The Wickersham Wall as a dramatic analog site for lunar exploration

In the past, lunar surface exploration included careful selection of samples and setup of geophysical experiments. It was necessary to use basin ejecta, crater rays, and landslides to provide samples to locations where they could be collected. Then it was necessary to reason the original location and origin of the samples. The “lunar outpost” mode now envisioned by NASA will allow astronauts more time to carefully collect, sort and preselect samples for return to Earth and may involve insitu curation of selected samples.

The 5 km high Wickersham Wall of Denali is perhaps the largest exposed vertical cross section through a complex of igneous plutons on Earth. The Peters Glacier along the base of the Wickersham Wall brings geologic samples away from the rockfalls and avalanches of this unexplored feature in a manor somewhat analogous to lunar cratering. Samples of the granitic plutons of Denali, their metamorphic contacts and fault gouge are required to understand the history and origin of this massive feature.

A network of geophysics stations on Denali with seismographs and range-finding with GPS control would establish 3D fault movement and improve the understanding of regional tectonics (the Denali fault experienced a magnitude 7.9 earthquake in 2002). Ice cores into the Peters Dome and observation of the hanging glaciers of the Wickersham Wall would document climate change (the Arctic Ocean was open in September 2007).

The Jeffery Dome, at the base of the Wickersham Wall, Denali, provides a safe location for an analog “outpost” similar to the type NASA is studying for the next phase of lunar exploration. A simulation of a “lunar mission” at this site would allow exploration of the Wickersham Wall while testing personnel, procedures and equipment. Although potentially dangerous, this location is within the substantial safety network that supports mountaineering on Denali.