Journal ArticleUtah offers spectacular geologic features and valuable analogue environments and processes for Mars studies. Relatively intact, horizontal strata of the Colorado Plateau are analogous to Mars, where the effects of strong ground motion from earthquakes or impacts are preserved. Within Utah, easily accessible, sedimentary analogue environments lie in close proximity. The lack of vegetative cover is an advantage for remote imaging at various scales by satellite or robotic instruments. The dry, desert climate and modern wind processes of Utah are comparable to Mars and its current surface

Nicoll, Kathleen

Ormö, Jens

English

The University of Utah: J. Willard Marriott Digital Library

UTAH’S GEOLOGIC AND GEOMORPHIC TERRESTRIAL ANALOGS TO MARS: A TRAINING GROUND FOR FUTURE ROBOTIC AND HUMAN MISSIONS TO MARS.  Marjorie A. Chan1, Kathleen Nicoll2, Jens Ormö3, Chris H. Okubo4,  and Goro Komatsu5 . 1University of Utah, Department of Geology and Geo-physics, 115 S. 1460 E. Rm. 383 FASB, Salt Lake City, UT 84112-0102 marjorie.chan@utah.edu, 2Department of Geography, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT 84112 3Centro de Astrobiología (CSIC-INTA), Ctra de Torrejón a Ajalvir, km 4, 28850 Torrejón de Ardoz, Spain. 4U.S. Geological Survey, Flagstaff, AZ 86001, 5International Re-search School of Planetary Sciences, Università d’Annunzio, Viale Pindaro 42, 65127 Pescara, Italy.    Introduction: Utah offers spectacular geologic features and valuable analogue environments and processes for Mars studies. Relatively intact, horizon-tal strata of the Colorado Plateau are analogous to Mars, where the effects of strong ground motion from earthquakes or impacts are preserved. Within Utah, easily accessible, sedimentary analogue environments lie in close proximity.  The lack of vegetative cover is an advantage for remote imaging at various scales by satellite or robotic instruments.  The dry, desert climate and modern wind processes of Utah are comparable to Mars and its current surface.  This paper focuses on physical and chemical envi-ronments and conditions where water existed and could support microorganisms. The development of Mars history includes: ancient and modern deposi-tional records, burial and diagenesis, uplift and tectonic alteration, and modern sculpting or weathering of the surface exposures.  Recently acquired satellite images provide unprecedented details of outcrop-scale fea-tures. Many of the key systems analogous to Martian landscapes can be field-tested in Utah using robotic instruments; conducting such studies on Earth maxi-mizes the efficiency of extraterrestrial scientific inves-tigations. Analog examples in Utah are prime field localities that should be utilized in planning future ro-botic and human missions to Mars, and for teaching the next generation of planetary explorers [1].  The existing Mars Society Desert Research Station near Hanksville, Utah, already capitalizes on this idea. Un-derstanding Mars clearly has a solid foundation in the knowledge of our own terrestrial planet.  Justification: Both Earth and Mars had similar his-tories of planetary evolution with commensurate igne-ous/volcanic processes, tectonics, impact cratering, surficial processes (e.g., eolian, potential water, gla-cial/periglacial and sedimentary deposits). Terrestrial analogs include places that have physical, chemical, or biological processes, which might be presently active or may have been operative in the past. Analogs dis-play the fundamentals of Earth processes that allow us to compare, interpret, and ground-truth data collected by orbiter and robotic missions on Mars  such as THEMIS (Thermal Emission Imaging System, on the Mars Odyssey), CTX (Context Camera on the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter), CRISM (Compact Recon-naissance Imaging Spectrometer for Mars, on the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter), HiRISE (High Resolution Science Experiment), and the NASA MER (Mars Ex-ploration Rovers). Few places on Earth can rival the rich, complex, and unique combination of factors of-fered by the state of Utah.  The reasons that Utah is such a fertile training ground for Mars explorations are as follows. 1. Vast open and easily accessible spaces.  2. Spectacular exposures and remarkable preservation. 3. Widely varied geology representing many environments.  4. Many tectonic regimes.  5. Surface geochemical environments.   6. Arid, desert regime.   7. Wind and water processes.   8. Utah’s Mars-like landscape.  9. Supporting infrastructure (e.g., airport access, study and core facilities). Environments, structural styles, and other features im-portant to analog comparisons are presented in Table 1. Environments: Sedimentary environments pre-serve the depositional products of geologic processes within a particular set of physical, chemical, and bio-logical conditions at surface (or near surface) tempera-tures and pressures.  The sedimentology involves the composition and genesis of the sediments or sedimen-tary rocks, as preserved within bedding/stratification and structures, continuing through its diagenesis during burial, uplift, exposure, and weathering.     