High heat flux on ancient Mars: Evidence from rift flank uplift at Coracis Fossae

摘要: [1] We have identified flexural uplift at the flanks of Coracis Fossae Rift valley. Modeling topography elastic thickness is constrained to 10.3–12.5 km, corresponding mechanical and thermal gradient are 15–19 km 27–33 K km−1, respectively. The time rifting dated by evaluating crater size-frequency distribution key surface units related rifting. Thus, heat flux between 3.5 3.9 Ga calculated be 54–66 mW m−2. Furthermore, stresses supported rift bounding faults estimated below 5 MPa. We speculate that this weakness may connected presence water surface.