A Study about the Temporal Constraints on the Martian Yardangs’ Development in Medusae Fossae Formation

The age of Mars yardangs is significant in studying their development and the evolution of paleoclimate conditions. For planetary surface or landforms, a common method for dating is based on the frequency and size distribution of all the superposed craters after they are formed. However, there is usually a long duration for the yardangs’ formation, and they will alter the superposed craters, making it impossible to give a reliable dating result with the method. An indirect method by analyzing the ages of the superposed layered ejecta was devised in the research. First, the layered ejecta that are superposed on and not altered by the yardangs are identified and mapped. Then, the ages of the layered ejecta are derived according to the crater frequency and size distribution on them. These ages indicate that the yardangs ceased development by these times, and the ages are valuable for studying the evolution of the yardangs. This indirect dating method was applied to the areas of Martian yardangs in the Medusae Fossae Formation (MFF). The ages of the selected six layered ejecta range from ~0.50 Ga to ~1.5 Ga, indicating that the evolution of the corresponding yardangs had been ceased before these times. Analysis of more layered ejecta craters and superposed yardangs implies that yardangs in the MFF have a long history of development and some yardangs are still in active development.