Water on Mars
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Geological Processes and Evolution
GEOLOGICAL PROCESSES AND EVOLUTION J.W. HEAD1, R. GREELEY2, M.P. GOLOMBEK3, W.K. HARTMANN4, E. HAUBER5, R. JAUMANN5, P. MASSON6, G. NEUKUM5, L.E. NYQUIST7 and M.H. CARR8 1Department of Geological Sciences, Brown University, Providence, RI 02912 USA 2Department of Geology, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ 85287 USA 3Jet Propulsion Laboratory, 4800 Oak Grove Drive, Pasadena, CA 91109 USA 4Planetary Science Institute, Tucson, AZ 85705 USA 5DLR Institute of Space Sensor Technology and Planetary Exploration, Rutherfordstrasse 2, 12484 Berlin-Aldershof, Germany 6University of Paris-Sud, 91405, Orsay Cedex France 7Johnson Space Center, Houston TX 77058 USA 8US Geological Survey, Branch of Astrogeological Studies, 345 Middlefield Road, Menlo Park, CA 94025 USA Received:14 February 2001; accepted:12 March 2001 Abstract. Geological mapping and establishment of stratigraphic relationships provides an overview of geological processes operating on Mars and how they have varied in time and space. Impact craters and basins shaped the crust in earliest history and as their importance declined, evidence of extensive regional volcanism emerged during the Late Noachian. Regional volcanism characterized the Early Hesperian and subsequent to that time, volcanism was largely centered at Tharsis and Elysium, con- tinuing until the recent geological past. The Tharsis region appears to have been largely constructed by the Late Noachian, and represents a series of tectonic and volcanic centers. Globally distributed structural features representing contraction characterize the middle Hesperian. Water-related pro- cesses involve the formation of valley networks in the Late Noachian and into the Hesperian, an ice sheet at the south pole in the middle Hesperian, and outflow channels and possible standing bodies of water in the northern lowlands in the Late Hesperian and into the Amazonian. -
Glossary Glossary
Glossary Glossary Albedo A measure of an object’s reflectivity. A pure white reflecting surface has an albedo of 1.0 (100%). A pitch-black, nonreflecting surface has an albedo of 0.0. The Moon is a fairly dark object with a combined albedo of 0.07 (reflecting 7% of the sunlight that falls upon it). The albedo range of the lunar maria is between 0.05 and 0.08. The brighter highlands have an albedo range from 0.09 to 0.15. Anorthosite Rocks rich in the mineral feldspar, making up much of the Moon’s bright highland regions. Aperture The diameter of a telescope’s objective lens or primary mirror. Apogee The point in the Moon’s orbit where it is furthest from the Earth. At apogee, the Moon can reach a maximum distance of 406,700 km from the Earth. Apollo The manned lunar program of the United States. Between July 1969 and December 1972, six Apollo missions landed on the Moon, allowing a total of 12 astronauts to explore its surface. Asteroid A minor planet. A large solid body of rock in orbit around the Sun. Banded crater A crater that displays dusky linear tracts on its inner walls and/or floor. 250 Basalt A dark, fine-grained volcanic rock, low in silicon, with a low viscosity. Basaltic material fills many of the Moon’s major basins, especially on the near side. Glossary Basin A very large circular impact structure (usually comprising multiple concentric rings) that usually displays some degree of flooding with lava. The largest and most conspicuous lava- flooded basins on the Moon are found on the near side, and most are filled to their outer edges with mare basalts. -
Formation of Gullies on Mars: Link to Recent Climate History and Insolation Microenvironments Implicate Surface Water Flow Origin
Formation of gullies on Mars: Link to recent climate history and insolation microenvironments implicate surface water flow origin James W. Head*†, David R. Marchant‡, and Mikhail A. Kreslavsky*§ *Department of Geological Sciences, Brown University, Providence, RI 02912; ‡Department of Earth Sciences, Boston University, Boston, MA 02215; and §Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, University of California, Santa Cruz, CA 95064 Edited by John Imbrie, Brown University, Providence, RI, and approved July 18, 2008 (received for review April 17, 2008) Features seen in portions of a typical midlatitude Martian impact provide a context and framework of information in which their crater show that gully formation follows a geologically recent origin might be better understood. Assessment of the