Analysis of regional gullies within Noachis Terra, Mars: A complex relationship between slope, surface material and aspect

•Gullies in Noachis Terra consistently collocated with ice features.•Gully erosion heavily influenced by underlying geology.•Lack of gullies in Noachian craters despite suitable slope angles.•Degraded Noachian craters not suitable for accumulation of ice rich sediment.•Local environmental conditions must be accounted for before meaningful inferences can be made. The precise mechanisms by which martian hillside gullies erode and their dependence on the local environment remain subjects of debate. We studied three sharp rimmed craters in Noachis Terra and 37 gully profiles using Context Camera (CTX), Mars Orbiter Laser Altimeter (MOLA) and High Resolution Stereo Camera (HRSC) data. We analysed the gully topographic profiles of seven gullies and nine dry ravines. We measured slope properties using HRSC elevation data and used thermal inertia to infer material types of the gully sites. We compared these with three nearby Noachian age craters possessing crater wall slope angles within the range of previously observed gully formations. In-line with previous findings on individual gullies, we found that the slope angles of gullies in our study area consistently reflect the inherited slope angles of the host escarpment, suggesting that traditional slope-based evidence of fluvial activity in martian gullies needs to be placed in context of its local environment. We also observed a direct relationship between gully morphology and local composition of surface units. Martian gully features, and possibly method of erosion appeared heavily influenced by changes in underlying geology and presence of erodible sediment. Examples included gully shape changing in accordance with type of erodible sediment. We suggest that the degraded rims of gully-free Noachian craters precluded slope angles high enough to trigger creation of precursors to alcoves through mass wasting. Lack of these hollows has probably prevented the accumulation of enough ice-rich sediment for gullies to form in. Our analysis reveals that there is a complex interdependence between slope processes and the local environment, and global martian gully models may not work at the local scale.