Dr Peter Grindrod has research on history of layered Martian deposits published by Geology
Dr Grindrod's investigations reveal secrets of Martian layered deposits and the implications for evidence of past water on the planet.
Dr Peter Grindrod has had his recent study into Martian layered deposits accepted for publication by Geology; it's also available online through open access.
Layered deposits on Mars are important in studies of habitability because they not only preserve long sequences of Mars’ history, but also exhibit evidence for past water. Therefore they are high priority exploration targets, for current and future missions, including the Mars Science Laboratory Curiosity rover, which is currently located near the base of an interior layered deposit in Gale Crater. Despite their importance, no consensus exists regarding how these layered deposits form, evolve, and whether they represent a complete record.
Dr Grindrod’s paper identifies a unique location in Valles Marineris on Mars where layered deposits have obstructed landslides and then retreated by up to 2 km. The age of the landslides provides a time-stamp of formation that reveals a geologically-rapid erosion rate for these layered deposits, suggesting that they have been in a state of net loss for the last 200-400 million years. This high erosion rate could be by wind abrasion, if the deposits contain friable materials, or where sublimation of ice within the mound enhances modification. In either case, these examples in Valles Marineris, indicate the current form of layered deposits of similar morphology on Mars, such as Aeolis Mons in Gale Crate, under-represents their total depositional volume and likely the global sedimentary record.
Dr Peter Grindrod is a lecturer in planetary science in the Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences and supervises several of our current PhD students. He’s currently writing a new lecture course on ‘Remote Sensing and Planetary Surfaces’ for Birkbeck.