Magnitude of global contraction on Mars from analysis of surface faults: Implications for martian thermal history

► Contractional strain in the Hesperian makes up 59% of the total accumulated strain. ► Thermal evolution models predict more contraction than is recorded by the faults. ► Observations of faults may help to constrain planetary thermal evolution models. ► Previous calculations of radius decrease for Mercury from cooling are too large. Faults provide a record of a planet’s crustal stress state and interior dynamics, including volumetric changes related to long-term cooling. Previous work has suggested that Mars experienced a pulse of large-scale global contraction during Hesperian time. Here we evaluate the evidence for martian global contraction using a recent compilation of thrust faults. Fault-related strains were calculated for wrinkle ridges and lobate scarps to provide lower and upper bounds, respectively, on the magnitude of global contraction from contractional structures observed on the surface of Mars. During the hypothesized pulse of global contraction, contractional strain of −0.007% to −0.13% is indicated by the structures, corresponding to decreases in planetary radius of 112 m to 2.24 km, respectively. By contrast, consideration of all recognized thrust faults regardless of age produces a globally averaged contractional strain of −0.011% to −0.22%, corresponding to a radius decrease of 188 m to 3.77 km since the Early Noachian. The amount of global contraction predicted by thermal models is larger than what is recorded by the faults at the surface, paralleling similar studies for Mercury and the Moon, which suggests that observations of fault populations at the surface may provide tighter bounds on planetary thermal evolution than models alone.