stratigraphic period of midlatitude glaciation. Geological evidence indicates relationships in a crater interior typical of many gully occurrences that, in the relatively recent past, sufficient snow and ice accumu- provides evidence that gully formation is linked to glaciation and to lated on the pole-facing crater wall to cause glacial flow and filling geologically recent climate change that provided conditions for of the crater floor with debris-covered glaciers. As glaciation snow/ice accumulation and top-down melting. waned, debris-covered glaciers ceased flowing, accumulation The distribution of gullies shows a latitudinal dependence on zones lost ice, and newly exposed wall alcoves continued as the Mars, exclusively poleward of 30° in each hemisphere (2, 14) with location for limited snow/frost deposition, entrapment, and pres- a distinct concentration in the 30–50° latitude bands (e.g., 2, 7, ervation. Analysis of the insolation geometry of this pole-facing 8, 14, 18). -
Noachian Highland Crater Degradation on Mars: Assessing the Role of Regional Snow and Ice Deposits in a Cold and Icy Early Mars
45th Lunar and Planetary Science Conference (2014) 1077.pdf NOACHIAN HIGHLAND CRATER DEGRADATION ON MARS: ASSESSING THE ROLE OF REGIONAL SNOW AND ICE DEPOSITS IN A COLD AND ICY EARLY MARS. D. K. Weiss1 and J. W. Head1, 1Department of Geological Sciences, Brown University, Providence, RI 02912, U.S.A. ([email protected]) Introduction: The faint young sun [1,2] has led to the supposition that early Mars was cold [3-5]. The pres- ence of valley networks and the degraded state of high- land craters, however, has led many investigators to sug- gest that the martian climate in the Noachian was warm and wet, and that precipitation [6] in the form of rainfall [7] and fluvial activity are the likely causes of crater deg- radation. Recent climate models, however, have shown that climactic conditions in the Noachian could not have supported liquid water precipitation [8,9], and that re- gional snow and ice deposits, much like those inferred to be present in the Amazonian (Fig. 1) [10], pervaded the Noachian highlands [11]. Recent climate models have shown however, that unlike the Amazonian, slightly in- creased atmospheric pressures in the Noachian could allow the atmosphere to behave adiabatically [8], a sce- nario in which the Noachian southern highlands acts as a Figure 2. Typical Noachian highland crater and characteristics. cold trap and preferentially accumulates atmospheric suggests that they have been heavily degraded [7], alt- snow and ice deposits [11, 12]. Martian Noachian high- hough the mode of degradation has been debated (see land craters may give insight into conditions on early [7]). -
“Mining” Water Ice on Mars an Assessment of ISRU Options in Support of Future Human Missions
National Aeronautics and Space Administration “Mining” Water Ice on Mars An Assessment of ISRU Options in Support of Future Human Missions Stephen Hoffman, Alida Andrews, Kevin Watts July 2016 Agenda • Introduction • What kind of water ice are we talking about • Options for accessing the water ice • Drilling Options • “Mining” Options • EMC scenario and requirements • Recommendations and future work Acknowledgement • The authors of this report learned much during the process of researching the technologies and operations associated with drilling into icy deposits and extract water from those deposits. We would like to acknowledge the support and advice provided by the following individuals and their organizations: – Brian Glass, PhD, NASA Ames Research Center – Robert Haehnel, PhD, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers/Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory – Patrick Haggerty, National Science Foundation/Geosciences/Polar Programs – Jennifer Mercer, PhD, National Science Foundation/Geosciences/Polar Programs – Frank Rack, PhD, University of Nebraska-Lincoln – Jason Weale, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers/Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory Mining Water Ice on Mars INTRODUCTION Background • Addendum to M-WIP study, addressing one of the areas not fully covered in this report: accessing and mining water ice if it is present in certain glacier-like forms – The M-WIP report is available at http://mepag.nasa.gov/reports.cfm • The First Landing Site/Exploration Zone Workshop for Human Missions to Mars (October 2015) set the target -
Cold-Climate Landforms on Mars
