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Slope Lineae

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Encyclopedia of Planetary Landforms

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Definition

Elongate, low-albedo (dark) features with anastomosing and/or digitate flow-like morphology down-slope and often originating at the base of outcrops on Mars (McEwen et al. 2011b; Runyon et al. 2012).

Subtype

Recurring slope lineae that are observed to grow incrementally and also recur in multiple Mars years (McEwen et al. 2011c; Ojha et al. 2014).

Formation

Slope lineae is a descriptive term not implying any particular formation mechanism. Slope lineae are typically possible recurring slope lineae.

Age

Recent features, forming currently, under the present climate.

Studied Locations

Asimov crater (Fig. 1), Cerberus Fossae (Fig. 2); for other locations, see recurring slope lineae.

Fig. 1
figure 1

Slope lineae formation in Asimov crater during a 2-Earth month period. (a) MY 29, Ls = 269.2 HiRISE ESP_013189_1330, (b) MY 29 Ls = 300.2, ESP_013835_1330 (NASA/JPL/UA)

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References

  • McEwen A, Ojha L, Dundas C, Mattson S, Byrne S, Wray J, Cull S (2011a) Transient slope lineae: evidence for summertime briny flows on Mars? 42nd Lunar Planet Sci Conf, abstract #2314, Houston

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  • McEwen AS, Ojha L, Dundas CM, Mattson SS, Byrne S, Wray JJ, Cull SC, Murchie SL, Thomas N, Gulick VC (2011b) Seasonal flows on warm Martian slopes. Science 333:740–743

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  • McEwen AS, Ojha L, Dundas CM, Mattson SS, Byrne S, Wray JJ, Cull SC, Murchie SL, Thomas N, Mass M (2011c) Recurring slope lineae: warm-season incremental flows in the middle southern latitudes of Mars. In: Fifth Mars polar science conference #6017

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  • Ojha L, McEwen A, Dundas C, Byrne S, Mattson S, Wray J, Masse M, Schaefer E (2014) HiRISE Observations of Recurring Slope Lineae (RSL) during southern summer on Mars. Icarus 231:65–376. doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.icarus.2013.12.021

  • Runyon KD, Davatzes AK, Gulick VC (2012) Putative active brine flows in the Cerberus Fossae, Mars. 42rd Lunar Planet Sci Conf, abstract #2072, Houston

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, USA

    Kirby Runyon

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

    Lujendra Ojha

  3. Planetary Science Research Group, Eötvös Loránd University, Institute of Geography and Earth Sciences, Budapest, Hungary

    Henrik Hargitai

Authors
  1. Kirby Runyon
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  2. Lujendra Ojha
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  3. Henrik Hargitai
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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., Hargitai, H. (2014). Slope Lineae. In: Encyclopedia of Planetary Landforms. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-9213-9_632-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-9213-9_632-1

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, New York, NY

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4614-9213-9

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