I PROPOSE TO USE NOCTIS LABYRINTHUS MARS AS A CASE STUDY TO TEST WHETHER DIKE INTRUSION DILATIONAL FAULTING OR BOTH PROCESSES TOGETHER FORM PIT CRATERS AND PIT CRATER CHAINS. THE MAIN OBJECTIVES WILL BE TO: 1) ESTABLISH THE DIMENSIONS AND GEOMETRIES OF AND SPATIAL AND TEMPORAL RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN THE FAULTS AND PIT CRATERS IN NOCTIS LABYRINTHUS MARS; 2) COMPARE AND CONTRAST PIT CRATERS IN AN ANALOG FIELD SITE ON EARTH INTERPRETED TO HAVE FORMED FROM DIKE INTRUSION WITH THOSE THAT WE THINK RESULTED FROM FAULTING ALONE; AND 3) EXPLORE THE PARAMETERS THAT CONTROL THE DIMENSIONS OF PIT CRATERS FORMED BY EXTENSION FROM DOMING. OBJECTIVE 1) WILL BE ACCOMPLISHED THROUGH DETAILED MAPPING OF PIT CRATERS AND EXTENSIONAL FEATURES FOUND IN NOCTIS LABYRINTHUS AND SUBSEQUENT TOPOGRAPHIC ANALYSIS OF THE MAPPED FEATURES (INCLUDING THE CREATION OF DISPLACEMENT PROFILES OF THE FAULTS AND MEASURING THE DEPTHS AND MAJOR AND MINOR AXES OF THE PITS). OBJECTIVE 2) WILL FEATURE DETAILED STRUCTURAL OBSERVATIONS OF SEVERAL SETS OF PIT CRATERS IN THE CRATERS OF THE MOON NATIONAL MONUMENT AND PRESERVE IN IDAHO AS WELL AS THE ACQUISITION OF HIGH-RESOLUTION 2D AND 3D OF THESE PITS WITH UNMANNED AERIAL SYSTEMS (UASS). THESE DATA PRODUCTS WILL BE ANALYZED IN THE SAME WAY AS AND COMPARED WITH THE PITS AT NOCTIS LABYRINTHUS. OBJECTIVE 3) WILL INVOLVE THE SIMULATION OF PIT CRATER CHAINS VIA EXTENSIONAL PROCESSES AT THE ANALOG MODELING LABORATORY AT THE SOUTHWEST RESEARCH INSTITUTE. VARIATIONS IN EXTENSIONAL STRAIN INTERIOR STRUCTURE AND MECHANICAL PROPERTIES WILL BE TESTED TO CHARACTERIZE THE EFFECTS UPON PIT CRATER FORMATION; MODEL RESULTS WILL BE IMAGED IN 2D AND 3D FOR DIRECT MORPHOLOGICAL COMPARISON WITH PITS ON MARS AND ON EARTH. THIS PROJECT DIRECTLY ADDRESSES OBJECTIVE 1.5 OF NASA S STRATEGIC PLAN ASCERTAIN THE CONTENT ORIGIN AND EVOLUTION OF THE SOLAR SYSTEM AND THE POTENTIAL FOR LIFE ELSEWHERE BY MEETING TWO OF NASA S PLANETARY SCIENCE GOALS AS DESCRIBED IN CHAPTER 4.3 OF THE SMD 2014 SCIENCE PLAN: 1) EXPLORE AND OBSERVE THE OBJECTS IN THE SOLAR SYSTEM TO UNDERSTAND HOW THEY FORMED AND EVOLVE; AND 2) ADVANCE THE UNDERSTANDING OF HOW THE CHEMICAL AND PHYSICAL PROCESSES IN THE SOLAR SYSTEM OPERATE INTERACT AND EVOLVE. THIS WORK WILL INVESTIGATE THE FORMATION AND EVOLUTION OF THE PLANETARY BODIES SATELLITES AND SMALL BODIES IN THE SOLAR SYSTEM ENHANCE THE SCIENTIFIC RETURN OF NASA MISSIONS THROUGH THE ANALYSIS OF DATA COLLECTED BY THOSE MISSIONS AND WILL PERFORM LABORATORY EXPERIMENTS AND FIELDWORK TO INCREASE OUR UNDERSTANDING OF SOLAR SYSTEM BODIES AND PROCESSES AND SO IS DIRECTLY RELEVANT TO NASA S PLANETARY SCIENCE DIVISION.