CHAPTER 3 Landforms Indicative of Creep of Debris and Ice Among the large number of landforms related to the creep of ice and debris in periglacial environments on Earth, the most well-known landforms comprise rock glaciers and landforms related to gelifluction processes. While rock glaciers usually form relatively confined but well-distinct landforms, the latter contribute to a large extent to the general slope development in periglacial environments and are less distinct in their appearance. The author focuses here on rock glaciers and related landforms because of their size which allows comparison workwithlandformsonMarsandbecauseoftheirdirectconnectiontoso-calledMartianlobatedebrisaprons which are discussed in subsequent sections. Slope-forming processes in contrast to this, cover a much wider field that is characterized by an abundance of landforms that cannot be attributed to a distinct climatic envi- ronment unambiguously because of their transitional nature (e.g., Selby, 1982). Also, terrestrial slope-forming processes are not necessarily comparable to the Martian environment because of the nature of controlling fac- tors, such as vegetation and precipitation. The subsequent discussion of rock glaciers and related landforms on Earth will not only summarize some of the major scientific aspects but will also try to establish a connection to the Martian environment whenever possible. 3.1. Terrestrial Rock Glaciers 3.1.1. Definitions and Classifications ally frozen debris masses which creep down mountain slopes [...] similar to the behaviour of lava streams". The definition of the term rock glacier has undergone several modifications and is even after more than one Some definitions focus on morphology by saying that century of research and investigations characterized a rock glacier is "anaccumulationofangularrockde- by misinterpretations and forms the basis for many bris, usually with a distinct ridge/furrow pattern and debates in the community (Barsch, 1996). -
Research on Crystal Growth and Characterization at the National Bureau of Standards January to June 1964
NATL INST. OF STAND & TECH R.I.C AlllDS bnSflb *^,; National Bureau of Standards Library^ 1*H^W. Bldg Reference book not to be '^sn^ t-i/or, from the library. ^ecknlccil v2ote 251 RESEARCH ON CRYSTAL GROWTH AND CHARACTERIZATION AT THE NATIONAL BUREAU OF STANDARDS JANUARY TO JUNE 1964 U. S. DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE NATIONAL BUREAU OF STANDARDS tiona! Bureau of Standards NOV 1 4 1968 151G71 THE NATIONAL BUREAU OF STANDARDS The National Bureau of Standards is a principal focal point in the Federal Government for assuring maximum application of the physical and engineering sciences to the advancement of technology in industry and commerce. Its responsibilities include development and maintenance of the national stand- ards of measurement, and the provisions of means for making measurements consistent with those standards; determination of physical constants and properties of materials; development of methods for testing materials, mechanisms, and structures, and making such tests as may be necessary, particu- larly for government agencies; cooperation in the establishment of standard practices for incorpora- tion in codes and specifications; advisory service to government agencies on scientific and technical problems; invention and development of devices to serve special needs of the Government; assistance to industry, business, and consumers in the development and acceptance of commercial standards and simplified trade practice recommendations; administration of programs in cooperation with United States business groups and standards organizations for the development of international standards of practice; and maintenance of a clearinghouse for the collection and dissemination of scientific, tech- nical, and engineering information. The scope of the Bureau's activities is suggested in the following listing of its four Institutes and their organizational units. -
Martian Perched Craters and Large Ejecta Volume: Evidence for Episodes of Deflation in the Northern Lowlands
