canyons, craters and drifting dunes -terrestrial analogues on earth’s moon & mars

8/9/2019 Canyons, Craters and Drifting Dunes -Terrestrial Analogues on Earths Moon & Mars

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Canyons, Craters and Drifting DunesCanyons, Craters and Drifting Dunes -- --Terrestrial Analogues on Earth s Moon & MarsTerrestrial Analogues on Earth s Moon & Mars

Kimberly J. Willis,Kimberly J. Willis,Patricia Wood Dickerson,Patricia Wood Dickerson,

and Brett H. McRayand Brett H. McRay

Office of Earth Sciences

NASA Johnson Space Center Lockheed MartinSpace Operations


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Earth and MoonEarth and Moon

B efore heading towards Jupiter the Galileo spacecraft took these last images of the Earth andMoon in 1992. Although this image is a composite of two images, the scale is realistic.Please note that lunar and terrestrial features shown in this sequence are analogues inmorphology but not necessarily in size or in mode of formation.


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Exploring the MoonExploring the Moon

Apollo 15 astronauts Dave Scott (right) and Jim Irwin (left) received geology training alongthe rim of the Rio Grande Gorge. The landing site for Apollo 15 was Hadley Rille locatedalong the rim of Mare Imbrium. The Rio Grande Gorge was considered the closestterrestrial analogue to Hadley since both were over 100 km wide, greater than 1 km in widthand over 200 m deep. On the moon Jim Irwin is seen digging a trench to sample lunar regolith.


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Canyon WallsCanyon Walls -- -- Earth and MoonEarth and Moon

Layered igneous bedrock is visible along the upper 60 m of Hadley Rille (left) which isbelieved to be a collapsed lava tube or channel about 3.3 billion years (b.y.) in age.B ecause of its similar dimensions and bedrock, the Rio Grande Gorge, New Mexico, waschosen as the training site for Apollo 15 astronauts. The steep-walled canyon (right)exposes a cross section of a volcano-covered plateau; the Servilleta basalt is nearlyidentical to basalts of the ocean floor (3.6 to 4.5 million years old).


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G rabens on Earth and MoonG rabens on Earth and Moon

Grabens, downdropped blocks between parallel faults, develop where planetary crust isstretched. The Dead Sea (NW view - left) lies in a fault valley that is forming as the

Arabian tectonic plate pulls away from the African plate in response to Red Sea rifting.Most lunar grabens are found at edges of mare basins and were caused by extensionalforces created when the basins filled with lava (~3 b.y. ago). Increasing weight in basinscreates tension along the margins, followed by faulting and foundering of grabens.


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Co m plex CratersCo m plex Craters -- -- Earth and MoonEarth and Moon

Although the scale may vary, craters on different planetary bodies share similar characteristics. Manicouagan crater in Quebec, Canada, and Copernicus crater on theMoon are both complex craters. Terraced walls and a central peak are exhibited by the 93km diameter Copernicus crater. Manicouagan (100 km diameter) is an eroded crater where a resistant melt sheet is surrounded by a 70 km frozen reservoir. The difference inerosion rates is readily apparent by the youthful looking,


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S im ple CratersS im ple Craters -- -- Earth and MoonEarth and Moon

This simple crater in Arizona has been called Arizona crater, B arringer crater, and Meteor crater. B oth lunar and terrestrial simple craters share the same bowl shape. Meteor crater was formed 50,000 years ago by the impact of a 100,000-ton iron meteorite resulting, in the1.2-km-diameter crater visible today. The simple lunar crater (right) is Isidorus D, is 15 kmin diameter and is located in the lunar highlands.


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Earth and MarsEarth and Mars

Mars is about half the size of Earth and lacks oceans, but on the Martian surface arefeatures analogous to those on Earth: polar caps, volcanoes, canyons, impact craters,dunes, drainage channels, clouds, dust storms. Please note that features shown in thissequence are analogues in morphology but not necessarily in size or mode of formation.


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Cratered TerrainCratered Terrain -- -- Earth and MarsEarth and Mars

The heavily cratered terrain on Mars resembles the highlands of the Moon. The denselycratered southern hemisphere indicates an older age, possibly as old as 4 b.y. ascompared to other regions, i.e., Valles Marineris, Olympus Mons, etc. The larger craters,>20 km in diameter are shallower, with flatter floors and more limited rim deposits thansimilar sized lunar craters. The Earth has a younger surface than Mars, thanks to platetectonics. Terrestrial impact craters (left), such as Gosses B luff (central Australia) are moreeroded than are the Martian counterparts.


