Quantifying precipitation, aridity, and runoff-producing timescales using paleolakes on early Mars

Abstract:

Fluvio-lacustrine features on the martian surface attest to a climate that was radically different in the past. Indeed, studies of valley networks and paleolakes suggest that long-lived precipitation may have persisted up to 3.7 Ga. However, because climate models have difficulty sustaining a liquid hydrosphere at the surface over long timescales (>10⁵ yr), it has been hypothesized that multiple cycles of runoff episodes may have characterized the ancient martian climate. Despite the decades-long accumulation of in-situ and remote sensing data on surface water modification features, fundamental questions on the nature of Mars’ paleoclimate and its hydrological cycle remain: (1) How much rainfall and/or snowmelt occurred during a given interval of favorable climate?; and (2) How long did these runoff-producing episodes last? Here we combine measurements of 96 open- and closed-basin lakes with simple hydrological balances to constrain catchment-averaged precipitation over a given runoff episode. This episode must have been sufficiently continuous and supplied enough water to fill and breach open-basin lakes, but not closed-basin lakes. We include 13 systems containing both open- and closed-basin lakes—coupled systems—which provide fully bounded precipitation estimates. We show that, on average, local precipitation was ≳4 m and ≲159 m, and the climate was semi-arid (or more humid) in certain regions. We integrate these results with both geological and climate model data to quantitatively constrain runoff episode duration and its spatial distribution across the martian highlands. Importantly, our spatio-temporal hydro-climate constraints will allow us to test a variety of paleoclimate model scenarios, working towards bridging the gap between geological observations and climate theory for early Mars.