ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Astron. Space Sci.
Sec. Astrobiology
This article is part of the Research TopicHabitability Across the Solar System and ExoplanetsView all 5 articles
Quantitative Stratigraphic Volume of Martian Lowlands Using Noachian Crater Statistics: New Bounds on Volcanic Effusion and Flooding Epochs
Provisionally accepted
Francesco Salese1,2*
Eric Hiatt3
Monica Pondrelli2
Marc Andre Hesse3
Giuseppe Mitri2Matilda Soldano2
Alberto Fairén1,4- 1Centro de Astrobiologia, Torrejón de Ardoz, Spain
- 2Department of Engineering and Geology - Università d'Annunzio, International Research School of Planetary Sciences, Pescara, Italy
- 3The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, United States
- 4Cornell University, Ithaca, United States
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The thickness and volume of the stratigraphic sequence in Mars’ northern lowlands remain poorly constrained, despite their key role in recording the planet’s geological and paleoclimatic evolution. Reliable thickness estimates are essential because they directly control calculations of volcanic effusion, surface flooding, and associated climate forcing. Here we present a revised volumetric assessment of the lowland stratigraphy - dominated by volcanic infill - based on integrated geological mapping and crater‐statistical modeling. Our approach combines crater size–frequency distributions with volumetric reconstructions of buried craters and intercrater plains across both lowland and Noachian highland reference terrains. The results indicate that the minimum cumulative stratigraphic volume is at least three times greater than previous estimates, implying a proportional increase in volcanic outgassing of CO₂, H₂O, and SO₂. These new quantitative conservative bounds provide improved constraints on early Martian volatile budgets and on mid‐ to late‐Noachian atmospheric evolution, with implications for transient climate warming and late‐stage lowland flooding.
Keywords: Martian lowlands volume, Lowlands stratigraphy, Volatile Outgassing Budget from Lowland Igneous Provinces, Northern lowlands paleotopography reconstruction, Martian sediments
Received: 29 Jul 2025; Accepted: 05 Dec 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Salese, Hiatt, Pondrelli, Hesse, Mitri, Soldano and Fairén. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Francesco Salese
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