HR: 0830h
AN: C21C-0829    [PDF]
TI: Pingos in Solar System
AU: * Yoshikawa, K
EM: ffky@uaf.edu
AF: Water and Environmental Reserach Center, University of Alaska Fairbanks, PO Box 755860, Fairbanks, AK 99775 United States
AB: Periglacial geomorphology is one of the best ways to map permafrost distribution and to understand the sub-surface hydrologic conditions there. Polygons and thermokarst landscapes are indicative of permafrost terrain, but they may persist as relict features in ground that is now permafrost-free. However, pingos only exist in ground that is currently permafrost, since they are ice-cored, and thus are the most important indicators of active permafrost environments. Pingos are widely distributed in the terrestrial northern hemisphere of Earth. Because most of the outer solar system is in a cryophilic condition, I examined potential pingo growth environments on Mars, Io, and Titan as terrestrial analogues. At least two types of pingos are potentially in existence on other planetary bodies in our solar system: hydraulic and hydrostatic systems. Hydrostatic system pingos are most likely to be developed during climatic change, such as a cooling period in the Martian surface. Hydraulic system pingos are most likely in Martin brinish groundwater systems or Titan_fs methane or ammonia groundwater systems. I have examined these environments for pingos and will present characteristics of terrestrial pingos and a model of how pingos may develop in the rest of our solar system.
DE: 1829 Groundwater hydrology
DE: 6225 Mars
DE: 6280 Saturnian satellites
SC: Cryosphere [C]
MN: 2003 Fall Meeting