Geology Research

Attempting to correlate sedimentary deposits on Mars with the planet's obliquity!

introduction

I did this research with Dr. Mark Salvatore during the Winter 2017 semester at the University of Michigan-Dearborn. The objective of this research was to analyze sedimentary deposits in Becquerel Crater on Mars that seem to be deposited rhythmically. The goal was to correlate properties associated with their thickness to shifts in the obliquity of Mars, which is the tilt of the planet's spin axis. Obliquity is suspected to control climactic changes on Earth as well as Mars, and it is suspected to be the reason why the layers were deposited rhythmically. The results were organized into a poster (see below) that was presented at UMD's Natural Sciences Poster Session on April 21st, 2017. (The poster also includes sections on the text boxes below, which are meant to compliment, not replace it!)

methods

The program ArcMap was used to extract both brightness and elevation data from image files, and the program Davinci was used to manipulate these images to produce data along a preferred transect. This data was then analyzed using the program AnalySeries. AnalySeries was used to Fourier transform both the data extracted using the above methods, as well as obliquity data that was simulated by astronomer Jacques Laskar and is openly available on the Internet. A Fourier transformation analyzes trends in the data, and plots the frequency of these trends. The ultimate goal of this research project was to correlate data associated with the sedimentary deposits with data associated with the obliquity of Mars.

For a more detailed look at the methods used, see this page.

results

We found brightness, not elevation, to be the best data to analyze. (Brightness is dominated by topography, so the data is still meaningful). We analyzed the ratio of the second spectral peak to the first, and found it to be within 1% of the ratio of the first two peaks in the power spectrum (Fourier transformation) of obliquity. These were great results, and I did not expect them to be this good!

So what does this mean? More research is required to determine that. We calculated a deposit of 3 meters horizontally every 120,000 years, but what we really want to know is how much vertically they are deposited. We were also surprised to find so many variations in the power spectrum of obliquity, including the one at 62,500 years that was used in our research. More analysis of the data must be done!

In the meantime, we made a poster to display. The poster had to be printed only 4 hours after the results were finalized, so it was a bit of a rush to get it all done! Even so, I think it turned out great, and I enjoyed presenting it at the Natural Sciences Poster Session!

here is the poster!!!

If the text on the poster above is illegible, try opening the Google Slide below in fullscreen: