Mathematics – Logic
Scientific paper
Dec 2002
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2002agufm.p22a0387c&link_type=abstract
American Geophysical Union, Fall Meeting 2002, abstract #P22A-0387
Mathematics
Logic
6207 Comparative Planetology, 6225 Mars, 6299 General Or Miscellaneous
Scientific paper
MER target ellipses being consider for a Mars Exploration Rover site in Isidis are located on plains material sloping from the Libya Montes, massifs forming the southern rim of the Isidis basin. The bedrock material of the southern Isidis basin rim is stratigraphically the lowest (oldest) exposed Noachian material on Mars. The massifs and intermontane areas were highly degraded by valley networks that converge to form major trunk valleys. Fluvial activity occurred during an early (Noachian) period of water discharge, erosion, and sedimentation. Relatively flat-lying, intermontane basins within the highland, frequently situated in very eroded impact basins, lie along the path of major valleys and form a series of paleolake basins. These major valleys in turn terminate at the highland-lowland boundary on the interior slope of the Isidis basin. Below the boundary in the ellipse area, the surface has morphological and remote-sensing characteristics interpreted as sedimentary fans, reworked mass-wasting material, lacustrine deposits, or volcanic materials. Current images do not reveal whether valleys, sourced in Libya Montes, connect with those revealed locally in MOC images in the proposed target ellipse area. However, even if such connections are not found, it is clear that the Isidis basin margins must include sediments derived from the highlands and local highland paleolake basins, and transported via the valley systems. Later geologic events such as regional mass movements, late influences of ground water or ice (including possible thin lacustrine deposition), and impact gardening likely have mixed and modified the original deposits. While burial by younger volcanic materials cannot be entirely ruled out, we have not identified any diagnostic vent or flow structures within the highlands or marginal plains. In the plains below the landing ellipse, arcuate chains of pitted cones reflect possible small volcanic or cryovolcanic eruptions that probably have affected the landing site little, if at all. Remote sensing data sets imply the likely presence of a diverse mineralogy, particularly iron, and materials of likely sedimentary origin within the target ellipses. Surface evidence for the most persistent boundary layer wind orientations imply strong east-west winds, where current dynamic models of atmospheric predict largely north-south winds in the target area. If one of the MER rovers goes to Isidis, a rich sampling of ancient rock debris, formed initially when the surface activity of water was greatest and perhaps reworked by younger, volatile-assisted processes, likely awaits.
Crumpler Larry S.
Tanaka Ken L.
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