THE GOAL OF THIS PROJECT IS TO CHARACTERIZE THE VARIABILITY IN THERMOPHYSICAL PROPERTIES OF MARS ANALOG DEPOSITS ON EARTH AS A TOOL FOR INTERPRETING INFILL DEPOSITS ON MARS. IN DOING SO THIS STUDY WILL: 1) GENERATE A NEW TOOLSET FOR INVESTIGATING ALTERATION AND REWORKING IN MAFIC SEDIMENTARY DEPOSITS ON MARS AND EARTH 2) IMPROVE OUR UNDERSTANDING OF A UNIQUE CLASS OF GEOLOGIC FEATURES THEREBY PROVIDING A VALUABLE COMPLEMENT TO IN SITU NASA ROVER MISSION DATA FROM GUSEV GALE AND JEZERO CRATERS AND 3) FURTHER OUR KNOWLEDGE OF PAST SURFACE CONDITIONS ON MARS INCLUDING THE POTENTIAL ROLE OF LIQUID WATER. THESE OBJECTIVES CLOSELY ALIGN WITH NASA'S GOALS TO: 1) "ADVANCE THE UNDERSTANDING OF HOW THE CHEMICAL AND PHYSICAL PROCESSES IN THE SOLAR SYSTEM OPERATE INTERACT AND EVOLVE 2) EXPLORE AND FIND LOCATIONS WHERE LIFE COULD HAVE EXISTED..." AND 3) ASSESS HOW LAYERED SEDIMENTARY ROCKS RECORD THE PRESENT-DAY AND PAST CLIMATE AND THE VOLCANIC AND ORBITAL HISTORY. THE PROPOSED WORK WILL ACCOMPLISH THESE GOALS THROUGH THREE DISTINCT TASKS TO BE COMPLETED BY THE FI WITH GUIDANCE FROM THE PI AND COLLABORATOR: TASK 1 DATA COLLECTION OF MARS-ORBITAL-INSTRUMENT-RELEVANT AND IN SITU MORPHOLOGICAL MINERALOGICAL TEXTURAL AND THERMOPHYSICAL DATA FOR MULTIPLE FRIABLE MAFIC DEPOSIT STYLES ON EARTH. TASK 2 DATA ANALYSIS THROUGH GENERATION OF A NUMERICAL MODEL FOR THERMAL INERTIA FROM THERMAL EMISSION DATA ALONG WITH A STATISTICAL ASSESSMENT OF THE RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN MARS-ORBITAL-INSTRUMENT-RELEVANT OBSERVATIONS AND OTHER WEATHERING SIGNATURES. TASK 3 APPLICATION OF MODEL TO PRODUCE WEATHERING PROCESS-LIKELIHOOD MAPS OF REPRESENTATIVE CRATER INFILL DEPOSITS IN MARS SOUTHERN HIGHLANDS.