Thermal inertia characteristics of the Martian crater Curie

Thermal inertia characteristics have been determined for the martian crater Curie from high resolution groundtracks of Viking Thermal Infrared Mapper (IRTM) data. Flow features near the southeastern edge of the ejecta indicate that at least part of the Curie ejecta was emplaced in a manner similar to the ejecta of rampart craters. Within the study region there appears to be a general southeastern trend towards lower thermal inertia values. This trend may be related to the proximity of the Arabia region, which is mainly to the south and east of Curie. Curie is in a region where the overall thermal inertias change over relatively short distances radial to Arabia. Therefore, the observed general decrease in thermal inertia may represent increasing regional dust accumulation in the direction of Arabia.