Evolution of the rheological structure of Mars

The evolution of Mars has been greatly influenced by temporal changes in its rheological structure, which may explain the difference in tectonics between Mars and Earth. Some previous studies have shown the rheological structures of Mars calculated from the flow law of rocks and the predicted thermal structure. However, the Peierls mechanism, which is the dominant deformation mechanism at relatively low temperature, and the evolution of water reservoirs on Mars were not considered in such studies. In this paper, we apply the Peierls mechanism to refine the rheological structure of Mars to show a new history of the planet that considers the most recent reports on its evolution of water reservoirs. Considering the Peierls creep and the evolution of water reservoirs, we attempt to explain why the tectonics of Mars is inactive compared with that of Earth. On early Mars, the lithospheric thickness inferred from the brittle–ductile transition was small, and the lithospheric strength was low (~200–300 MPa) under wet conditions at 4 Gya. This suggests that plate boundaries could have developed on the early “wet” Mars, which is a prerequisite for the operation of plate tectonics. Our results also imply that the lithospheric strength had significantly increased in the Noachian owing to water loss. Therefore, plate tectonics may have ceased or could no longer be initi‐ ated on Mars. At the least, the tectonic style of Mars would have dramatically changed during the Noachian.