Martian surface roughness and stratigraphy

Abstract

Orbital datasets can be combined and manipulated to learn about the three-dimensional structure of planetary surfaces, and the processes that have acted on them. The Mars Orbital Camera (MOC) is providing high-resolution images. These images allow qualitative inspection of features, and contain quantitative information about the shape of the surface. Using a photoclinometry technique derived from a lunar-Lambert photometric function, I am able to obtain estimates of the down-sun slope of each pixel in an image. This technique was calibrated against synthetic topography, compared to an area photoclinometry technique, and applied to the Viking and Pathfinder landing sites. It is a robust technique for obtaining the roughness and slope characteristics of large areas. It was applied to the potential landing sites for the Mars Exploration Rovers to evaluate site safety. The slopes from this point photoclinometry technique can be used to obtain a rough estimate of topography, which I used in a number of studies where topographic information was crucial. MOC images have shown that layering is pervasive on the martian surface. Mars Orbital Laser Altimeter (MOLA) data can be registered to MOC images to provide elevation constraints on layer outcrops. Such layers are observed in eastern Coprates Chasma both in the chasma rim and in a flat-topped massif. Observations indicate that the chasma stratigraphy consists of thin sequences of resistant layers and intervening thicker sequences of relatively less resistant layers. More resistant units cap the massif against erosion and result in steeper slopes than the weaker units would otherwise allow. These resistant layers can be used as stratigraphic markers which have allowed me to measure the subsidence and tilting of the massif relative to the chasma walls, providing evidence for tectonic motion in this portion of the Valles Marineris. These outcrops indicate that some of these layers may be analogus to terristrial flood basalts in both composition and extent. I have constrained the dip angle of finely layered sequences in Ganges and Hebes Mensae. These layers are either flat lying or dip shallowly, but do not dip steeply, which places some constraints on the origin of these mensae.