Brenda J. Franklin

Primary centers and secondary concentrations of tectonic activity through time in the western hemisphere of Mars

Five main stages of radial and concentric structures formed around Tharsis from the Noachian through the Amazonian as determined by geologic mapping of 24,452 structures within the stratigraphic framework of Mars and by testing their radial and concentric orientations. Tectonic activity peaked in the Noachian (stage 1) around the largest center, Claritas, an elongate center extending more than 20° in latitude and defined by about half of the total grabens which are concentrated in the Syria Planum, Thaumasia, and Tempe Terra regions. During the Late Noachian and Early Hesperian (stage 2), extensional structures formed along the length of present-day Valles Marineris and in Thaumasia (with a secondary concentration near Warrego Vallis) radial to a region just to the south of the central margin of Valles Marineris. Early Hesperian (stage 3) radial grabens in Pavonis, Syria, Ulysses, and Tempe Terra and somewhat concentric wrinkle ridges in Lunae and Solis Plana and in Thaumasia, Sirenum, Memnonia, and Amazonis are centered northwest of Syria with secondary centers at Thaumasia, Tempe Terra, Ulysses Fossae, and western Valles Marineris. Late Hesperian/Early Amazonian (stage 4) structures around Alba Patera, the northeast trending alignment of Tharsis Montes, and Olympus Mons appears centered on Alba Patera. Stage 5 structures (Middle-Late Amazonian) represent the last pulse of Tharsis-related activity and are found around the large shield volcanoes and are centered near Pavonis Mons. Tectonic activity around Tharsis began in the Noachian and generally decreased through geologic time to the Amazonian. Statistically significant radial distributions of structures formed during each stage, centered at different locations within the higher elevations of Tharsis. Secondary centers of radial structures during many of the stages appear related to previously identified local magmatic centers that formed at different times and locations throughout Tharsis.

Overview of the Microscopic Imager Investigation during Spirit's first 450 sols in Gusev crater

The Microscopic Imager (MI) on the Mars Exploration Rover Spirit has returned images of Mars with higher resolution than any previous camera system, allowing detailed petrographic and sedimentological studies of the rocks and soils at the Gusev landing site. Designed to simulate a geologists hand lens, the MI is mounted on Spirits instrument arm and can resolve objects 0.1 mm in size or larger. This paper provides an overview of MI operations, data calibration, processing, and analysis of MI data returned during the first 450 sols (Mars days) of the Spirit landed mission. The primary goal of this paper is to facilitate further analyses of MI data by summarizing the methods used to acquire and process the data, the radiometric and geometric accuracy of MI data products, and the availability of archival products. In addition, scientific results of the MI investigation are summarized. MI observations show that poorly sorted soils are common in Gusev crater, although aeolian bedforms have well-sorted coarse sand grains on their surfaces. Abraded surfaces of plains rocks show igneous textures, light-toned veins or fracture-filling minerals, and discrete coatings. The rocks in the Columbia Hills have a wide variety of granular textures, consistent with volcaniclastic or impact origins. Case hardening and submillimeter veins observed in the rocks as well as soil crusts and cemented clods imply episodic subsurface aqueous fluid movement, which has altered multiple geologic units in the Columbia Hills. The MI also monitored Spirits solar panels and the magnets on the rovers deck.

Extension across Tempe Terra, Mars, from measurements of fault scarp widths and deformed craters