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Crater DetailsCrater Details -- -- Earth and MarsEarth and Mars

Details of Gosses B luff impact crater in the orange semi-desert of Australia and Arandes onMars. Gosses B luff crater is 22 km in diameter and about 142 m.y. old; the erodedremnant of the 5-km inner peak ring is visible (arrow). On the right is the 28-km-diameter Martian crater Arandes. A central peak can be seen at the center of the crater.


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I gneous & Im pact CratersI gneous & Im pact Craters -- -- EarthEarth

Volcanoes of the Tibesti Massif (left) in Chad, the highest point in the Sahara, are believedto arise from a hot spot under the African continent. Emi Koussi is the southernmostvolcano in this SW-looking view. While most circular features in Tibesti are volcanoes,there is one exception, the Aorounga impact crater in the windstreaks southeast of EmiKoussi volcano.


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I gneous & Im pact CratersI gneous & Im pact Craters -- -- DetailDetail

Volcanoes on Mars tend to be larger than their terrestrial counterparts. Elysium Mons (left)is on the Elysium B ulge southwest of Olympus Mons. This shield volcano rises 9 km abovethe surrounding plains and the summit caldera is ~15 km in diameter. Emi Koussi is one of several volcanoes on the Tibesti Massif in Chad, Emi Koussi is a Holocene stratovolcano~101 km wide and 2.3 km high. The summit caldera is 19 km wide.


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Dendritic PatternsDendritic Patterns -- -- Earth and MarsEarth and Mars

The Okavango River in B otswana, Africa empties into no sea or ocean, instead it flowsinto a broad shallow graben. The dark patches on the delta are swamps, the parallellinear features are stabilized sand dunes. The Martian valley network on the right is inthe southern hemisphere within the cratered terrain. The Mars image is 200 km across.


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S hifting S andsS hifting S ands ---- Earth and MarsEarth and Mars

Sand dunes are common in some regions on Earth and Mars. In Saudi Arabia dunes formin the lowlands of the Saudi Arabian peninsula. One of the major dune fields is An Nafud innorthern Saudi. Two major dune types predominate. B archan dunes are crescent shapedand the tips of the crescent point downwind. Transverse dunes are linear andperpendicular to the wind direction. This kind of dune forms where winds are strong andsand is abundant. Dunes in the An Nafud field can reach heights of 90m. B archan andtransverse dunes are also visible in the Mars image.


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S hifting S andsS hifting S ands ---- DetailDetail

Small barchan dunes (left image - horizontal linear features below and next to SandwichB ay) occur in the northern section of the Namib Sand Sea. Terrestrial barchan dunesindicate a unidirectional wind source. The long features from the lower right to upper center are linear dunes. On the right is a Mars Global Surveyor image of barchan duneslocated near the north polar cap (74.7N, 61.4W). The light color of the dunes is due to acovering of frost.


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Vast Canyons Vast Canyons -- -- Earth and MarsEarth and Mars

The vast canyonlands of the Colorado Plateau and Mars share great valleys and similarlycolored landscapes. As on Mars, the reds and pinks of this terrestrial region are caused byoxidation of tiny iron particles. Uplift in Utah ~10 million years ago caused the ColoradoRiver to cut canyons deep into the plateau. The origin of Valles Marineris is thought to berelated to the rise of the Tharsis B ulge to the west. This uplift stressed and fractured theMartian crust, creating the 7 to 10-km-deep valley. The Mars image on the right is

approximately 475 km across.


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Canyon DetailsCanyon Details -- -- Earth and MarsEarth and Mars

Earths closest analogue to Valles Marineris is the Grand Canyon. Even though Mars isabout half the size of Earth, Valles Marineris is about 4 times deeper, 20 times wider, and10 times longer than the Grand Canyon. At 4,000 km long, Valles Marineris would almostspan the distance from the west coast to the east coast of the United States. The imageon the right is 60 km across.


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H igh, Dry ValleysH igh, Dry Valleys ---- Earth and MarsEarth and Mars

Mount Everest stands out at the center of the left image. Glaciers flow from the highTibetan Himalayas. At 8,850 m the summit of Everest is the highest point on Earth that isentirely above sea level. In the Nilosyrtis area (34 r N, 290 r W) the ridges and grooves in thevalley are suggestive of glacial flow. The right image is approximately 35 km across.


