Fault-length statistics and implications of graben sets at Candor Mensa, Mars

Abstract

The lengths of individual Martian grabens from three spatially and temporally distinct regional sets are analyzed by a two-dimensional window-sampling method. Length distributions are influenced by fault growth and coalescence processes, image resolution, window size and the post-faulting geologic history of the region. Cumulative length—frequency distributions can be linear for graben lengths between ∼ 30 and 100 km, with slopes (on the area plot) of −2, suggesting self-similar growth of the graben array. Post-faulting geologic processes contribute to concave cumulative-length distributions on the log—log plot, with curtailment and truncation biases producing strongly non-linear distributions for smaller and longer lengths, respectively. Recent evidence for a positive correlation between stratigraphic throw and graben length from analogous terrestrial grabens implies that the magnitudes of throw and extensional strain may also be dependent on relative position along the Martian grabens.