EXPLORING THE COMPOSITION AND THERMOPHYSICAL PROPERTIES OF MARTIAN EQUATORIAL DUNES

Sand dunes form on a variety of planetary bodies, provided there is enough atmospheric pressure and wind velocity for saltation and deposition to occur, and there are source materials to erode, be transported and get sorted into dunes. The observance, location and properties of these landforms is hugely informative, with implications on regional, and planetary scale circulation, dust cycling and erosion. Dune field composition and thermophysical properties can provide indications on grain size sorting and local environmental conditions, coupled with source rock properties.

This work aims to use visible and near-infrared (VNIR) and thermal infrared (TIR) data from CRISM, THEMIS and TES to characterize the composition and thermophysical properties of aeolian dunes on Mars, building from previous compositional surveys (e.g., Tirsch et al., 2011; Chojnacki et al., 2014; Pan and Rogers, 2017). Equatorial (30° S – 30° N) dune fields will be the first focus, in order to avoid the potential complications associated with characterizing dunes with significant CO₂ frost interaction. The composition of local surroundings will also be noted, to infer contextual relationships between potential source materials and dune compositions. This effort will complement work under The Origin of Aeolian Dunes (TOAD) project by exploring relationships between sand composition and dune field evolution (Diniega et al., this conference).

References: [1] Tirsch, D. et al. (2011). JGR, 116 (E3). [2] Chojnacki, M. et al. (2014). Icarus, 230, 96-142. [3] Pan, C. and Rogers, A. D. (2017). Icarus, 282, 56-69. [4] Diniega et al., this conference.