Lateral variations of density and composition in the Martian south polar layered deposits

A joint analysis of subsurface sounding, topography and gravity data is presented in this study to provide constraints on the lateral density variations of the south polar layered deposits (SPLD). The enhanced resolution of the gravity field enables a thorough characterization of the signal associated with the polar deposits that highly correlates to the surface global topography. A novel iterative method is used to determine the radial gravity disturbances that depend on the density contrast and topography of the surface deposits across the polar cap. By using a constrained least-squares approach on localized three-dimensional mass concentrations (mascons), we locally inverted the bulk density from the gravity disturbances, leading to a new map of its lateral variations.

We thus leverage our retrieved map of the lateral density variations to provide bounds on the volumes of the main constituents of the SPLD. By assuming that the polar cap is composed of water ice, carbon dioxide ice and dust, a preliminary analysis of the compositional distribution is carried out. Our results show with unprecedented resolution extensive regions with bulk density consistent with pure water ice. The resulting map of the SPLD composition is fully consistent with complementary data, including the mass fraction of water-equivalent hydrogen measured through epithermal neutron and fast neutron counting rates acquired by the Mars Odyssey Neutron Spectrometer (MONS).