An Improved Model of the Crustal Structure of Mars

The first reliable model of the structure of the crust and upper mantle of Mars from remote observations was produced using data from the Mars Orbiter Laser Altimeter (MOLA) and the Radio Science investigation of Mars Global Surveyor (MGS). That model assumed a uniform crustal density and solved for the global variations in crustal thickness using a gravity field derived from preliminary MGS tracking. In that study, spherical harmonic potential coefficients were derived to degree and order 80, but crustal structure was interpreted cautiously to degree 60, or 360 km wavelength, owing to the presence of noise. Tracking normal equations have since been generated to degree 75, to degree 80 (supplemented by altimetric crossovers), and recently to degree 90, using new constants for the orientation of the spin pole and the rotation rate of Mars provided by the IAU2000 rotation model. Gravity models now incorporate tracking data coverage from the Primary and Extended MGS missions and the early phases of the Mars Odyssey mission. In the present study we exploit these advances in gravity modeling to present a refined crustal inversion, which we also interpret in the context of Mars' internal structure and thermal evolution.