Introduction. width, and location of grabens and tension cracks. The question is important because the answer will show us the

Transcription

1 Introduction The question which we based the experience off of was, what was the relationship between the depth, width, and location of grabens and tension cracks. The question is important because the answer will show us the affects that tectonics have on Mars. The three hypotheses we had were if the crack is in a lower elevation then the grabens will be wider and the tension cracks will have more depth, grabens will be wider and tension cracks will be deeper higher elevations, and more tension cracks will be found in the Tharsis region. Background Tension Crack: Small thin crack that goes deep into the ground. Graben: Shallow crack that is very wide because of the caved in ground above it. Planet Tectonics: Any type of ground movement on a planet. Two types of fractures are called grabens and tension cracks. They are formed in different ways. Tension cracks are formed when there is tension that builds up in the ground and causes a split in the crust. These are usually very deep and you can't see the bottom. They are also very steep and narrow. Grabens are formed when the earth splits apart and a middle chunk falls down through the crack, creating a flat bottom. The hypotheses are some things that we know or think that we know about the Martian surface. One of these hypotheses is: Tension Cracks are formed by brittle deformation. Brittle deformation is when the plates move apart and form a fracture. The overlying rock is very brittle and will not bend when the plates move apart. This causes the rocks to crack. Another hypothesis is: Grabens are formed when the plates spread apart and then the overlying rock falls into the fracture and creates the flat surface that we see on the surface. This happens because the rocks above the place are very malleable and so they stretch. This causes the rocks to spread while the plates are moving apart. When the rocks cannot stretch any more they fall into the hole that the plates have caused. The last hypothesis is: Synclines and Anticlines are formed when rocks that have layers are compressed. This is the process when the plates move toward each other and the rocks move up and then form a basin. The Anticline are the bumps that are going up, like a hill. The Syncline are the basins of the Anticlines. Methods

2 I. We used the THEMIS Camera that is attached to the Mars Odyssey to collect research. 1. We studies cracks, fractures, and fissures because when we saw the pictures we were instantly hooked! The distinguishing features that we noticed were: depth, flat bottoms, and V shaped bottoms. The geographic regions we focused on were the Tharsis region and Elysium Mons Region. We gathered 166 images to answer our science question. The items we recorded were the ID number, latitude, longitude, what type of crack, and were it was located like in the Tharsis or Elysium rejoin Data Table How we arranged our data was in seven categories. The first was the image's identification number, the second and third was longitude east, and latitude north. The image identification number starts with the letter V or I. V is for visible camera and I represented infrared camera. We just used the visible camera because with the visible camera we could identify the fissures and Mars' surface. The fourth and fifth was depth and width of the fissure. The depth and width was measured in kilometers because the size of most cracks were large. The sixth through ninth were classifications. The sixth and seventh described the fissure as a graben or a tension crack. The last two were classified whether the fissure was in the Tharsis region or Elysium. For describing whether the fissure was a graben or a tension crack and if the fissure was in the Tharsis or Elysium region, we used the digits one or zero. One represented positive and zero represented negative. The reason 1s and 0s are used because you can graph 1s and 0s. Image ID # Longitude (E) Latitude (N) Depth (km) Width (km) Graben Tension Crack V yes no V yes no V yes no V yes no V yes no V yes no V yes no V yes no V yes no V yes no V yes no V yes no V Yes No V Yes No V Yes No V YES NO

3 V YES NO V YES NO V YES NO V YES NO V Yes No V Yes No V Yes No V Yes No V Yes No V Yes No V Yes No V Yes No V Yes No V Yes No V Yes No V Yes No V Yes No V Yes No V Yes No V Yes No V Yes No V Yes No V Yes No V Yes No V Yes No V Yes No V Yes No V Yes No V Yes No V Yes No V Yes No V Yes No V Yes No V Yes No V Yes No V Yes No V Yes No V Yes No V yes no V yes no V yes no V yes no V yes no V yes no V yes no V yes no V yes no V yes no V yes no V yes no V yes no V yes no

4 V yes no V yes no V yes no V yes no V yes no V YES NO V YES NO V YES NO V YES NO V YES NO V YES NO V YES NO V YES NO V YES NO V YES NO V YES NO V YES NO V YES NO V YES NO V YES NO V YES NO V yes no V yes no V yes no V yes no V yes no V yes no V yes no V yes no V yes no V yes no V Yes No V Yes No V Yes No V Yes No V Yes No V Yes No V Yes No V Yes No V Yes No V Yes No V Yes No V Yes No V Yes No V No Yes V No Yes V No Yes V no yes V no yes

5 V no yes V no yes V no yes V no yes V no yes V no yes V no yes V NO YES V NO YES V NO YES V NO YES V NO YES V NO YES V NO YES V NO YES V NO YES V NO YES V NO YES V NO YES V no yes V no yes V no yes V no yes V no yes V no yes V No Yes A fissure that we located has an image identification number of V with a longitude of and a latitude of The depth of the fissure was kilometer and the width was 8.5 kilometers. The fissure was a tension crack in the Elysium region. Another fissure had the image identification number of V with a

6 longitude of and a latitude of The depth of the fissure was.500 kilometers and a width of 4.5 kilometers. The fissure was a tension crack in the Elysium region. Discussion There were many cracks in the Tharsis region as well as graben. This might be because of the volcanoes in the area. The magma tubes might have been struck by the cracks and caused the cracks around the volcanoes. When tension cracks hit a magma tube they collapse and look like a chain. The data was inaccurate because we didn't record the exact amount of tension cracks. Plus some people didn't change kilometers to meters. We could have recorded some kilometers as meters. We could have recorded the wrong data while we were observing. Further Discussion With the help from the scientist at the Mars research center, we discovered that the age of the volcano does not effect the amount of tension cracks or grabens near the volcano. Heres the longitude and latitude of some tension cracks and grabens: E, Tension Crack Young Volcano E, Graben Young Volcano E, Tension Old Volcano E, Tension Crack Old Volcano E, Tension Crack Young Volcano 6. Conclusions Higher elevation cracks are deeper and wider than lower elevation crack. Grabens will be wider and Tension Cracks will be deeper at higher elevations. More Tension Cracks will be found in the Tharsis Region. Higher elevation cracks are deeper and wider than lower elevation crack. Grabens will be wider and Tension Cracks will be deeper at higher elevations. More Tension Cracks will be found in the Tharsis Region. Only one hypothesis was supported, and that was more Tension Cracks will be found in the Tharsis Region. Some future work that could be done is to, capture more images so we can observe how much more width than depth, or depth than width, in each region. Some more future work is to, be able to convert the units correctly. Because some units were moved to the left only two times, when it should be moved three. We would like to acknowledge the people for taking the time out of their busy day, to help us at Mars: Chris Edward, Jessica Swann, Ali Rutledge, John Hill, Meg Hufford, Mr. And Mrs. Kopplin, Mr. Lopez, Mr. Bernasconi, Mrs. Chiaradonna, and Ms. Whalen! References Christensen, P.R., B.M. Jakosky, H.H. Kieffer, M.C. Malin, H.Y. McSween, Jr., K. Nealson, G.L. Mehall, S.H. Silverman, S. Ferry, M. Caplinger, and M. Ravine, The Thermal Emission Imaging System (THEMIS) for the Mars 2001 Odyssey Mission, Space Science Reviews, 110, , Edwards, Chris. 2011

7 Hill, John Hufford, Meg Rutledge, Alicia Swann, Jessica JMARS Program

8

9

10