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Joe Levy, Department of Geology, will present.

Significant debate exists whether the global population of Martian debris-covered glacier deposits formed continuously over the past 300 to 800 million years (Ma), or whether they formed during punctuated episodes of ice accumulation during obliquity maxima (lasting ∼10–100 thousands years (ka)). We show that, like ancient debris-covered glaciers on Earth, boulder banding on Martian glacial deposits indicates multiple episodes of ice accumulation and advance based on the mapping and analysis efforts of nearly a dozen Geology, Astrogeophysics, and Environmental Geology majors (plus a few colleagues outside Colgate). In our analysis, glacial periods are followed by ice removal from the glacier accumulation zone, formingdebris bands. We report a median of five to six glacial/interglacial transitions recorded on Martian debris-covered glaciers, suggesting the cadence of glaciation on Mars is set by orbital forcing over tens to hundreds of Ma, not individual ∼120 ka obliquity cycles.

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