Early transient cooling of Mars

Previous evolution models for one-plate planets have commonly assumed stead y-state cooling beneath a rigid lid. Recent 3D numerical models indicate ho wever that conductive lid cooling exhibits early transient stages where the quasi-static assumption is not valid. We apply scaling laws for these tran sient stages to Mars. A wide range of initial conditions for the Martian ma ntle reflects the possible consequence of the early differentiation of the planet. Our results display large variations for the timing of early transi ent cooling from several 100 Ma up to a few Ga indicating that classical qu asi-static models cannot describe a significant part of the planet's evolut ion. This suggests new scenarios for Mars'-early history with initial heat fluxes in good agreement with values inferred from both gravity and topogra phy data from the MGS mission.