MSIP Proposal UPSP

I. Introduction

• Our question is the following: Are there geological characteristics that can tell us if the channels on Mars were formed by lava flows or by some other process?

• This question is important because it can help us to better understand the makeup of

Mars. Furthermore it tells us how water was evident on the Martian surface.

Some hypotheses we came up with are: Most of the channels were caused by lava because water could only exist on certain parts of Mars. We would see evidence of water in channel formation because it would transport sand and other particles from one place to another. Channels last a long time on Mars because there is not a lot if wind.

II. Background The following are some sources we found with background information on the topic of channel formation on Mars. In the late 19th century a lot of people believed that the lines they saw on the surface of Mars were canals made by Martians that would carry water (Atkinson 1988). Percival Lowell had the theory that the water on mars was running out so they started to build canals. Up until about 50,000 years ago the Jet Propulsion Laboratory believed that floods and underground reservoirs were thought to be seen on the Martian surface of Mars. (Corrick 1991). Robert Nemiroff of MTU and Jerry Bonnell of USRA say that gullies on Mars can be caused by groundwater that sometimes surfaces, even though other scientists disagree. (Nemiroff et al 2003). Alan Howard is being funded by NASA to study Martian hydrology. He has identified channels in two areas of Mars that seem to have been formed by precipitation, even though their age doesn’t match theories on when Mars had rain. (Howard et al 2009). Jacob Bleacher at NASA’s Goddard flight center has been looking at a single channel on the southwest of Ascraeus Mons volcano. One end of the channel appears to have been formed by water because of features such as small islands, secondary channels that branch off and re-join, and eroded bars on the inside curves. On the other end of the channel, however, they found a

ridge that appears to have been formed by a lava flow and be roofed over like a lava tube. The problem is that a single channel could not be caused by both water and lava. (Zubritsky 2010) This is a sketch of our location on Mars.

Image credit : sketch by

- This helped us look if Channels were formed by water and lava, and the coordinates for the location.

- The characteristics we found were Gullies, Chaotic Terrain, Lava Flows, Collapsed Lava Tubes, and etc.

Image Credit: Mars Global Surveyor MOC image map

Image Credit: http://www.astrobio.net/pressrelease/3423/mars-river-channels-made-by-lava

This is an example of a channel on Mars. The picture was taken by the THEMIS camera. It is in an area NE of where we are studying. This channel looks more like a lava flow. Image Credit: NASA/JPL/ASU

The channels on the upper left might show braiding which could mean they were formed by water. The picture was taken by the Mars Orbiter camera. It is in an area south of where we are studying.

The image above shows the area described by Jacob Belcher. Scientists do not agree on whether the channels were formed by water or lava.

Image Credit: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9d/Thurston_Lava_Tube.jpg In some cases, lava flows through a tube or tunnel underground. Later the roof of the tunnel collapses leaving a channel.

This picture shows that cut cliffs and layers of floodplain deposits are characteristics of water made channels. (www.geointeractive.co.uk/.../River%20Studies%20Overview.ppt)

If the features you are studying are found on Earth, how are they thought to be formed?

When thinking about the features here on earth that are similar to Mars we look at the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service, which says that there are several visual indicators to suggest past water erosion such as:

Bare soil Exposed roots Terracotta’s (benches of soil deposited behind obstacles) An increase in the number and connectivity of water flow patterns between plants Soil deposition at slope changes Changes in thickness of topsoil Exposure of subsoil at the surface Rills Head cutting and/or down cutting in Gullies Sediment in streams Lakes and reservoirs Reduced plant growth. Pedestal plants or rocks

There are three types of erosions like sheet and rill erosion, gully erosion, and wind erosion (http://www.kidcyber.com.au/topics/ersoin.HTM)

-What geographic regions did you observe these features on Mars?

During our research we noticed most images of Channels seemed to be made of water. Channels were found in Vallis Region and Arabia Terra.

