[meteorite-list] Martian Landform Observations Fill Special Journal Issue

From: Ron Baalke <baalke_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Tue, 12 Jan 2010 14:21:11 -0800 (PST)
Message-ID: <201001122221.o0CMLBGS004675_at_zagami.jpl.nasa.gov>

http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/features.cfm?feature=2438

Martian Landform Observations Fill Special Journal Issue
Jet Propulsion Laboratory
January 11, 2010

Martian landforms shaped by winds, water, lava flow, seasonal icing and
other forces are analyzed in 21 journal reports based on data from a
camera orbiting Mars.

The research in a January special issue of Icarus testifies to the
diversity of the planet being examined by the High Resolution Imaging
Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance
Orbiter. Examples of the findings include:

-- Valleys associated with light-toned layered deposits in several
locations along the plateaus adjacent to the largest canyon system on
Mars suggest low-temperature alteration of volcanic rocks by acidic
water both before and after formation of the canyons.

-- The youngest flood-lava flow on Mars, found in the Elysium Planitia
region and covering an area the size of Oregon, is the product of a
single eruption and was put in place turbulently over a span of several
weeks at most.

-- New details are observed in how seasonal vanishing of carbon-dioxide
ice sheets in far-southern latitudes imprints the ground with fan-shaped
and spider-shaped patterns via venting of carbon-dioxide gas from the
undersurface of the ice.

HiRISE is operated by the University of Arizona, Tucson, and was built
by Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp., Boulder, Colo. It is one of six
instruments on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, which is managed by
NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., and was built by
Lockheed Martin Space Systems, Denver. The U.S. Geological Survey
Astrogeology Science Center, Flagstaff, Ariz., played a special role in
preparation of the special issue, providing two guest editors and
authorship of multiple papers. For more information, see
http://hirise.lpl.arizona.edu
Received on Tue 12 Jan 2010 05:21:11 PM PST