The Mars 2000 Keck Undergraduate Research Project: Assessing the regional geology of the Cerberus Plains Region, Mars

Mathematics – Logic

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5400 Planetology: Solid Surface Planets, 5475 Tectonics (8149), 5480 Volcanism (8450), 6225 Mars, 6605 Education

Scientific paper

During summer 2000, the Keck Geology Consortium, NSF, and the Mars Orbiter Laser Altimeter (MOLA) team funded a five-week-long planetary geology undergraduate research project at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. Ten undergraduate students in five teams formulated original, independent research projects for the Cerberus Plains of Mars (2-21N, 176-190E) using the latest MOLA topography and available Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) and Viking images. Our goals were to assess the region's suitability as a landing site and understand the relative importance of the regional geologic processes in the context of the new MGS data. Students were encouraged to consider submission of an abstract to the 14th Keck Research Symposium in Geology and the 32nd Lunar and Planetary Science Conference (LPSC) in the spring of 2001 as their functional goals. The project was organized into three working phases. Initially, several days in lecture and demonstration modes introduced remote sensing techniques, the geology and geomorphology of Mars, landing site selection constraints, and the initiation of life on Earth. This included hands-on introduction sessions with MGS and Viking data sets. The faculty and students then worked collectively to define a group study area, form student teams, and select team research topics. The teams submitted proposals defining research objectives, approaches, and potential significance of their expected results. The central three weeks were used for data collection and quantitative analysis, and the students assembled their research papers as they went. Topics included assessment of (a) Orcus Patera's origin, (b) Marte Vallis' fluvial channel flow, (c) Marte Valles' lava channel flow, (d) regional wrinkle ridge formation, and (e) regional stratigraphy and unit ages. This culminated in a short phase of oral presentations, poster construction, and paper completion. All five student teams have submitted abstracts to the Keck research symposium as well as presented their work at LPSC, and several have presented in other forums.

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