We invite contributions to a session focused on the environment of early Mars, at the 2016 AGU Fall Meeting in San Francisco, CA, December 12-16.

Geological, geochemical and mineralogical evidence indicative of flowing and ponding liquid water on the surface of ancient Mars appears abundantly across most of the Martian landscape. However, the presence of liquid water on the surface of early Mars is difficult to reconcile with the reduced solar luminosity at 3.8 Ga. and before, unless greenhouse warming is considered. But the scarcity of carbonate rocks on the martian surface and the absence of evidence for vigorous recycling of volatiles cause many researchers to regard warming mechanisms as speculative. This leaves still open the question of how the observed fluvial features could have formed. We invite contributions from climate modeling, geomorphology, geochemistry and mineralogy that address the question of whether early Mars climate was “warm and wet”, “cold and wet” or “cold and icy”. This session will focus on both sharing new results from different perspectives and fostering communication among the community.

The submission deadline is August 5, 2016. Submit an abstract to this session.

For more information, visit:

https://agu.confex.com/agu/fm16/preliminaryview.cgi/Session13359

Conveners:
Alberto G. Fairén, Stephen M. Clifford and James F. Kasting.