III.  Experiment  Design  The purpose of the experiment design section is to show how you plan to design your experiment

in order to allow other scientists to repeat it. This section includes the step-by-step process

detailing exactly what you will do to collect your data to answer your science question.

• We will use the THEMIS camera on the Mars Odyssey spacecraft. • We will focus on identifying channel features. This is important because it gives us

information on the geological history of Mars and tells us how widespread water flow happened on Mars. Some water features we will look for are gullies and chaotic terrains. Some lava features we will look for are lava flows and collapsed lava tubes.

• We will be focusing on the area in between Arabia through Shalbatana Vallis to the

Tharsis Montes area.

• We will determine if a channel was formed by lava or water by seeing how many of each feature the picture has.

• We will use JMars to observe images of Mars.

• We will split up the area of Shalbatana Vallis and Arabia Terra into 19 sections that we want to observe so people can individually observe the area and find images of the

section their looking at.

These are the websites we used to gather our data: http://themis.asu.edu/maps We will use this site to find images and figure out the location of channels. http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/ We will use this site to find information on new discoveries and

news about Mars http://video.pbs.org/video We will use the videos on this site for background information. http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/mars.html We will use images and explanations from this website to

help us understand channels How many THEMIS images will you need to gather in order to answer your science question?

We will look at multiple Themis images for our study as well as our target image. We divided our area into 19 sections and looked at 5 images for each section. As part of your experiment design, list the specific information you plan to record in a table from each image you observe, and why?

IV. Analysis Plan The purpose of the analysis plan section is to plan how to list and display your data in order to analyze it. This section may include:

• TABLE: This table represents the area we studied. Including its features, latitude, longitude and image ID.

Grid #

Image ID #

Lat (N)

Long (E)

Sediment Layers Gullies

Stream-lined Islands

Valley Networks

Chaotic Terrain

Rampart Crater

Sand Dunes

Total # of Water Features

1

v26523027 12 359 4 4 v18274018 13 318 2 2 4 v21364006 13 318 1 1 3 5 v35419013 15 318 2 2 v26523026 15 318 1 1 2

2

v10087009 14 327 2 2 4 v05968013 15 327 1 1 1 3 v09513009 15 325 1 1 2 v12608007 16 325 1 2 3 6 v11934018 14 327 1 2 1 2 6

• GRAPHS: These graphs below show Vallis region and Arabia Terra’s water and volcanic features.

Water  and  Volcanic  Features  

Water  Volcanic  

0  

20  

40  

60  

80  

100  

120  

Water  Features  in  Vallis  Reigon  

0   5   10  

 colapsed  lava  

fissure  

lava  flows  

volcano/caldera  

facture/faults  

Volcanic  Features  for  Arabia  Terra  

numbers  

• MAP: This map represents the different sections we looked at.

V. Conclusion The purpose of the conclusion section is to summarize what your team is proposing to do. What our team is proposing that we need to find information that if the channels in the Arabia Terra and the Vallis region are created by water flow or lava flow. We looked at pictures of the area that were taken by the Themis camera on the Mars Odyssey. We have come to the conclusion that most of the channels in our region were made of water by the information we were able to find in the pictures we had. There were also some lava channels the we found in some of the grids we were looking at. In grids 1,2,4,5,8,9,10,11,13,14,15,16,17, and 18 are the grids we found that have channels that were created by water. In grids 3, 6, 7, and 12 are grids we have found mostly channels that were created by lava.

VI. References

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BOOKS:

• Mars by: James A. Corrick 1991 • Journey into space By : Isaac Asimov 1998 • Stars and Planets :David H. Levy 2003

Within your proposal: In your reference section: 1. (Howard 2009)The meandering channels of mars. Mars Daily.

www.marsdaily.com/reports 2. (Zubritsky 2010) www.nasa.com/topics/solarsystem/features/mars-lava-channels.html 3. (Nemiroff 2003)www.apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap030205.html 4. (THEMIS images)www.themis.asu.edu 5. (JMars)www.jmars.asu.edu 6. (Google Mars)www.google.com/mars