Lava Flows of Arsia Mons, Mars Ruben Rivas College of Engineering University of Arizona (Tucson, Az) Space Grant Mentor: David Crown Planetary Science Institute (Tucson, Az)

-Arsia Mons x 326 km across km high -Part of Tharsis Volcanic Province -Has numerous lava flows

Objectives Compile topographic and imaging datasets into Geographic Information Systems (GIS) database Different Datasets MOLA (~462 meter per pixel) THEMIS (~100 meter per pixel) CTX (~6 meter per pixel) HiRISE (~1 meter per pixel) Study small-scale surface characteristics of Arsia Mons lava flows to understand lava flow behavior and modification of lava flow surfaces by the wind and impact of craters

CTX HiRISE THEMIS

Lava Flows Using HiRISE images will help for better examination of martian lava flows

Distance (m) Diameter (m)

Crater Data Crater 1 (83 rocks) ◦Rock Size Range: 0.9–4.9m ◦Crater’s Diameter: 140.3m Crater 2 (63 rocks) ◦Rock Size Range: 0.5 – 1.9m ◦Crater’s Diameter: 17.2m Crater 3 (62 rocks) ◦Rock Size Range: 0.5 – 2.6m ◦Crater’s Diameter: 38.4m Crater 4 (145 rocks) ◦Rock Size Range: 0.9 – 5.1m ◦Crater’s Diameter: 88.9m

Lava Flow Margins 50 segments of lava flows 5-50 km long were examined in CTX images

Fractal Dimensions of Lava Flow Margins - Arsia Mons flow segments span the ranges found for lava flows on Earth - Lack of expected bimodal distribution due to complex margins at various scales - Ongoing work: searching for correlations between fractal dimensions and different flow types Fractal Dimension Number

Summary CTX images can be used to study the behavior of lava flows on Mars HiRISE images provide information on the modification of lava flow surfaces due wind and impact craters