In un paese come l`Italia, caratterizzato da una forte densità abitativa

Scuola di Dottorato in Scienze della Terra,
Dipartimento di Geoscienze, Università degli Studi di Padova – A.A. 2008-2009
Geological mapping and analysis of Daedalia Planum lava field (Mars)
Ph.D. candidate: LORENZA GIACOMINI, XXII course
Tutor: Dott. MATTEO MASSIRONI
Abstract
Volcanism is the most important rock-forming processes of the planetary surfaces and represents one of the main clues to
investigate the chemical composition of the interior and the thermal history of a planet. Our study has been focused on the
longest lava flows of Mars, emplaced on Daedalia Planum south-west from Arsia Mons. THEMIS, MOC, HiRISE images were
analyzed in order to performed a stratigraphic and morphological analysis of the area. Several features have been interpreted as
related to inflation processes and the comparison with the inflated terrestrial Payen Matru flows (Argentina) seems to confirm
this hypothesis. OMEGA and CRISM spectra reveal that Daedalia Planum lavas have a basaltic composition; moreover the
SAMs performed on OMEGA data show several different spectral variations among the flows, which could depend on several
factors, like the different surface textures.
Introduction
Tharsis region is one of the main volcanic provinces on Mars which includes the most known Olympus
Mons and the other large shield volcanoes Ascraeus Mons, Pavonis and Arsia Mons. Located south-west
from Arsia Mons, Daedalia Planum is a lava plain where more than 1500 km-long lava flows were
emplaced, over an almost flat terrain (<0.5° and commonly <0.1°) (Smith et al., 1999).
We analyzed the area from different points of view, beginning with a stratigraphic study of the flows
emplaced on the field followed by a deeper investigation of the flow surface morphologies and
concluding with a spectral analysis of the region.
Stratigraphic and geomorphological analysis of Daedalia Planum lava field
By analyzing Mars Odyssey THEMIS VIS and IR images and the high resolution images of Mars Global
Surveyor’s MOC and MRO/HiRISE, we distinguished thirteen different geological units on the base of
stratigraphic relationship and morphological characters. Moreover thanks to the high spatial resolution of
images several morphological features that remember the inflation fingerprints, like tumuli, lava rises and
lava ridges, were found in some lava flows, and a comparison with the Payen Matru inflated flows seems
to confirm such hypothesis. These striking morphological analogies suggest that inflation process is quite
common for the Daedalia field, implying that the inflation emplacement mechanism on Martian flows
could be more frequent than previously supposed and, consequently, effusion rates and rheological
properties of Martian lavas more variable (Giacomini et al., 2009).
Our dating by crater counting of the youngest lava flows of Daedalia gave an age of about 260 Myr. This
explains the different shape between the Daedalia Planum features and the mounds of Elysium Planitia
which were interpreted by Keszthelyi et al. [2008] like inflation expressions. By dating the flows in which
this features occur we obtained an age of about 30 Myr, therefore the Elysium flows are much younger
than the Daedalia ones which thus have been eroded for a longer time and show heavier modelled shapes.
However this couldn’t be the unique explanation of the different shape between Elysium and Daedalia
features. Some authors (Page, 2007; Page et al., 2009) assert that Elysium Planitia is interested by a
considerable number of mudflows where several pingos fields took place. Therefore it is possible that the
features detected by Keszthelyi et al. [2008] could be pingos rather than tumuli and consequently this can
imply that the different shape between Elysium and Daedalia features is due to their different genesis.
Although the presence of pingos can’t be completely excluded either for Daedalia, the lack of some
distinctive signs indicating the presence of iced surfaces, like reshaped crater rims (Murray et al., 2005;
Page, 2009), suggests that the mounds detected can be effectively tumuli, at least on the flows
investigated.
1
Scuola di Dottorato in Scienze della Terra,
Dipartimento di Geoscienze, Università degli Studi di Padova – A.A. 2008-2009
Spectral analysis of Daedalia Planum lava field
Up to date the spectral data are not usually taken into account on planetary geological mapping,
nonetheless they may have great potential to discriminate the geological units. We considered the data of
both Mars Express and Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter spectrometers, OMEGA and CRISM respectively,
in order to find some correlation among our stratigraphic units and the spectral characteristic of the
Daedalia Planum volcanic field.
Several OMEGA and CRISM spectra have been analyzed revealing a substantial uniform composition of
the lavas. The absorptions observed at about 1 and 2.3 micrometers suggest the presence of olivine and
pyroxene and the spectra shapes seem to be comparable with those of terrestrial tholeiitic basalts. All
these evidences support the hypothesis of a basaltic composition of the flows on Daedalia, in agreement
with the studies asserting a predominance of basalts among the Martian volcanic rocks (e.g. McSween et
al., 2009).
