Thermophysical and Morphologic Unit Mapping of Gusev Crater Using THEMIS Infrared and Visible Imaging

Details Thermophysical and Morphologic Unit Mapping of Gusev Crater Using THEMIS Infrared and Visible Imaging Thermophysical and Morphologic Unit Mapping of Gusev Crater Using THEMIS Infrared and Visible Imaging

Dec 2002

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2002agufm.p12b0370m&link_type=abstract

American Geophysical Union, Fall Meeting 2002, abstract #P12B-0370

Mathematics

Logic

5460 Physical Properties Of Materials, 5464 Remote Sensing, 5470 Surface Materials And Properties, 5494 Instruments And Techniques, 6225 Mars

Scientific paper

Gusev Crater (160 km diameter) is hypothesized to have been a lacustrine depocenter, making it a prime landing site candidate for Mars Exploration Rover (MER) missions. Primary flow and sediment transport originated from Ma'adim Vallis, a large channel that debouches into Gusev, with outflow through the NW crater rim. Interior units of Gusev have been interpreted as deposits from fluvial resurfacing during the Noachian, Hesperian, and early Amazonian periods. Previous crater counting work suggests that the Gusev-Ma'adim hydrologic system was active from ~0.7-2 Ga. Geomorphic and topographic features in Gusev and Ma'adim Vallis are critical to the hypothesis that water emptied and ponded periodically in the basin. MOLA topography indicates Gusev's floor <2500 m below the adjacent highlands. Some interpretations of Viking imagery suggest shoreline terraces, dissected deltaic deposits, and sedimentary structures consistent with deposition in an ice-covered lake. Higher-resolution MOC images, however, reveal no obvious lacustrine features. Mars Odyssey's Thermal Emission Imaging System (THEMIS) provides visible (18 m/pixel) imagery, and when compared to Viking and MGS-MOC data, shows low-albedo material being re-distributed over the last 25 years. Visible imagery also reveals multiple (4+) wind directions. THEMIS visible and thermal infrared (100 m/pixel) data were also used to delineate 8 units based on thermophysical and morphologic properties. Thermophysical units were qualitatively characterized by albedo and daytime-nighttime IR determined temperature differences. Morphologic units were characterized by topography, crater densities, erosional features, lineations, etc. Six of the 8 units lie within the MER landing ellipse. Use of both THEMIS and MGS-MOLA data allows a stratigraphic sequence to be inferred; however, uniquely lacustrine features have not been identified. Comparisons with previous photogeologic maps of Gusev show some discrepancies between mapped units, which may relate to lithologic characteristics only observable in thermal emission data at high spatial resolution.

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