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Crater Gradation In Gusev Crater And Meridiani Planum, Mars, J. A. Grant, Raymond E. Arvidson, L. S. Crumpler, Matt P. Golombek, B. Hahn, A. F.C. Haldemann, Rongxing Li, L. A. Soderblom, Steven W. Squyres, S. P. Wright, Wesley Andres Watters
Crater Gradation In Gusev Crater And Meridiani Planum, Mars, J. A. Grant, Raymond E. Arvidson, L. S. Crumpler, Matt P. Golombek, B. Hahn, A. F.C. Haldemann, Rongxing Li, L. A. Soderblom, Steven W. Squyres, S. P. Wright, Wesley Andres Watters
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The Mars Exploration Rovers investigated numerous craters in Gusev crater and Meridiani Planum during the first ∼400 sols of their missions. Craters vary in size and preservation state but are mostly due to secondary impacts at Gusev and primary impacts at Meridiani. Craters at both locations are modified primarily by eolian erosion and infilling and lack evidence for modification by aqueous processes. Effects of gradation on crater form are dependent on size, local lithology, slopes, and availability of mobile sediments. At Gusev, impacts into basaltic rubble create shallow craters and ejecta composed of resistant rocks. Ejecta initially experience eolian stripping, …
Spatial Grain Size Sorting In Eolian Ripples And Estimation Of Wind Conditions On Planetary Surfaces: Application To Meridiani Planum, Mars, Douglas J. Jerolmack, David Mohrig, John P. Grotzinger, David A. Fike, Wesley Andres Watters
Spatial Grain Size Sorting In Eolian Ripples And Estimation Of Wind Conditions On Planetary Surfaces: Application To Meridiani Planum, Mars, Douglas J. Jerolmack, David Mohrig, John P. Grotzinger, David A. Fike, Wesley Andres Watters
Faculty Research and Scholarship
The landscape seen by the Mars Exploration Rover (MER) Opportunity at Meridiani Planum is dominated by eolian (wind-blown) ripples with concentrated surface lags of hematitic spherules and fragments. These ripples exhibit profound spatial grain size sorting, with well-sorted coarse-grained crests and poorly sorted, generally finer-grained troughs. These ripples were the most common bed form encountered by Opportunity in its traverse from Eagle Crater to Endurance Crater. Field measurements from White Sands National Monument, New Mexico, show that such coarse-grained ripples form by the different transport modes of coarse- and fine-grain fractions. On the basis of our field study, and simple …