(18)O values approximately follow an exchange (mixing) trajectory which requires that plagioclase must exchange with H_2O about 3 to 5 times faster than clinopyroxene. The minimum δ^(18)O_(feld) value (3.6) occurs about 2.5 km below the diabase-gabbro contact. Although the gabbro plagioclase appears to be generally petrographically unaltered, its oxygen has been thoroughly exchanged; the absence of hydrous alteration minerals, except for minor talc and/or amphibole, suggests that this exchange occurred at T > 400°–500°C. Plagioclase δ^(18)O values increase up section from their minimum values, becoming coincident with primary magmatic values near the gabbro-sheeted diabase contact and reaching 11.8 in the diabase dikes. These ^(18)O enrichments in greenschist facies diabases are in part due to exchange with strongly ^(18)O-shifted fluids, in addition to retrograde exchange at much lower temperatures. The δ^(18)O data and the geometry of the mid-ocean ridge (MOR) magma chamber require that two decoupled hydrothermal systems must be present during much of the early spreading history of the oceanic crust (approximately the first 10^6 years); one system is centered over the ridge axis and probably involves several convective cells that circulate downward to the roof of the magma chamber, while the other system operates underneath the wings of the chamber, in the layered gabbros. Upward discharge of ^(18)O-shifted water into the altered dikes from the lower system, just beyond the distal edge of the magma chamber, combined with the effects of continued low-T hydrothermal activity, produces the ^(18)O enrichments in the dike complex. Integrating δ^(18)O as a function of depth for the entire ophiolite establishes (within geologic and analytical error) that the average δ^(18)O (5.7 ± 0.2) of the oceanic crust did not change as a result of all these hydrothermal interactions with seawater. Therefore the net change in δ^(18)O of seawater was also zero, indicating that seawater is buffered by MOR hydrothermal circulation. Under steady state conditions the overall bulk ^(18)O fractionation (Δ) between the oceans and primary mid-ocean ridge basalt magmas is calculated to be +6.1 ± 0.3, implying that seawater has had a constant δ^(18)O≈−0.4 (in the absence of transient effects such as continental glaciation). Utilizing these new data on the depth of interaction of seawater with the oceanic crust, numerical modeling of the hydrothermal exchange shows that as long as worldwide spreading rates are greater than 1 km^2/yr, ^(18)O buffering of seawater will occur. These conclusions can be extended as far back in time as the Archean (> 2.6 eons) with the proviso that Δ may have been slightly smaller (about 5?) because of the overall higher temperatures that could have prevailed then. Thus ocean water has probably had a constant δ^(18)O value of about −1.0 to +1.0 during almost all of earth's history.

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An oxygen isotope profile in a section of Cretaceous oceanic crust, Samail Ophiolite, Oman: Evidence for δ18O buffering of the oceans by deep (>5 km) seawater-hydrothermal circulation at mid-ocean ridges

