Japan Geoscience Union Meeting 2025

Presentation information

[J] Poster

M (Multidisciplinary and Interdisciplinary) » M-IS Intersection

[M-IS18] Planetary Volcanology

Sun. May 25, 2025 5:15 PM - 7:15 PM Poster Hall (Exhibition Hall 7&8, Makuhari Messe)

convener:Rina Noguchi(Faculty of Science, Niigata University), Tomokatsu Morota(Department of Earth and Planetary Science, The University of Tokyo), Nobuo Geshi(Earth and Planetary Science, Faculty of Science, Kyushu University)

5:15 PM - 7:15 PM

[MIS18-P03] Can three rift arms be formed in Central Elysium Planitia, Mars?

*Rina Noguchi1, Motohiko Kouno1 (1.Faculty of Science, Niigata University)

Keywords:Mars, rift zone, Central Elysium Planitia, rift arm

Nakamura (1969) proposed that the arrangement of lateral volcanoes on central source volcanoes indicates regional stress fields. This concept successfully explains the arrangement of lateral volcanoes and dike propagations in other volcanic fields and is currently broadly accepted. Now, areas concentrated by such volcano-dike swarms are called rift zones.

The development of rift zones is controlled by magma density and viscosity, the pressure in the magma, the tectono-magmatic history, and stress magnitudes and orientations in the lithosphere (Burchardt et al., 2018). The balance of these parameters contributes to determining the shape and number of rift zones. Typically, an individual volcano has two or three rift arms.

Central Elysium Planitia, Mars, is a vast lava plain formed by lava effused from Cerberus Fossae. Recent seismic observations and gravitational and topographic analyses suggest the possible existence of an active mantle plume beneath this area (Broquet and Andrews-Hanna, 2023). Small volcanic features, known as low shields, are located along Cerberus Fossae and in the southern Central Elysium Planitia. Their spatial distribution evokes the existence of three rift zones. In this presentation, we discuss the possibility of forming a three-arm rift zone in Central Elysium Planitia with a spatial distribution of low shields and previous terrestrial studies.

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Broquet and Andrews-Hanna, 2023, Nat Astron 7, 160–169.; Burchardt et al., 2018, Volcanic and igneous plumbing systems. Elsevier, 89-112.; Nakamura, 1969, KAZAN, 2, 14(1), 8-20.