title: Large wind ripples on Mars: A record of atmospheric evolution.
abstract: Wind blowing over sand on Earth produces decimeter-wavelength ripples and hundred-meter- to kilometer-wavelength dunes: bedforms of two distinct size modes. Observations from the Mars Science Laboratory Curiosity rover and the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter reveal that Mars hosts a third stable wind-driven bedform, with meter-scale wavelengths. These bedforms are spatially uniform in size and typically have asymmetric profiles with angle-of-repose lee slopes and sinuous crest lines, making them unlike terrestrial wind ripples. Rather, these structures resemble fluid-drag ripples, which on Earth include water-worked current ripples, but on Mars instead form by wind because of the higher kinematic viscosity of the low-density atmosphere. A reevaluation of the wind-deposited strata in the Burns formation (about 3.7 billion years old or younger) identifies potential wind-drag ripple stratification formed under a thin atmosphere.
authors.affiliation: Division of Geological and Planetary Science, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91125, USA. mlapotre@caltech.edu.
authors.forename: M G A
authors.initials: MG
authors.lastname: Lapotre
authors.affiliation: Department of Geology and Geophysics, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX 77843, USA.
authors.forename: R C
authors.initials: RC
authors.lastname: Ewing
authors.affiliation: Division of Geological and Planetary Science, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91125, USA.
authors.forename: M P
authors.initials: MP
authors.lastname: Lamb
authors.affiliation: Division of Geological and Planetary Science, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91125, USA.
authors.forename: W W
authors.initials: WW
authors.lastname: Fischer
authors.affiliation: Division of Geological and Planetary Science, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91125, USA.
authors.forename: J P
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: Grotzinger
authors.affiliation: Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, University of California Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz, CA 95064, USA.
authors.forename: D M
authors.initials: DM
authors.lastname: Rubin
authors.affiliation: Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD 21218, USA.
authors.forename: K W
authors.initials: KW
authors.lastname: Lewis
authors.affiliation: Department of Geology and Geophysics, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX 77843, USA.
authors.forename: M J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Ballard
authors.affiliation: Jackson School of Geosciences, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX 78712, USA.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Day
authors.affiliation: Department of Earth Science and Engineering, Imperial College London, London SW7 2AZ, UK.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Gupta
authors.affiliation: Department of Earth Science and Engineering, Imperial College London, London SW7 2AZ, UK.
authors.forename: S G
authors.initials: SG
authors.lastname: Banham
authors.affiliation: Applied Physics Laboratory, Johns Hopkins University, Laurel, MD 20723, USA.
authors.forename: N T
authors.initials: NT
authors.lastname: Bridges
authors.affiliation: NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, CA 94035, USA.
authors.forename: D J
authors.initials: DJ
authors.lastname: Des Marais
authors.affiliation: Division of Geological and Planetary Science, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91125, USA. Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91109, USA.
authors.forename: A A
authors.initials: AA
authors.lastname: Fraeman
authors.affiliation: National Air and Space Museum, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC 20560, USA.
authors.forename: J A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Grant
authors.affiliation: Astrogeology Science Center, U.S. Geological Survey, Flagstaff, AZ 86001-1698, USA.
authors.forename: K E
authors.initials: KE
authors.lastname: Herkenhoff
authors.affiliation: NASA Johnson Space Center, Houston, TX 77058, USA.
authors.forename: D W
authors.initials: DW
authors.lastname: Ming
authors.affiliation: Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91109, USA.
authors.forename: M A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Mischna
authors.affiliation: Geology Department, Western Washington University, Bellingham, WA 98225-9080, USA.
authors.forename: M S
authors.initials: MS
authors.lastname: Rice
authors.affiliation: Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, University of California, Davis, CA 95616, USA.
authors.forename: D Y
authors.initials: DY
authors.lastname: Sumner
authors.affiliation: Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91109, USA.
authors.forename: A R
authors.initials: AR
authors.lastname: Vasavada
authors.affiliation: Planetary Science Institute, Tucson, AZ 85719, USA.
authors.forename: R A
authors.initials: RA
authors.lastname: Yingst