However the employment of spectra data can give information other than composition. Indeed while the
mineral assemblages control the absorption bands, other factors, like grain size and surface textures,
influence the overall reflectance and spectral slopes (Burns, 1993). On these bases, we tried to find
possible spectral differences among the stratigraphic units detected on Daedalia Planum. Despite the low
geometric resolution (100 m to 4 km per pixel) the synoptic view of OMEGA data enables an analysis of
almost the entire area. On the bases of spectral signatures derived from the Omega data, a Spectral Angle
Mapper (SAM) classification was performed obtaining a map of Daedalia showing several spectral
differences inside the lava field. This map displays a good correlation with the previously recognized
stratigraphic units. In addition the spectral map allowed the boundaries between some flows not well
morphologically defined to be detected and enabled spectral subdivisions inside some stratigraphic unit. It
demonstrates the great potentials of improving Martian geological maps by considering also “spectral
subunits”.
References
BURNS R.G., 1993. Mineralogical applications of crystal field theory. Cambridge University Press,
Cambridge, pp. 551.
KESZTHELYI L., JAEGER W., MCEWEN A., TORNABENE, L., BEYER, R. A., DUNDAS, C. and
MILAZZO, M., 2008. High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) images of volcanic
terrains from the first 6 months of the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Primary Science Phase. J.
Geophys. Res., 113 (E4), CiteID E04005.
GIACOMINI L., MASSIRONI M., MARTELLATO E., PASQUARÈ G., FRIGERI A. and
CREMONESE G, 2009. Inflated flows on Daedalia Planum (Mars)? Clues from a comparative
analysis with the Payen volcanic complex (Argentina). Planetary and Space Science,
doi:10.1016/j.pss.2008.12.001.
MCSWEEN H.Y., TAYLOR G. J., WYATT M. B., 2009. Elemental Composition of the Martian Crust.
Science 324, pp. 736-739.
2
Scuola di Dottorato in Scienze della Terra,
Dipartimento di Geoscienze, Università degli Studi di Padova – A.A. 2008-2009
MURRAY J. B., MULLER J., NEUKUM G., WERNER S. C., VAN GASSELT S., HAUBER E.,
MARKIEWICZ W. J.,
HEAD J. W.,
FOING B. H.,
PAGE D.,
MITCHELL K. L.,
PORTYANKINA G., THE HRSC CO-INVESTIGATOR TEAM. Evidence from the Mars Express
High Resolution Stereo Camera for a frozen sea close to Mars' equator. Nature, 434(7031), pp. 352356.
PAGE D.P., 2007. Recent low-latitude freeze–thaw on Mars. Icarus,189(1), pp. 83-117
PAGE D.P., BALME M.R., GRADY M.M., 2009. Dating martian climate change. Icarus, 203 (2), pp.
376-389.
SMITH, D.E., ET AL., 1999. The global topography of Mars and implications for surface evolution.
Science 284, 1495–1503.
3
Scuola di Dottorato in Scienze della Terra,
Dipartimento di Geoscienze, Università degli Studi di Padova – A.A. 2008-2009
SUMMARY OF ACTIVITY
Courses:
GIANLUCA GROPPELLI: Geologia del vulcanico, Dipartimento di Scienze della Terra, Università Bicocca, Milano 2007.
BRUSTOLON MARINA: Metodi spettroscopici (Modulo A), Dipartimento di Chimica, Padova, 2007.
MARIO FLORIS and CARLO ESPOSITO: Introduction to GIS techniques , Dipartimento di Geoscienze, Padova, 2008.
STEFANO GAGLIANO: Introduction to IDL, Osservatorio Astronomico di Padova, 2008.
B. GONDET, Y. LANGEVIN, G. MICHAELS, T. ROATSCH, A. PIO ROSSI and D. WILLIAMS: OMEGA-HRSC Data
Workshop, Washington University, St.Louis, Missouri, 2008.
ROBERTO ROSSI and SEBASTIANO TREVISANI: Corso avanzato GIS, Dipartimento di Geoscienze, Padova, 2008.
F. REMONDINO: Photogrammetry, Dipartimento di Geoscienze, Padova, 2009.
Communications:
GIACOMINI L., PASQUARÈ G., MASSIRONI M., FRIGERI A., BISTACCHI A., FEDERICO C. (August 2007). The
Payun-Matru lava field: a source of analogues for Martian long lava flows, European Planetary Science Congress, Potsdam.
GIACOMINI L., MASSIRONI M., PASQUARÈ G., CARLI C., MARTELLATO E., FRIGERI A., CREMONESE G. (July
2008). Comparative analysis between Payen and Daedalia Planum lava fields. 37th COSPAR Scientific Assembly, Montreal.
GIACOMINI L., MASSIRONI M., MARTELLATO E., CARLI C., POMPILIO L., CREMONESE G. (September 2008). The
Daedalia Planum lava field. 84° Congresso Nazionale della Società Geologica Italiana, Sassari.
GIACOMINI L., CARLI C., MASSIRONI M., PASQUARÈ G., MARTELLATO E., CREMONESE G. (October 2009).
Spectral and Morphological Analysis of Daedalia Planum Lava Field. Workshop: Geological mapping of Mars, Lucca.
