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Remote Sensing of Shallow-Marine Impact Craters on Mars

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REMOTE SENSING OF SHALLOW-MARINE IMPACT CRATERS ON MARS Except where reference is made to the work of others, the work described in this thesis is my own or was done in collaboration with my advisory committee. This thesis does not include proprietary or classified information. ______________________________________ Germari de Villiers Certificate of Approval: _______________________ _______________________ Luke J. Marzen, Co-Chair David T. King, Jr., Co-Chair Associate Professor Professor Geography Geology _______________________ _______________________ Willis E. Hames George T. Flowers Professor Interim Dean Geology Graduate School REMOTE SENSING OF SHALLOW-MARINE IMPACT CRATERS ON MARS Germari de Villiers A Thesis Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of Auburn University in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Science Auburn, Alabama December 17, 2007 REMOTE SENSING OF SHALLOW-MARINE IMPACT CRATERS ON MARS Germari de Villiers Permission is granted to Auburn University to make copies of this thesis at its discretion, upon request of individuals or institutions at their expense. The author reserves all publication rights. ______________________________ Signature of Author ______________________________ Date of Graduation iii VITAE Germari de Villiers, daughter of Gerard and Gerda de Villiers, was born on 28 February, 1983, in Pretoria, South Africa, as the first of three daughters. She grew up in Randburg, South Africa, and attended both Laerskool Unika and Hoërskool Randburg. She graduated from Reeltown High School, Alabama, in 2001 and matriculated from Greenside High School, Johannesburg, in 2002. She graduated from the University of Pretoria in 2005 with a Bachelor of Science degree in Geology and entered Auburn University Graduate School in January 2006. iv THESIS ABSTRACT REMOTE SENSING OF SHALLOW-MARINE IMPACT CRATERS ON MARS Germari de Villiers Master of Science, December 17, 2007 (B.Sc., University of Pretoria, 2005) 161 Typed Pages Directed by David T. King, Jr. and Luke J. Marzen Impact craters are common on solid planetary bodies in our solar system and are one of the most important physical features from which the surface history of these planetary bodies can be deduced. Remote sensing is a crucial tool in planetary science and is essential in the detailed study of impact structures on planetary surfaces. Oceans have been proposed to have existed on Mars during its history, the shorelines of which would coincide roughly with the crustal dichotomy that divides the smooth, northern lowlands with the cratered, southern highlands. Arabia Terra is a region on Mars that straddles the dichotomy and three proposed shorelines are located in the area. If Mars had a large ocean during its early history, Arabia Terra would be a v continental shelf area and hence an ideal location for the preservation of shallow- marine impact craters. Shallow-marine impact craters on Earth exhibit characteristic morphological features. Due to the sub-marine formation and the influence of the water column, the morphologies of these craters are distinctly different from that of craters formed on land. Common attributes of marine impact craters include features of wet mass movement such as gravity slumps and debris flows; radial gullies flowing into the crater depression; resurge deposits and blocks of dislocated materials; a central peak terrace or peak ring terrace; crater rim collapse or breaching of the crater wall; and subdued topography. These features are visible from orbital imagery, and can thus be used to evaluate craters on Mars for possible marine origin. This study designed a simple quantification system that can be used to crudely judge and rank shallow-marine impact crater candidates based on the features observed in previously proposed shallow-marine impact crater candidates as well as features observed in terrestrial analogs. With the use of Mars Orbiter Laser Altimeter topographic data and Mars Orbiter Camera and Thermal Emission Imaging System imagery, the area bounded by 20º and 40º north as well as 20º west and 20º east is explored for evidence of shallow-marine impact craters. Based on the quantification system, 77 potential shallow-marine impact craters are found within Arabia Terra of which nine exemplary candidates were ranked with total scores of 70% or more. vi ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The author would like to thank Dr. David King, Dr. Luke Marzen, and Dr. Willis Hames, members of her thesis committee, for endless support and guidance in this endeavor. The author is exceedingly grateful to Dr. David King, who took particular effort to ensure that the time spent at Auburn University was a positive experience. The author is grateful also to Dr. Luke Marzen for taking the initiative to apply for funding to NASA’s Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR). Due to his resourcefulness, this study was funded by the Alabama Space Grant Consortium through NASA EPSCoR. As far as inspiration goes, the author would like to acknowledge Jens Ormö who made valuable suggestions and contributions, and who essentially planted the seed for this study. The author would like to thank Trent Hare and ArunKumar Jayakeerthy for assistance with image processing as well as Filippo Bianchi and Gerard de Villiers for valuable comments and suggestions concerning software applications. The author acknowledges the extensive use of Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) images that are available at http://www.msss.com/moc_gallery/ as well as THEMIS images that are available at http://themis.asu.edu/mars-bin/webmap.pl. The author would like to dedicate this thesis to her family who stood closely by her through these challenging two years: vii “Pappa and Mamma, thank you for inspiring me to work and teaching me to dream. Lorida and Marina, thank you for always cheering me up and making me laugh. Filippo, thank you for loving me with all that you have and letting me be your crazy, South African scientist. And finally, to my Heavenly Father, for showing me that all things are possible through Him.” viii Journal style used: Meteoritics and Planetary Science Computer software used: Adobe® Reader® 7.0 ESRI® ArcGIS™ 9.2 ISIS 2 Microsoft® Office Excel 2003 Microsoft® Office Power Point® 2003 Microsoft® Office Word 2003 GRIDVIEW WinZip® ix TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF FIGURES .........................................................................................................xiii LIST OF TABLES.........................................................................................................xviii INTRODUCTION .............................................................................................................. 1 Impact Craters.............................................................................................................. 3 Distribution of craters........................................................................................... 3 Types of craters .................................................................................................... 4 Objectives .................................................................................................................. 13 Significance ............................................................................................................... 18 LITERATURE REVIEW ................................................................................................. 19 Water on Mars ........................................................................................................... 20 Oceans on Mars ......................................................................................................... 24 Large Noachian ocean and smaller Hesperian ocean......................................... 24 Smaller local lakes.............................................................................................. 31 Evidence for oceans on Mars ............................................................................. 31 Physical properties and characteristics of shallow-marine impact craters ................ 34 Depth-diameter ratios ......................................................................................... 37 Slopes ................................................................................................................. 39 Ejecta deposits.................................................................................................... 40 Wet Mass Movement (WMM) ........................................................................... 42 x Radial Gullies (RG)............................................................................................ 43 Resurge Deposits (RD)....................................................................................... 44 Central Terrace (CT) .......................................................................................... 44 Rim Collapse (RC) ............................................................................................. 45 Subdued Topography (ST) ................................................................................. 45 Examples of shallow-marine craters.......................................................................... 46 Chesapeake Bay.................................................................................................. 47 Chicxulub ........................................................................................................... 48 Lockne ...............................................................................................................
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