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Recurring Slope Lineae

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Encyclopedia of Planetary Landforms

Definition

Recurring slope lineae (RSL) are elongate, low albedo (dark) features with anastomosing and/or digitate flow-like morphology downslope and often originating at the base of outcrops (McEwen et al. 2011c; Runyon et al. 2012) that exhibit both incremental growth and recurrence during multiple Mars years (MY).

Synonyms

Recurrent slope lineae; Seasonal flows

Description

RSL are narrow (up to 5 m wide), dark surface markings (up to 40 % darker than their surroundings) that extend incrementally downslope on steep (25–40°) rocky slopes of Mars (McEwen et al. 2011b). They are active (formation and incremental growth) during warm seasons and fade and often completely disappear during colder seasons but recur over multiple MY.

To date, they are mostly found on equator-facing slopes of southern midlatitude of Mars (McEwen et al. 2011c; Ojha et al. 2013, 2014) but have been recently discovered in the equatorial regions as well (McEwen et al. 2014). In southern midlatitude, RSL exhibit...

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References

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MA, USA

    Kirby Runyon

  2. Lunar and Planetory Laboratory, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, USA

    Lujendra Ojha

Authors
  1. Kirby Runyon
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  2. Lujendra Ojha
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Kirby Runyon .

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© 2014 Springer Science+Business Media New York

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Runyon, K., Ojha, L. (2014). Recurring Slope Lineae. In: Encyclopedia of Planetary Landforms. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-9213-9_352-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-9213-9_352-1

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, New York, NY

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4614-9213-9

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