Brunetti MT, Cardinali M, Fiorucci F, Guzzetti F, Santangelo M, Mancinelli P, Komatsu G, Goto K, Saito H, 2011, Mapping, classification and statistics of mass movements in Valles Marineris, Mars, America Geophysical Union 2011 Fall Meeting, San Francisco, California, 5-9 Dec,
URL: http://www.cnr.it/prodotto/i/192283

An unprecedented spatial detail of the Mars surface is accessible using high and ultra-high-resolution images and data by the High-Resolution Stereo Camera (HRSC) on-board the ESA Mars Express satellite, by the Mars Orbiter Laser Altimeter (MOLA), on-board the NASA Mars Global Surveyor, and by the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera on-board the NASA Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. The images have spatial resolutions adequate to detect and map mass movements, allowing for the compilation of a nearly complete geomorphological landslide inventory, above a minimum size threshold. In the study area located in Valles Marineris, we visually identified and mapped 179 landslides (including escarpments, source areas, and deposits) using interpretation criteria adopted by geomorphologists to map terrestrial landslides. This is a significantly larger number of slope failures than previously reported. Areas of the individual failures span in the range 1.3×10^5 m^2 < A < 2.6×10^9 m^2. Adopting a classification commonly used to catalogue terrestrial mass movements, slope failures recognized and mapped in the study area were classified in three main types_ (i) deep-seated slides, including rock slides, complex and compound failures, (ii) flows, including shallow debris flows and debris avalanches, and deep-seated rock avalanches, and (iii) rock glaciers. For mass movements of the slide type, multiple generations of failures were recognized. For a subset of 76 mass movements of the slide type, including deep-seated slides, rock slides, complex and compound failures we have determined the planimetric area in a GIS. For 46 slides we have estimated the volume of the deposit. Using this information, we obtained the probability density of the landslide areas, p(A), and of the landslide volumes, p(V), and compared it with the corresponding probability density of terrestrial landslides. We found that_ (a) mass movements of the slide type on Mars are significantly larger than similar mass movements on Earth, (b) the proportion of very large landslides (A > 10^7 m^2), compared to the small and medium size failures, is significantly larger on Mars than on Earth, while (c) the distribution of landslide volumes is similar to that found on Earth.

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