Recent research places us on the cusp to advance planetary-scale martian evolution. These include mugearite, identified in situ, indicating a compositional parallel to otherwise unlikely arc and rift processes; geomorphology suggesting Yellowstone-scale volcanic edifices; meteorites, such as NWA9034, showing the first compelling overlap with crustal composition; evidence for isolated pockets of a wet ancient mantle active until recently; localized spectral
signatures of unusually felsic compositions; and igneous evolution models such as thermal pipes. Accordingly, this session will address emerging questions. For example, did thermal pipe analogs contribute an endogenic source for the planetary dichotomy? Could pyroclastics and exhalations, of supervolcanoes tapping a mantle, hydrated comparably with modern Earth’s, yield compositional signatures in the modern crust? What constraints on magma ocean overturn and lithospheric de-lamination models might arise by seeking evidence for a residual primary crust? We welcome contributions from both planetary and terrestrial geologists to address such interdisciplinary questions.
Session Co-sponsors include:
DI – Study of the Earth’s Deep Interior
EP – Earth and Planetary Surface Processes
T – Tectonophysics
V – Volcanology, Geochemistry and Petrology
Co-chairs: Suniti Karunatillake, James Wray, and J.R. Skok