Posters:
CREMONESE G., CAPRIA M. T ., DA DEPPO V., FORLANI G., GIACOMINI L., MASSIRONI M., NALETTO G., M.
SGAVETTI, SIMIONI E., FLAMINI E., DEBEI S. AND THE SIMBIO-SYS INTERNATIONAL TEAM (April 2007). New
approach for the stereo camera in the ESA mission BepiColombo, EGU General Assembly, Vienna.
MASSIRONI M., PASQUARÈ G., GIACOMINI L., FRIGERI A., BISTACCHI A., FEDERICO C. (June 2007). The PayunMatru lava field: a source of analogues for Martian long lava flows, 2nd International Workshop on Exploring Mars and its
terrestrial Analogues, Trento.
CREMONESE G., BORIN P., CAPRIA M.T., CAROLO E., GIACOMINI L., MARCHI S., MARTELLATO E.,
MASSIRONI M. (October 2007). Analysis of lunar regions by relative age determination and geological interpretation, 9th
ILEWG International Conference on Exploration and Utilisation of the Moon, Sorrento.
GIACOMINI L., FRIGERI A., MASSIRONI M., PASQUARÈ G., MARTELLATO E., CARLI C., CREMONESE G.,
BISTACCHI A., FEDERICO C. (April 2008). Comparative study between Payen Matru and Daedalia Planum lava field.
EGU General Assembly, Vienna.
CREMONESE G., MASSIRONI M., MARCHI S., MARTELLATO E., GIACOMINI L. (September 2008). A new model for
age determination of planetary surfaces. 84° Congresso Nazionale della Società Geologica Italiana, Sassari.
GIACOMINI L., MASSIRONI M., CARLI C., MARTELLATO E., PASQUARÈ G., POMPILIO L., CREMONESE G.,
(December 2008). Spectral and Morphological Analysis of Daedalia Planum Lava Field. AGU Fall Meeting, San Francisco.
MASSIRONI M., ROTHERY D., GIACOMINI L., POMPILIO L., PAUSELLI C., MARCHI S., MARTELLATO E.,
CREMONESE G., SGAVETTI M. (June 2008). Integrated geological mapping of the Beagle Rupes Region. The surface
composition of Mercury from UV-Vis-IR, Parma.
MARTELLATO E., GIACOMINI L., CREMONESE G., MARCHI S., MASSIRONI M. (September 2009). Analysis and age
determination of young and old regions on Mercury. IX Convegno Nazionale di Planetologia, Amalfi.
Publications:
MASSIRONI M., FORLANI G., CREMONESE G., CAPRIA M. T., DA DEPPO V., GIACOMINI L., NALETTO G.,
PASQUARÉ G., RONDELLA R., FLAMINI E., 2008. Simulations using terrestrial geological analogues to asses
interpretability of potential geological features of the Hermean surface restituted by the STereo imaging Camera of the
SIMBIO-SYS package (BepiColombo mission). Planetary and Space Science, 56, 1079-1092.
4
Scuola di Dottorato in Scienze della Terra,
Dipartimento di Geoscienze, Università degli Studi di Padova – A.A. 2008-2009
FLAMINI E., CAPACCIONI F., COLANGELI L., CREMONESE G., DORESSOUNDIRAM A., JOSSET J.L., LANGEVIN
Y., DEBEI S., CAPRIA M.T., DESANCTIS M.C., MARINANGELI L., MASSIRONI M., MAZZOTTAEPIFANI E.,
NALETTO G., PALUMBO P., ENG P., ROIG J.F., CAPORALI A., DADEPPO V., ERARD S., FEDERICO C., FORNI O.,
SGAVETTI M., FILACCHIONE G., GIACOMINI L., MARRA G., MARTELLATO E., ZUSI M., COSI M., BETTANINI
C., CALAMAI L., ZACCARIOTTO M., TOMMASI L., DAMI M., FICAIVELTRONI J., POULET F., HELLO Y.,
THESIMBIO-SYS TEAM, 2009. SIMBIO-SYS: The spectrometer and imagers integrated observatory system for the
BepiColombo planetary orbiter. Planetary and Space Science, doi:10.1016/j.pss.2009.06.017
GIACOMINI L., MASSIRONI M., MARTELLATO E., PASQUARÈ G., FRIGERI A., CREMONESE G, 2009. Inflated
flows on Daedalia Planum (Mars)? Clues from a comparative analysis with the Payen volcanic complex (Argentina). Planetary
and Space Science, doi:10.1016/j.pss.2008.12.001.
Other:
Visit to Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena (California), from 26th May to 26th June 2008.
Visit to European Space Research and Technology Centre (ESA) (Noordwijk, The Netherlands) (11th July 2008).
Participation to 37th COSPAR Scientific Assembly, Montreal, Canada (13-20 July 2008) as ESA Sponsored Student.
Visit to Open University, Milton Keynes (UK), from 14th April to 24th July 2009.
5