Depositional environments include dry environ-ments (eolian and sabkha), standing water bodies or slow moving flows (glacial, lacustrine, and spring), and fast-moving surface water (alluvial, fluvial, del-taic, and outflow).  Modifying environments represent settings and processes that act upon or affect the pre-existing pri-mary depositional features.  Analogues include: diage-netic environments, soils and weathering, patterned grounds, structural styles, volcanoes, and impact cra-ters. 1110.pdf41st Lunar and Planetary Science Conference (2010) GEOLOGIC SYSTEMS NOTABLE FEATURES DEPOSITIONAL ENVIRONMENTS Eolian  Dune morphology, cross bedding, ripples, deflation, ventifacts, yardangs Sabkha & Saline Bodies Evaporites, crystal molds, soft-sediment deformation, desiccation structures Glacial Sculpted bedrock,  landforms, poorly sorted tills Lacustrine Shorelines, beach ridges,  laminated basinal sediments Springs Chemical mineral precipitates, tra-vertine/tufa, vents Alluvial Radial fan apron, mass movement  Fluvial Braided & meandering/sinuous channels, point bars Deltaic River-fed depo center at lake or ocean shoreline Outflow Chan-nels Megachannels, immense bars MODIFYING ENVIRONMENTS Diagenetic Con-cretions Iron oxide concretions, cementation, bleaching, secondary porosity Weathering, Soils,  Pedogenic structures, Soil horizons, collapse, talus, mass transport Sapping, Knobs, Pinnacles Dissected terrain, positive geomor-phic knobs Crusts, Desert Varnish Mineralogic surface coatings Patterned Ground Patterns  (cm to 10s m or more) along bedding planes Polygonal Weathering Surficial crack patterns  STRUCTURAL STYLES Faults, joints, fractures Offsets, truncated beds Deformation Bands mm-scale ridges, to m-scale zones, of crushed, indurated, or disrupted rock Folds Deformation, shearing, dipping beds  Salt Tectonics Salt flowage, dissolution VOLCANIC Volcanoes Igneous minerologies, volcano mor-phology Ash, Cones Ash falls, cones, flows  IMPACT CRATERS Crater morphology, circular ring, radial structures, ejecta, breccias, melts, shock metamorphism MICRO-BIOTA Constructive buildups, skeletal re-mains, organic films “MARS LANDSCAPE” Desert conditions  Table 1. Summary table of analog features for study.   Structural Styles  Crustal deformation, that is, changes in the shape and volume of rocks due to exter-nal stresses, alters the morphologies and mechanical characteristics of rock. Deformation can be manifested at a variety of scales, from hundreds of km down to the micron scale. Deformation can be pervasive on any planetary surface and is not limited to specific envi-ronmental settings. The styles of deformation that are most likely to occur within the shallow Martian crust  (<10 km depth)  include structural discontinuities, such as joints, faults, and deformation bands, as well as folds and diapirs.  Volcanism and impact cratering create their own distinctive structures that have been well discussed elsewhere in the literature.  Summary: Utah’s geologic and geomorphic ana-logs are valuable for understanding Mars.  Planetary scientists can quickly gain knowledge of many terres-trial environments and expressions with both ancient and modern examples, all in close proximity and ac-cessible in the field.  Utah is an excellent training ground for many scientists, including the oil industry where subsurface geophysical instrumentation is somewhat akin to the planetary remote explorations, and tangible outcrop examples provide ground-truth for applied interpretations.  Each of the examples pre-sented here is a stepping-stone to a broader field of study with endless possibilities.   Various robotic instruments can be given trial runs in Utah’s terrains to increase the likelihood for fruitful outcomes in actual missions to Mars.   The best robotic instruments should simulate trained geologists who are familiar with a tremendous range of environmental parameters. Utah’s landscapes provide an breadth of conditions for instrument testing.  Interdisciplinary collaborations among astronomers, geologists, geo-chemists, geophysicists, engineers, planetary scientists, computer modelers, meteorologists, and others can collectively bring rich new ideas and tests in the search for water and potential life on Mars, and to attain the very best manned or robotic missions to the red planet.  References: [1] Chan, M.A., et al., (2009 in re-view) submitted to Gerry, B., and Bleacher, J., eds., Analogs for Planetary Exploration: Geological Society of America Special Paper.  Acknowledgements: Funding provided by NASA Mars Fundamental Research (NNG06GI10G) for Chan, NASA Mars Data Analysis NNX06AE01G for Okubo, Spanish Ministry for Science and Innovation (AYA2008-03467/ESP) for Ormö, and a grant from the Italian Space Agency for Komatsu. 1110.pdf41st Lunar and Planetary Science Conference (2010)

Utah\u27s geologic and geomorphic terrestrial analogs to Mars: a training ground for future robotic and human missions to Mars

https://collections.lib.utah.edu/dl_files/1c/92/1c924adacfd4c65fcf28c3f807c2e771e60bd838.pdf

Utah's geologic and geomorphic terrestrial analogs to Mars: a training ground for future robotic and human missions to Mars

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