THE PRIMARY GOAL OF THIS PROPOSED STUDY IS TO PROVIDE IMPORTANT CONSTRAINTS ON THE SURFACE HYDRAULIC FLOW EROSIONAL AND DEPOSITIONAL PROCESSES THAT FORMED THE MARTIAN OUTFLOW CHANNELS. WE PROPOSE TO MORE FULLY ESTABLISH AND DESCRIBE THE ROLE WATER PLAYED IN OUTFLOW CHANNEL FORMATION AND EVOLUTION BY ANALYZING HIGH RESOLUTION IMAGES TO CHARACTERIZE THE EROSIONAL AND DEPOSITIONAL MORPHOLOGY OF FIVE SOUTHERN CIRCUM-CHRYSE OUTFLOW CHANNELS. WE WILL ALSO PERFORM HYDRAULIC MODELLING OF THESE OUTFLOW CHANNELS USING A NEW TWO-DIMENSIONAL APPROACH THAT INCORPORATES UNSTEADY COMPUTATIONAL FLUID DYNAMICS. OUR RESULTS WILL PROVIDE IMPORTANT DATA TOWARDS RECONSTRUCTING THE NATURE OF THE PALEOFLOODS THAT FORMED THE OUTFLOW CHANNELS. THIS INFORMATION WILL ALSO CONTRIBUTE TOWARD AN IMPROVED UNDERSTANDING OF THE GLOBAL HYDROLOGIC CYCLE OF MARS.

Planetary Science Institute, Tucson AZ

Investigators