Meteoritics & Planetary Science 41, Nr 10, 1647–1658 (2006) Abstract available online at http://meteoritics.org Martian perched craters and large ejecta volume: Evidence for episodes of deflation in the northern lowlands Sandrine MERESSE1*, François COSTARD1, Nicolas MANGOLD1, David BARATOUX2, and Joseph M. BOYCE3 1Laboratoire IDES-Orsay, Université Paris-Sud, UMR 8148, Bat 509, 91405 Orsay, France 2Observatoire Midi-Pyrénées, UMR 5562, 31400 Toulouse, France 3Hawai’i Institute of Geophysics and Planetology, University of Hawai’i at Manoa, Honolulu, Hawai’i, USA *Corresponding author. E-mail: [email protected] (Received 28 October 2005; revision accepted 30 June 2006) Abstract–The northern lowland plains, such as those found in Acidalia and Utopia Planitia, have high percentages of impact craters with fluidized ejecta. In both regions, the analysis of crater geometry from Mars Orbiter Laser Altimeter (MOLA) data has revealed large ejecta volumes, some exceeding the volume of excavation. Moreover, some of the crater cavities and fluidized ejecta blankets of these craters are topographically perched above the surrounding plains. These perched craters are concentrated between 40 and 70°N in the northern plains. The atypical high volumes of the ejecta and the perched craters suggest that the northern lowlands have experienced one or more episodes of resurfacing that involved deposition and erosion. The removal of material, most likely caused by the sublimation of ice in the materials and their subsequent erosion and transport by the wind, is more rapid on the plains than on the ejecta blankets. The thermal inertia difference between the ejecta and the surrounding plains suggests that ejecta, characterized by a lower thermal inertia, protect the underneath terrain from sublimation. -
Estimating the Volume of Glacial Ice on Mars
EPSC Abstracts Vol. 8, EPSC2013-111, 2013 European Planetary Science Congress 2013 EEuropeaPn PlanetarSy Science CCongress c Author(s) 2013 Estimating the volume of glacial ice on Mars: Geographic and geometric constraints on concentric crater fill, lineated valley fill, and lobate debris aprons along the Martian dichotomy boundary C. Fassett (1), J. Levy (2) and J. Head (3) (1) Mount Holyoke College, South Hadley, MA, USA (2) University of Texas at Austin, USA (3) Brown University, Providence, RI, USA ([email protected]) Abstract Once the spatial extent of these features was established, we are using geometric tools to infer the Landforms inferred to have formed from volumetric extent of glacial landforms. For example, glacial processes are abundant on Mars and include for CCF, several morphometric properties were features such as concentric crater fill (CCF), lobate extracted from catalogues of northern hemisphere debris aprons (LDA), and lineated valley fill (LVF). crater morphologies [13] including: crater diameter, Here, we present new mapping of the spatial extent d and measured crater depth, Dm. CCF fill radius, rf of these landforms derived from CTX and THEMIS is measured from CTX images of the crater, VIS image data, and new geometric constraints on measured along two orthogonal profiles that span the the volume of glaciogenic fill material present in spatial limit of “brain terrain” surface texture or concentric crater fill deposits. concentric surface lineations. Using these quantities measured from MOLA 1. Introduction and CTX data, relationships between fresh-crater Debris-covered glacial landforms such as depths and diameters on Mars [14], coupled with CCF, LVF, and LDA are widespread on Mars and elementary calculus (solids of rotation), permit us to have been long inferred to represent locations of make quantitative estimates of CCF fill volume (note: abundant ground ice preserved at mid-latitude this method does not distinguish between prior fill locations [1-12]. -
THE CHANTICLEER Jacksonville State University Jacksonville
Jacksonville State University JSU Digital Commons Chanticleer Historical Newspapers 1985-01-11 Chanticleer | Vol 32, Issue 15 Jacksonville State University Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.jsu.edu/lib_ac_chanty Recommended Citation Jacksonville State University, "Chanticleer | Vol 32, Issue 15" (1985). Chanticleer. 871. https://digitalcommons.jsu.edu/lib_ac_chanty/871 This Book is brought to you for free and open access by the Historical Newspapers at JSU Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Chanticleer by an authorized administrator of JSU Digital Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. C Entertainment THE CHANTICLEER Jacksonville State university Jacksonville. Alabama Vol. &No. W January 11, 1985 Mild controversy erupts over - senate resolution By JAN DICKINSON A resolution calling for a faculty-wide vote of "no confidence" in Resident Theron Montgomery was presented to the Faculty Senate at its December 10 meeting, two days before Montgomery anriounced his resignation to the Board of Trustees. Now the sponsor of the resolution, Dr. Gene Blanton, of the English Department, says that he intends to withdraw the resolution at the January 14 meeting of the senate. 