Abstract
A sand transport model using White's 1979 sand flux equation and
the Mars general circulation model Pollack et al., 1990 was developed
to understand the erosional sources, transport pathways, and depositional
sinks of windblown sand on Mars. An initially uniform distribution
of sand (4 mm over the entire surface) is regionally transported
based on wind stress, saltation threshold, and percentage of topographic
trapping. Results are consistent with the observed polar and Hellespontus
dunes and Christensen's 1986 modeled block size distribution, but
only for an extremely low saltation threshold (0.024 N/m(2)). Low
thresholds generally result in transport of sand-sized particles
originating in the northern mid latitudes to the north pole, and
transport from the northern lower latitudes to the southern hemisphere,
Our results indicate that the polar dune fields could form in 50,000
years, consistent with the active polar dunes and lack of longitudinal
dunes observed on the surface of Mars.
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