A New View of the Surface of Mars: High-Resolution Rock Abundance from MGS TES

Physics

Scientific paper

Rate now

  [ 0.00 ] – not rated yet Voters 0   Comments 0

Details

5470 Surface Materials And Properties

Scientific paper

Mars Global Surveyor Thermal Emission Spectrometer data from the most dust-free seasons on Mars were used to calculate the areal percentage of rocks and finer materials such as dust and sand. Rock is defined as a surface material that has a thermal inertia of 1250 J/m2-s1/2-K (30 cal/cm2-s1/2-K) or greater. A surface with a high rock abundance value could be exposed bedrock, blocky debris, well-cemented materials or a combination. Globally, the TES and IRTM data agree well, with no rocks exposed in the large dusty regions such as Tharsis and Arabia, and exposure of rocks in small (a few km) areas where likely eolian or mass-wasting processes actively remove dust from the ancient rocky surface. Analysis of high-resolution TES rock abundance suggests that there are extremely varied surfaces within relatively small regions, and places an upper limit of ~45 % rocks in the rockiest regions. Thermal inertia and rock abundance are correlate to some degree over much of the planet, but the highest thermal inertia surfaces often do not have the highest rock abundances. A global perspective will be presented here, with detailed look at a few high-resolution ares including Ares Vallis/Pathfinder, Valles Marineris, and the proposed landing sites for the 2003 MER landers.

No associations

LandOfFree

Say what you really think

Search LandOfFree.com for scientists and scientific papers. Rate them and share your experience with other people.

Rating

A New View of the Surface of Mars: High-Resolution Rock Abundance from MGS TES does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this scientific paper.

If you have personal experience with A New View of the Surface of Mars: High-Resolution Rock Abundance from MGS TES, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and A New View of the Surface of Mars: High-Resolution Rock Abundance from MGS TES will most certainly appreciate the feedback.

Rate now

     

Profile ID: LFWR-SCP-O-1239497

  Search
All data on this website is collected from public sources. Our data reflects the most accurate information available at the time of publication.