Reconstruction of the sand transport pathways and provenance in Moreux crater, Mars

Our research focuses on the detailed study of the aeolian deposits within Moreux crater using multi-resolution imaging and spectral data from the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. The morphometric analysis on the dune slip faces and wind streak orientations allowed us to reconstruct the sand transport pathways and the changes of the transport pattern. We used a new automatic procedure based on the Line Detection algorithm in PCI Geomatics’ Geomatica software to characterize small scale aeolian structures as ripples within Moreux crater from HiRISE images. After validation on a previously studied area in Herschel crater, we apply this method to reconstruct the wind regime at high spatial resolution in Moreux and reconstruct the wind circulation forming the aeolian bedforms. Moreover, we used three pairs of CTX images to perform a multi-temporal analysis of the wind streaks. We mapped more than 500 features with data acquisition spanning over four Earth years and the observed wind streak changes may reflect present day atmospheric variations due to local winds. CRISM datasets show an olivine and clinopyroxene mixture characterizing most of the dunes within Moreux crater, while the dark dunes in the northern sector of the crater showed an enrichment in Mg-olivine. This composition is similar to that detected in the central peak bedrock suggesting that central peak erosion contributes to the formation of the northly dunes meanwhile recent northeast wind flows and Moreux topography influence the wind circulation and determine the formation of the sand transport pathways within the crater. These results are consistent with the hypothesis that aeolian sands are generally sourced locally on Mars.