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Full-Text Articles in Geology
A Field Guide To Jezero Crater, Mars, Lee Adair
A Field Guide To Jezero Crater, Mars, Lee Adair
WWU Honors College Senior Projects
This project aims to blend art, creative writing, and scientific inquiry to explore the possibilities of geology research on our neighboring planet, Mars. This exploratory field guide combines journals, notes, and images to inform the reader of what they can expect to see on the Martian surface.
Mastcam Multispectral Database From The Curiosity Rover’S Traverse In Gale Crater, Mars (Sols 0-2302), Melissa S. Rice
Mastcam Multispectral Database From The Curiosity Rover’S Traverse In Gale Crater, Mars (Sols 0-2302), Melissa S. Rice
Geology Faculty Publications
The Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) Curiosity rover has explored fluvio-deltaic, lacustrine, and aeolian strata as it climbed over 400 m in elevation over the first 2302 sols of its traverse. Curiosity’s Mast Camera (Mastcam) instrument is a pair of multispectral imagers covering visible to near-infrared (VNIR) wavelengths (445 nm - 1013 nm). Mastcam spectra can broadly distinguish between iron phases and oxidation states, and in combination with chemical data from other instruments, Mastcam spectra can help constrain mineralogy, depositional origin, and diagenesis. This dataset includes representative Mastcam spectra from >600 multispectral observations acquired across Curiosity’s traverse through Vera Rubin ridge …
Spectral Variability In Naturally Weathered Rock Surfaces And Implications For Mars, Sabrina Curtis
Spectral Variability In Naturally Weathered Rock Surfaces And Implications For Mars, Sabrina Curtis
WWU Graduate School Collection
Rock weathering products are important clues for understanding past environmental conditions on Mars. They can be identified using reflectance spectroscopy because the formation of new minerals and textures on a rock surface will change its spectral signature. Previous studies demonstrate that the spectral signature of coated rock surfaces can vary with viewing geometry (the angle between incident and emitted light); however, these photometric effects have not been extensively characterized for naturally weathered rocks. My goal in this study is to quantify how both weathering and viewing geometry affect visible to near-infrared (VNIR) reflectance spectra of a subset of naturally weathered …
Martian Spectroscopy: Laboratory Calibration Of The Perseverance Rover’S Mastcam-Z And Photometric Investigation Of Mars-Analog Ferric-Coated Sand, Kristiana Lapo
WWU Graduate School Collection
The Mars 2020 rover Perseverance will search for signs of past habitability and biosignatures after landing in Jezero Crater in February 2021. Spectroscopy is a vital tool for planetary remote sensing and Perseverance is equipped with Mastcam-Z, a stereoscopic, zoom-enabled, multispectral imager that can acquire true color images with red, green, and blue (RGB) color filters, and visible- to near-infrared images with 12 narrowband science filters between 400 and 1100 nm. Mastcam-Z will provide operational support for the rover as well as directly contribute to Perseverance’s geologic investigations. Given the integral role of Mastcam-Z in the Mars 2020 mission, calibration …
Using Multispectral Imagery To Interrogate Deposition, Alteration, And Weathering Across Curiosity Rover’S Traverse In Gale Crater, Mars, Christina Seeger
Using Multispectral Imagery To Interrogate Deposition, Alteration, And Weathering Across Curiosity Rover’S Traverse In Gale Crater, Mars, Christina Seeger
WWU Graduate School Collection
Since landing in 2012, the Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) Curiosity rover has explored over 20 kilometers of Gale crater, climbing almost 400 meters in elevation. The fluvio-deltaic, lacustrine, and aeolian sediments in the crater have been well documented by Curiosity’s suite of in situ and remote science instruments. Indeed, they have traced chemical trends that track changes in lithology and diagenesis over the study area—though most instruments only sample individual rock, vein, and soil targets at a very small scale. The Mast Camera (Mastcam) has periodically acquired much larger (meter-scale) multispectral, visible to near-infrared observations of outcrops throughout this stratigraphic …
Bio-Preservation Potential Of Sediment In Eberswalde Crater, Mars, Cory Hughes
Bio-Preservation Potential Of Sediment In Eberswalde Crater, Mars, Cory Hughes
WWU Graduate School Collection
Within Eberswalde crater, Mars, is one of the most well-preserved river delta deposits identified within Mars’ rock record, and visually traceable from the deposit, is the partially-intact watershed that fed the paleo-lake that once resided within the crater basin. Aqueous alteration minerals, smectite clays and opaline silica, have been previously identified within the deposit, however the origin of those minerals is not well understood. Through analysis of topographic and hyperspectral data, we seek to ascertain the origin and provenance of these minerals to better understand their formative conditions and formation age. We will also assess Eberswalde crater’s potential as a …
Photometric Investigations Of Weathering Rinds And Coatings With Implications For Mars, Kathleen Hoza
Photometric Investigations Of Weathering Rinds And Coatings With Implications For Mars, Kathleen Hoza
WWU Graduate School Collection
Reflectance spectroscopy is a major technique for characterizing the composition of planetary surfaces, and has led to many key findings in planetary geology. In laboratory measurements, reflectance spectrometers typically acquire data using a standard, fixed viewing geometry. Measurements from spacecraft, however, may be acquired at a wide range of viewing geometries, depending on the orientation of the instrument relative to the target surface and the Sun. For many materials, the impact of viewing geometry on reflectance is minor; however, some materials’ spectral signatures can be influenced by these photometric effects. In particular, spectra of weathering rinds and rock coatings are …