Flow features potentially related to pitted cones in southern Utopia Planitia, Mars

Pitted cones are widely distributed on Mars, with a particularly high density in the northern plains, including southern Utopia Planitia, Isidis Planitia, and Acidalia Planitia. Pitted cones are small-scale conical landforms characterized by circular or elliptical craters at the top, with clearly discernible flanks and distinct boundaries. Their basal diameters range from 200 to 1000 meters, where the pit diameter is about half the basal diameter and their heights are typically in the tens of meters. Previous studies suggested that their formation may be linked to volcanic, sedimentary volcanism-related, or periglacial processes. 
In this study, we identified flow features and rough units spatially close to pitted cones in southern Utopia Planitia. We investigated the spatial and temporal associations between the flow features, the rough units, and the pitted cones with high-resolution orbital imagery from CTX  at 6 m/pix, HiRISE at 25-50 cm/pix, and topographic data at ~1 m/pix from HiRISE. The THEMIS-nighttime infrared images at 100 m/pix were used to identify the superpositions of pitted cone fields and impact craters.
Our preliminary findings reveal that the flow features exhibit tongue-shaped lobes on the flanks of pitted cones, sometimes located in the pits, and can form continuous aprons at the foot of the cone. These tongue-shaped lobes are tens of meters in both width and length, while the continuous aprons are shorter in length and yet extend over hundreds of meters in width. Using morphometric analysis, we are investigating whether these flows could originate from volcanic or volatile-driven processes (e.g., lava-ice interactions or mudflows). At the bottom of pitted cones, the apron flows contact the rough units, which are characterized by a rougher surface texture and numerous platy-polygonised ridges. The rough units spread over hundreds of kilometers on the ground, covering a large number of impact craters, meanwhile some small impact craters are superimposed on the rough units. We derived the Absolute Model Ages of pitted cone fields and rough units based on the Crater Size-Frequency Distribution. The results suggest that the pitted cones started to form before the emplacement of the rough units. 
This research enhances our understanding of Martian geology and highlights the potential of pitted cones as markers for exploring Martian volcanic or/and volatile history and assessing its astrobiological potential.