Interior layered deposits within a perched basin, southern Coprates Chasma, Mars: Evidence for their formation, alteration, and erosion

International audienceA basin-like area containing three interior layer deposits (ILDs) on the southern margin of Coprates Chasma was studied. We interpret the area as an ancestral basin and demonstrate that ILD deposition postdates the formation of the current wall rock slopes. The geometry of the ILD and the wall rock spurs form a catchment area between each ILD and the plateau to the south. Erosional remnants of extensive ash or dust layers deposited on the plateau south of Valles Marineris also crop out on the southern plateau of Coprates Chasma. A mass balance calculation suggests that the volume of each ILD is compatible with the volume of the ash or dust that would have been deposited within each catchment area. We propose that the ILDs likely formed by episodically washing such aerially deposited material down from chasma walls. Rifting of the Ius-Melas-Coprates graben opened the enclosed basin and removed any standing water. Faults within the ILDs are compatible with this chasm opening. Sulfates are associated with the ILDs and light-toned material on the basin floor. We suggest that they result from water alteration of preexisting deposits, though the timing of that alteration may predate or postdate the breaching of the basin. Scours within one ILD are similar to terrestrial glacial scours. During a period of high obliquity ice would accumulate in this region; hence we argue the scours are Martian glacial scours. A late deposited layer marks the end of the active local geological history between 100 My and 1 Gy