13lanton stated in the January 6 edition of the Anniston Star that, because of comments made by several members of the Board of bstees, the wssibility of dropping the resolution was strong. According to that article, trustee Paul Carpenter said, "It (the vote) wouid make absolutely no difference in my opinion. We have studied the entire situation, and we are satisfied with the decision." Another board member, Dwaine Luce, stated, "....the bard is responsible for running the school, and the faculty is responsible for iristructing the students." Echoing the sentiments of Carpenter, he added, "'I'he board has inade its decision and the board, in my pinion, will stand by its decision." According to Dr. -
Crater Ice Deposits Near the South Pole of Mars Owen William Westbrook
Crater Ice Deposits Near the South Pole of Mars by Owen William Westbrook Submitted to the Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science in Earth and Planetary Sciences at the MASSACHUSETTS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY June 2009 © Massachusetts Institute of Technology 2009. All rights reserved. A uth or ........................................ Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences May 22, 2009 Certified by . Maria T. Zuber E. A. Griswold Professor of Geophysics Thesis Supervisor 6- Accepted by.... ...... ..... ........................................... Daniel Rothman Professor of Geophysics Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences MASSACHUSETTS INSTWITE OF TECHNOLOGY JUL 2 0 2009 ARCHIES LIBRARIES Crater Ice Deposits Near the South Pole of Mars by Owen William Westbrook Submitted to the Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences on May 22, 2009, in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science in Earth and Planetary Sciences Abstract Layered deposits atop both Martian poles are thought to preserve a record of past climatic conditions in up to three km of water ice and dust. Just beyond the extent of these south polar layered deposits (SPLD), dozens of impact craters contain large mounds of fill material with distinct similarities to the main layered deposits. Previously identified as outliers of the main SPLD, these deposits could offer clues to the climatic history of the Martian south polar region. We extend previous studies of these features by cataloging all crater deposits found near the south pole and quantifying the physical parameters of both the deposits and their host craters. -
Viscosity from Newton to Modern Non-Equilibrium Statistical Mechanics
Viscosity from Newton to Modern Non-equilibrium Statistical Mechanics S´ebastien Viscardy Belgian Institute for Space Aeronomy, 3, Avenue Circulaire, B-1180 Brussels, Belgium Abstract In the second half of the 19th century, the kinetic theory of gases has probably raised one of the most impassioned de- bates in the history of science. The so-called reversibility paradox around which intense polemics occurred reveals the apparent incompatibility between the microscopic and macroscopic levels. While classical mechanics describes the motionof bodies such as atoms and moleculesby means of time reversible equations, thermodynamics emphasizes the irreversible character of macroscopic phenomena such as viscosity. Aiming at reconciling both levels of description, Boltzmann proposed a probabilistic explanation. Nevertheless, such an interpretation has not totally convinced gen- erations of physicists, so that this question has constantly animated the scientific community since his seminal work. In this context, an important breakthrough in dynamical systems theory has shown that the hypothesis of microscopic chaos played a key role and provided a dynamical interpretation of the emergence of irreversibility. Using viscosity as a leading concept, we sketch the historical development of the concepts related to this fundamental issue up to recent advances. Following the analysis of the Liouville equation introducing the concept of Pollicott-Ruelle resonances, two successful approaches — the escape-rate formalism and the hydrodynamic-mode method — establish remarkable relationships between transport processes and chaotic properties of the underlying Hamiltonian dynamics. Keywords: statistical mechanics, viscosity, reversibility paradox, chaos, dynamical systems theory Contents 1 Introduction 2 2 Irreversibility 3 2.1 Mechanics. Energyconservationand reversibility . ........................ 3 2.2 Thermodynamics.