Two independent methods, with no common assumptions, have been used to estimate the extension across the heavily deformed Tempe Terra province of the Tharsis region of Mars. One method uses measurements of normal fault scarp width with average scarp slope data for simple grabens and rifts on Mars to estimate the fault throw, which, combined with sparse fault dip data, can be used to estimate extension. Formal uncertainties in this method are only slightly greater than those in other methods, given that the total uncertainty is dominated by the likely uncertainty in the fault dip (assumed to be 60° ± 15°). Measurement of normal fault scarp widths along two N25°–50°W directed traverses across Tempe Terra both yield about 22 ± 16 km of extension (or ∼2% strain across the northern traverse and nearly 3% across the southern one). About three quarters of the extension has occurred during the two main phases of Tharsis-related deformation from Middle/Late Noachian to Early Hesperian and from Late Hesperian to Early Amazonian, with more extension closer to the center of Tharsis during the first phase. Extension across the region was also determined by measuring the elongation and elongation direction of all ancient Noachian impact craters without ejecta blankets, which predate most of the deformation. Results have been corrected for initial non circularity of craters, established from similar measurements of young (post deformation) impact craters, yielding a statistically significant mean strain of 1.96 ± 0.35% in a N38° ± 10°W direction across Tempe Terra (extension of ∼20 ± 4, comparable in magnitude and direction to the average result from the scarp measurement method). Both methods indicate an average extension for single normal fault scarps (and shortening across wrinkle ridges for the crater method) of ∼100 m. The agreement between the results of the two independent methods in overall extension and average single normal fault extension argues that the average scarp slope and fault dip data in the fault scarp width method accurately represent the actual extension across the observed structures. This conclusion supports existing geometric and kinematic models for structural features on Mars. A preliminary estimate of the total circumferential extension around Tharsis (at a radius of ∼2500 km) is roughly 60 ± 42 km; total hoop strain is about 0.4% distributed heterogeneously (Tempe Terra is the most highly strained region on Mars).

Surface processes recorded by rocks and soils on Meridiani Planum, Mars: Microscopic Imager observations during Opportunity's first three extended missions

The Microscopic Imager (MI) on the Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity has returned images of Mars with higher resolution than any previous camera system, allowing detailed petrographic and sedimentological studies of the rocks and soils at the Meridiani Planum landing site. Designed to simulate a geologists hand lens, the MI is mounted on Opportunitys instrument arm and can resolve objects 0.1 mm across or larger. This paper provides an overview of MI operations, data calibration, and analysis of MI data returned during the first 900 sols (Mars days) of the Opportunity landed mission. Analyses of Opportunity MI data have helped to resolve major questions about the origin of observed textures and features. These studies support eolian sediment transport, rather than impact surge processes, as the dominant depositional mechanism for Burns formation strata. MI stereo observations of a rock outcrop near the rim of Erebus Crater support the previous interpretation of similar sedimentary structures in Eagle Crater as being formed by surficial flow of liquid water. Well-sorted spherules dominate ripple surfaces on the Meridiani plains, and the size of spherules between ripples decreases by about 1 mm from north to south along Opportunitys traverse between Endurance and Erebus craters.

The northern plains: A Martian oceanic basin?

This chapter describes recent and ongoing work to utilize the new image and topography data to revisit sites along the lowland/upland boundary where landforms were identified in Viking Orbiter images and interpreted to be ocean shorelines. Ancient shorelines on Mars should not be precisely level, although it should be possible to recognize systematic changes in elevation along the shoreline due to these effects. A rare, very high-resolution swath of Viking images of the wall of one of the westernmost fretted valleys of the Mensae shows that the prominent boundary features visible on the sloping surface to the west can be traced into the fretted terrain, suggesting either erosional exposure of stratigraphic contacts by the fretted terrain or emplacement of the contacts after it. They were interpreted to be most comparable to wave-eroded shorelines in terrestrial paleolakes. Starting at the Arabia Level and working plainward, plains textures transition from “smooth plains” between the Arabia and Ismenius Levels, to small-scale polygonally patterned ground between the Ismenius and Deuteronilus Levels, to thumbprint terrain between the Deuteronilus and Acidalia Levels, to mottled plains below the Acidalia Level. Four of the newly identified landforms at the Deuteronilus and Ismenius Levels might be best understood as related to brief disruptions of a thick debris-and ice-covered ocean, that is, the fluvial rilles above the Ismenius Level, and the lobate mounds, dark streaks, and platy flow-textured plains between the two levels.