[Previous] | [Session 22] | [Next]
P. Lee, A. P. Zent (NASA Ames Research Center), Haughton-Mars Project Team
We have identified a variety of geologic features and processes at the Haughton impact crater and in its surroundings on Devon Island, Arctic Canada, that may provide analogs for geologic features reported on Mars or to geologic processes that may have operated earlier in that planet's history. A survey of the periglacial, "fluvio-glacial", paleolacustrine and impact brecciation features and processes encountered at Haughton, as a result of two seasons of field observations (1997 and 1998) is presented. Active layer detachment slides and ground-ice sapping alcoves in the Haughton impact breccia formation and small valley networks of probable meltwater origin on the plateau surrounding Haughton, are examples of the remarkable morphologic analogs to features reported on Mars. While the terrestrial formations may differ in scale from their potential martian counterparts (the terrestrial features are generally much smaller), their concurrent existence on Devon Island and their morphologic resemblance in significant details to features seen on Mars make the Haughton site a unique location for Mars analog studies. The state of our understanding of the origin of the proposed analog features on Devon Island, and possible implications for Mars and its climatic evolution will be discussed.
If you would like more information about this abstract, please follow the link to http://www.arctic-mars.org. This link was provided by the author. When you follow it, you will leave the Web site for this meeting; to return, you should use the Back comand on your browser.
The author(s) of this abstract have provided an email address for comments about the abstract: pclee@mail.arc.nasa.gov