Rate of wind erosion on Mars

[gunsandrockets]

Most people are familiar with the Mars exploration rovers and the tracks they leave in the Martian surface.<br /><br />My question is about surface erosion and sand deposit caused by the Martian winds. How long would it take for those rover tracks to become obscured? Weeks? Years? Centuries?

 

[JonClarke]

This paper talks about several km in 100 million years. If we say that "several" = 2 km, that is 0.02 mm per year. If the rover tracks are 2 cm deep, they would be eroded in a thousand years.<br /><br />This paper says 0.01-0.017 mm per year, so the tracks would be eroded in less than 2000 years.<br /><br />Locally, and for short periods, I would expect these rates be be several orders of magntitude higher.<br /><br />I could not find any numbers for deposition rates in the short search I did, but globally i would expect them to be roughly equal.<br /><br />Jon<br /><br /> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><em>Whether we become a multi-planet species with unlimited horizons, or are forever confined to Earth will be decided in the twenty-first century amid the vast plains, rugged canyons and lofty mountains of Mars</em>  Arthur Clarke</p> </div>

 

[MeteorWayne]

I wonder what the effect of a dust devil crossing would be. Since the material in the tracks has been compressed maybe it would resist wind erosion better.<br />Or perhaps the dust devil would just remove the lighter surface material, and the tracks wouldn't stand out in the path.<br /><br />Just pondering out loud here.... <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><font color="#000080"><em><font color="#000000">But the Krell forgot one thing John. Monsters. Monsters from the Id.</font></em> </font></p><p><font color="#000080">I really, really, really, really miss the "first unread post" function</font><font color="#000080"> </font></p> </div>