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Towering VolcanoesTowering Volcanoes -- -- Earth and MarsEarth and Mars

The Island of Hawaii is often used as an analogue to Olympus Mons as both are largeshield volcanoes. Scale is where the similarity ends. If the subsea volcanic edifice isconsidered as well as that above sea level, the elevation of Hawaii is 9 km. Olympus Monsis the highest volcano in the Solar System at 27 km above the surrounding plains, making it3 times higher than Mount Everest.


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G reat VolcanoesG reat Volcanoes -- -- DetailsDetails

F ive volcanoes make up the Island of Hawaii, Mauna Loa, Mauna Kea, Kilauea, Kohala,and Hualalai. Although the appearance of the summit calderas for Mauna Loa andOlympus Mons are similar there is a great difference in scale. The caldera of OlympusMons is 80 km while that of Mauna Loa is 5 km X 3.2 km in diameter.


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Volcanic Craters Volcanic Craters -- -- Earth and MarsEarth and Mars

At 5,895 m, Mount Kilimanjaro is the highest point in Africa. Kilimanjaro is composed of three volcanoes, Kibo, Mawensi, and Shira. The highest peak is capped by a glacier.

Ascreus Mons is one of three volcanoes in the Tharsis B ulge, situated between OlympusMons (west) and Valles Marineris (east). Ascreus is a giant shield volcano that may havebeen capped by a glacier under earlier Martian climatic conditions.


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G laciersG laciers -- -- Earth and MarsEarth and Mars

At 20 km wide, B yrd Glacier is the largest glacier in the Transantarctic Mountains. It is alsoone of the fastest moving glaciers in Antarctica, advancing several hundred meters per year. The Mars image is of layered terrain in the north polar area. The polar caps on Marsare made up primarily of frozen CO 2 and are much thinner than are polar caps on Earth.Small amounts of water ice are present in the Martian polar caps.


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Man must rise above the Earth --to the top of the atmosphere and beyond --

only thus will he fully understand the world in which he lives.Socrates, 500 B .C.


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Planetary Resource List

B urgess, E. T o the Red Planet. New York: Columbia University Press, 1978. 181 pp.

Carr, M. H., and Greely R., Volcanic Features of Hawaii: A Basis for Comparison with Mars,NASA SP-403, Washington D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1980. 211 pp.F rankel, C. Volcanoes of the Solar System. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1996.

232 pp.Glass, B . P. Introduction to Planetary Geology. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press,

1982. 469 pp.Goldsmith, D. T he Ultimate Planets: Your Definitive Guide to the Solar System and Beyond.

New York: B yron Preiss Multimedia Comapny, Inc., 1998. 196 pp.Greeley, R. Planetary Landscapes. B oston: Allen & Unwin, Inc., 1987. 275 pp.

Hartman, W. K., et al., Out of the Cradle: Exploring the Frontiers Beyond Earth. New York:Workman Publishing, 1984. 190 pp.

Hartman, W. K. Moons and Planets, 2d ed. B elmont: Wadsworth, Inc., 1983. 509 pp.Melosh, H. J. Impact Cratering: A Geologic Process. New York: Oxford University Press,

1989. 245 pp.Spudis, P. D. T he Once and Future Moon. Washington and London: Smithsonian Institution

Press, 1996. 308 pp.Strain, P., and Engle, F . Looking at Earth. Atlanta: Turner Publishing, Inc., 1992. 304 pp.Wilford, N. W. Mars Beckons: T he Mysteries, the Challenges, the Expectations of Our Next

Great Adventure in Space. New York: Alfred a. Knopf, Inc., 1990. 244 pp.Wilhelms, D. E. T o a Rocky Moon: A Geologists History of Lunar Exploration. Tucson &

London: University of Arizona Press, 1993. 477 pp.


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C anyons, C raters and Drifting Dunes -Terrestrial Analogues and Earths Moon and Mars

K imberly Willis, Patricia Wood Dickerson and Brett McRay

NASA -- Johnson Space Center OFF ICE O F EARTH SCIENCES -- Kamlesh Lulla, Chief

canyons, craters and drifting dunes -terrestrial analogues on earth’s moon & mars

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