MARS

1
MARS
2
(No Transcript)
3
Missions to Mars Mariner
Mariner 4 flyby mission returned 23 images of the
surface of Mars Subsequent Mariner missions
returned more images
4
Missions to Mars Viking 1 and 2
2 landers took photos, sampled soil properties,
tested for life Orbiters relayed data back to
Earth
5
Viking 1 landing site dry and dusty
6
Viking 2 landing site cold and rocky
7
Missions to Mars Mars Pathfinder
Lander took photos and did weather and physics
experiments Rover examined surface and chemistry
of rocks close-up
8
Mars Pathfinder landing site An ancient flood
plain?
9
Missions to Mars Mars Global Surveyor
Imager mapping Mars at 1.5 m resolution (same as
air photos) TIMS taking infrared spectra of
Martian surface features
10
Mars Surveyor 1998 RIP
Mars Climate orbiter Mars Polar
Lander
11
Missions to Mars Mars Odyssey 2001
Investigating chemistry of Martian surface
12
(No Transcript)
13
Processes shaping the surface of Mars
Volcanic eruptions Tectonic deformation (rift
valleys) Cratering Water flow (?) Wind
erosion and transport Mass wasting
14
Olympus Mons and Tharsis
Tharsis, a huge bulge on one side of the planet,
probably formed early in Mars history.
15
Valles Marineris extends 1/3 of the way around
Mars This huge rift valley was formed by
extension related to formation of the Tharsis
bulge
16
Compressional ridges in lava flows, similar to
lunar wrinkle ridges
17
Graben in Valles Marineris
18
Splosh craters on Mars Impacts onto a wet
surface?
19
Surface-modifying processes on Mars
Atmospheric processes Vapor transport between
hemispheres Wind erosion and transport of dust
/ soil Surface processes Water erosion
(runoff, giant floods) Sapping (groundwater
seepage) Mass wasting
20
North polar cap
South polar cap
CO2 water ice complex dust layers Ice
sublimes in summer moves to winter hemisphere
21
Giant dust storm on Mars
22
Barchan dunes small amounts of sediment
constant wind direction
Wind direction
23
Dune field What is the wind directionhere?
24
Mars also has yardangs, like this example on Earth
A yardang is a long hill carved by wind-borne
sediment
25
Branching valleys on ancient Martian terrain
26
Pathfinder landing site An ancient flood plain?
Flood channels and streamlined islands
27
Ravi Valles collapse origin for floods?
28
Layered deposits on Mars lava or sediments?
29
Nanedi Valles
Incised channel
Sapping features? tight meanders few
tributaries short valleys
Layers in valley wall
30
Possible seepage of liquid (water?) from a crater
wall and ponding on crater floor
Ponded area
Fluid apparently seeped from layers in rock and
drained down crater wall
31
Specular hematite on Mars - detected by Global
Surveyor spectrometer May require (hot) water in
order to occur in this form
32
Mass wasting and erosional features (chaotic
terrain)
North view
Candor chasma, Mars
West view
33
Mass wasting features (chaotic terrain)
34
Landslide in Valles Marineris
Slide truncates crater wall
Layers in canyon wall
35
General geologic history of Mars 1
Ancient cratered highlands - with branching
runoff channels - fewer craters than on ancient
lunar terrains - many degraded (eroded) craters
36
General geologic history of Mars 2
Fretted, chaotic, and channeled terrain
37
General geologic history of Mars 3
Younger volcanic plains and shields -
volcanism to at least 1.3 b.y.b.p. - possible
hydrothermal activity Tharsis bulge and Valles
Marineris extension Polar and wind deposits
and wind erosional features Mass wasting
modification of older features
38
(No Transcript)