Although the origin and composition of many units are obscure or controversial, their interpretations are based on objective descriptions of morphologic characteristics visible on Viking photomosaics and images. LOWLAND TERRAIN MATERIALS Consist of all plains-forming units between the highland-lowland boundary scarp and the north edge of the map area, exclusive of materials of the western volcanic assemblage on the Tharsis swell. Northern plains assemblage Materials deposited in widespread sheets on northern plains. Within each formation, members mapped at places on basis of crater density; these contacts are approximately located. Assemblage postdates highland-lowland boundary scarp (Scott, 1979). ARCADIA FORMATION—Forms low-lying plains in Arcadia, Amazonis, and Acidalia Planitiae. Embays highland margins and partly buries outflow channels of Kasei, Shalbatana, Simud, Tiu, and Ares Valles. Members distinguished on basis of morphology, albedo, and crater density; common boundaries of older members mapped arbitrarily at places. Flows with lobate margins and small hills with summit craters visible in many places. High-resolution pictures show that sources of some flows are small cratered cones. Interpretation: Mostly lava flows and small volcanoes Aa5 Member 5—Relatively small areal extent. Dark, fresh-appearing flows; few superposed impact craters. Type area: lat 47° N., long 30° Aa4 Member 4—In Arcadia Planitia underlies member 5 and has similar appearance; one other occurrence in channel system of Chryse Planitia. Type area: lat 45° N., long 175° Aa3 Member 3—Forms smooth plains west of Olympus Mons aureoles; embays both the aureoles and fractured terra of Acheron Fossae. Flow fronts visible in places. Type area: lat 15° N., long 155° Aa2 Member 2—Underlies members 3, 4, and 5 in Arcadia Planitia. Includes many small (<10-km-diameter) structures resembling volcanoes and cinder cones. Curved concentric ridges visible on surfaces of flows. Type area: lat 45° N., long 155° Aa1 Member l—Widespread in Chryse and Amazonis Planitiae. Mare-type (wrinkle) ridges common. Type area: lat 30° N., long 40° MEDUSAE FOSSAE FORMATION—Consists of extensive, relatively flat sheets, generally smooth to grooved and gently undulating; deposits appear to vary from soft to indurated; albedo moderate. Occurs near equator in western part of map area. Total thickness may exceed 3 km Amu Upper member—Discontinuous but widespread deposits extend from south of Olympus Mons westward across Amazonis Sulci to map boundary. Smooth, flat to rolling, light-colored surfaces; sculptured into ridges and grooves in places (as in Medusae Fossae); broadly curved margins, locally serrated. Type area: lat 0° N., long 160°. Interpretation: Nonwelded ash-flow …

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Geologic map of the western equatorial region of mars

Five lizardite-chrysotile type serpentinites from California, Guatemala and the Dominican Republic show oxygen isotope fractionations of 15.1 to 12.9 per mil between coexisting serpentine and magnetite (δO18 magnetite=−7.6 to −4.6 per mil relative to SMOW). Nine antigorites (mainly from Vermont and S. E. Pennsylvania) show distinctly smaller fractionations of 8.7 to 4.8 per mil (δO18 magnetite=−2.6 to +1.7 per mil). Two lizardite and chrysotile serpentinites dredged from the Mid-Atlantic Ridge exhibit fractionations of 10.0 and 12.4 per mil (δO18 magnetite=−6.8 and −7.9 per mil, respectively), whereas an oceanic antigorite shows a value of 8.2 per mil (δO18 magnetite=−6.2). These data all clearly indicate that the antigorites formed at higher temperatures than the chrysotilelizardites. Electron microprobe analyses of magnetites from the above samples show that they are chemically homogeneous and essentially pure Fe3O2. However, some magnetites from certain other samples that show a wide variation of Cr content also give very erratic oxygen isotopic results, suggesting non-equilibrium. An approximate serpentine-magnetite geothermometer curve was constructed by (1) extrapolation of observed O18 fractionations between coexisting chlorites and Fe-Ti oxides in low-grade pelitic schists whose isotopic temperatures are known from the quartz-muscovite O18 geothermometer, and (2) estimates of the O18 fractionation factor between chlorite and serpentine (assumed to be equal to unity). This serpentine-magnetite geothermometer suggests approximate equilibrium temperatures as follows: continental lizardite-chrysotile, 85° to 115° C; oceanic lizardite and chrysotile, 130° C and 185° C, respectively; oceanic antigorite, 235° C; and continental antigorites, 220° to 460° C.

Temperatures of serpentinization of ultramafic rocks based on O 18 /O 16 fractionation between coexisting serpentine and magnetite

Oxygen and hydrogen isotope studies of the serpentinization of ultramafic rocks in oceanic environments and continental ophiolite complexes

Using H- and O-isotopic data for estimating the relative contributions of rainy and dry season precipitation to groundwater : example from Cheju Island, Korea

David B. Wenner

Papers

Temperatures of serpentinization of ultramafic rocks based on O 18 /O 16 fractionation between coexisting serpentine and magnetite

Oxygen and hydrogen isotope studies of the serpentinization of ultramafic rocks in oceanic environments and continental ophiolite complexes

Using H- and O-isotopic data for estimating the relative contributions of rainy and dry season precipitation to groundwater : example from Cheju Island, Korea

D/H and O18/O16 studies of serpentinization of ultramaflc rocks

Possible fossil H2O liquid-ice interfaces in the Martian crust