2010 Annual Research Report

 

During 2010 Rodriguez submitted three proposals. An MFRP that was rejected, a PGG and an MDAP

are still under consideration.  Rodriguez published three papers. In Rodriguez et al. (2010a) we show

evidence for the existence of lenses of groundwater within the Martian upper crust. These lenses must

have been surrounded by frozen ground and upon their exhumation they underwent resurfacing to

formed pockets of collapsed ground within the channel floor materials. In Rodriguez et al. (2010b) we

show evidence consistent with emanations of groundwater within the northern plains of Mars. This

mechanism could have potentially led to the formation of oceans or seas not associated with discharges

from the higher southern cratered highlands. In Rodriguez et al. (2010c) we find evidence for saltation

and traction leading to the emplacement of wind streaks on Mars. We also find that wind streaks only

formed within craters that contained hydrated minerals and sand deposits. In situ studies in an analogue

site in Patagonia suggest that salts may have played an important role in “fixating” the sediments that

make up the wind streaks to the ground.

 

Papers:

Rodriguez, J.A., Kargel, J.S., Tanaka, K.L., Crown, D.A., Berman, D.C., Fairén, A.G., Baker, V.R., Furfaro, R., Candelaria, P., Sasaki, S., Secondary chaotic terrain formation in the higher outflow channels of southern circum-chryse, mars, Icarus, doi: 10.1016/j.icarus.2010.09.027, 2010a.

 

Rodriguez, J.A.P., K.L. Tanaka, D.C. Berman, and J.S. Kargel, Late Hesperian plains formation and degradation in a low sedimentation zone of the northern plains, Mars, Icarus 210, 116-134, 2010b.

 

Rodriguez, J.A.P., Tanaka, K.L., Yamamoto, A., Berman, D. C., Zimbelman, J. R., Kargel,

J.S., Sasaki, S., Jinguo, Y., Miyamoto, H., The sedimentology and dynamics of crater-affiliated wind streaks in western Arabia Terra, Mars and Patagonia, Argentina, Geomorphology, in press, doi:10.1016/j.geomorph.2009.07.020, 2010c.

 

Abstracts:

 

Rodriguez, J.A.P, K.L. Tanaka, and D.C. Berman, Geochronologic implications of non-random distribution of pedestal craters in the circum-polar plains south of Gemini Scopuli, Mars, Lunar Planet. Sci. Conf. 41, abstract #2387, 2010.