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Analysis of a new geomorphological inventory of landslides in Valles Marineris, Mars
Komatsu, Goro; Brunetti, Maria Teresa; Guzzetti, Fausto +5 more
We completed a systematic mapping of landslides in a 105km2 area in Tithonium and Ius Chasmata, Valles Marineris, Mars, where landslides are abundant. Using visual interpretation of medium to high-resolution optical images, we mapped and classified the geometry of 219 mass wasting features, including rock slides, complex/comp…
Integration of Chang'E-2 imagery and LRO laser altimeter data with a combined block adjustment for precision lunar topographic modeling
Wu, Bo; Guo, Jian; Hu, Han
Lunar topographic information is essential for lunar scientific investigations and exploration missions. Lunar orbiter imagery and laser altimeter data are two major data sources for lunar topographic modeling. Most previous studies have processed the imagery and laser altimeter data separately for lunar topographic modeling, and there are usually…
Shape of scoria cones on Mars: Insights from numerical modeling of ballistic pathways
Hauber, Ernst; Rossi, Angelo Pio; Čadek, Ondřej +1 more
Morphological observations of scoria cones on Mars show that their cross-sectional shapes are different from those on Earth. Due to lower gravity and atmospheric pressure on Mars, particles are spread over a larger area than on Earth. Hence, erupted volumes are typically not large enough for the flank slopes to attain the angle of repose, in contr…
Interannual observations and quantification of summertime H2O ice deposition on the Martian CO2 ice south polar cap
Brown, Adrian J.; Piqueux, Sylvain; Titus, Timothy N.
The spectral signature of water ice was observed on Martian south polar cap in 2004 by the Observatoire pour l'Mineralogie, l'Eau les Glaces et l'Activite (OMEGA) (Bibring et al., 2004). Three years later, the OMEGA instrument was used to discover water ice deposited during southern summer on the polar cap (Langevin et al., 2007). However, tempora…
Sedimentation waves on the Martian North Polar Cap: Analogy with megadunes in Antarctica
Le Mouélic, S.; Rodriguez, S.; Spiga, A. +6 more
Complex interactions between katabatic winds and the cryosphere may lead to the formation of sedimentation waves at the surface of ice sheets. These have been first described and named snow megadunes in Antarctica. Here we use topographic data, optical images, subsurface radar soundings and spectroscopic data acquired by Mars orbiters, to show tha…
The dominance of cold and dry alteration processes on recent Mars, as revealed through pan-spectral orbital analyses
Mustard, J. F.; Head, J. W.; Rogers, A. D. +2 more
Classic low-albedo regions of the martian surface are investigated using combined reflectance and emission (;pan-spectral;) data to constrain the types of alteration mineral phases that are present at spectrally significant abundances (>10-15%). The lack of hydrated mineral species observed using near-infrared data suggests that anhydrous chemi…
Laboratory spectroscopic detection of hydration in pristine lunar regolith
Izawa, Matthew R. M.; Cloutis, Edward A.; Applin, Daniel M. +3 more
Reflectance spectroscopy of Apollo lunar soil samples curated in an air- and water-free, sealed environment since recovery and return to Earth has been carried out under water-, oxygen-, CO2- and organic-controlled conditions. Spectra of these pristine samples contain features near 3 µm wavelength similar to those observed from th…
Efflorescence as a source of hydrated sulfate minerals in valley settings on Mars
Vaniman, David T.; Szynkiewicz, Anna; Borrok, David M.
A distinctive sulfur cycle dominates many geological processes on Mars and hydrated sulfate minerals are found in numerous topographic settings with widespread occurrences on the Martian surface. However, many of the key processes controlling the hydrological transport of sulfur, including sulfur sources, climate and the depositional history that …