Skip Links

USGS - science for a changing world

Open-File Report 02-078

Abstracts of the Annual Planetary Geologic Mappers Meeting June 18–19, 2001 Albuquerque, New Mexico

Edited by Timothy J. Parker, Kenneth L. Tanaka, and David A. Senske

Thumbnail of and link to report PDF (4.9 MB)Introduction

The annual Planetary Geologic Mappers Meeting serves two purposes. In addition to giving mappers the opportunity to exchange ideas, experiences, victories, and problems with others, presentations are reviewed by the Geologic Mapping Subcommittee (GeMS) to provide input to the Planetary Geology and Geophysics Mapping Program review panel’s consideration of new proposals and progress reports that include mapping tasks. Funded mappers bring both oral presentation materials (slides or viewgraphs) and map products to post for review by GeMS and fellow mappers. Additionally, the annual meetings typically feature optional field trips offering earth analogs and parallels to planetary mapping problems.

The 2001 Mappers Meeting, June 18-19, was convened by Tim Parker, Dave Senske, and Ken Tanaka and was hosted by Larry Crumpler and Jayne Aubele of the New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Oral presentations were given in the Museum’s Honeywell Auditorium, and maps were posted in the Sandia Room. In addition to active mappers, guests included local science teachers who had successfully competed for the right to attend and listen to the reports. It was a unique pleasure for mappers to have the opportunity to interact with and provide information to teachers responding so enthusiastically to the meeting presentation.

On Sunday, June 17, Larry and Jayne conducted an optional pre-meeting field trip. The flanks of Rio Grande Rift, east and west of Albuquerque and Valles Caldera north of town presented tectonic, volcanic, and sedimentary examples of the Rift and adjoining areas analogous to observed features on Mars and Venus. The arid but volcanically and tectonically active environment of New Mexico’s rift valley enables focus on features that appear morphologically young and spectacular in satellite images and digital relief models. The theme of the trip was to see what, at orbiter resolution, "obvious" geologic features look like at lander (outcrop) scales. Trips to the top of the rift-flanking mountains (Sandia Peak, 10,600 ft) and the Valles Caldera, as well as various active spring deposits highlighted the day.

After welcoming remarks from the host, Larry Crumpler, opening remarks by Tim Parker and Dave Senske and a report on mapping program status by Ken Tanaka, the mappers’ oral presentations began the morning of June 18, with a session on Venus Geologic Mapping. The afternoon continued with an exciting USGS Planetary GIS on the Web (PIGWAD) demonstration and ended with an open discussion of issues in planetary mapping. Posted maps of Venus quadrangles were viewed during the morning break.

Tuesday’s Mars Geologic Mapping session began with a pep talk from Tim Parker encouraging mapping community input to the MER landing site selection committee and continued with Steve Saunders describing the potential contribution of Odyssey Mission data to the geologic mapping of Mars. A Mars map poster session was held during the morning break, and the meeting was adjourned mid-afternoon.

After the mappers meeting on Tuesday, attendants were treated to a "Field trip to Mars." The Institute of Meteoritics at the University of New Mexico houses an outstanding collection of meteorites, including those that have been identified as originating from Mars. The Institute tour featured examples of most of the different lithologies exhibited by martian meteorites identified to date, as well as some of the analytical tests (scanning electron microscope) they are conducting on specimens from ALH84001.

Wednesday, June 20, featured an optional post-meeting field trip to see a travertine quarry and nearby sites of travertine deposition, the Very Large Array near Socorro, and other volcanic features within the Rio Grande Rift..

First posted March 7, 2002

For additional information, contact:
Astrogeology Science Center
U.S. Geological Survey
2255 N. Gemini Drive
Flagstaff, Arizona, 86001

Part or all of this report is presented in Portable Document Format (PDF). For best results viewing and printing PDF documents, it is recommended that you download the documents to your computer and open them with Adobe Reader. PDF documents opened from your browser may not display or print as intended. Download the latest version of Adobe Reader, free of charge.


Suggested citation:

Edited by Parker, Timothy J., Tanaka, Kenneth L., Senske, David A., 2002, Abstracts of the Annual Planetary Geologic Mappers Meeting June 18–19, 2001 Albuquerque, New Mexico: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 02-078, 27 pp., https://pubs.usgs.gov/of/2002/0078/.



Contents

Introduction

Geology of Bereghinya Planitia Quadrangle (V-8), Venus

Nemesis Tessera Quadrangle (V-14), Venus

Mapping of Nepthys Mons Quadrangle (V-54), Venus

Geologic Mapping in V-61 Quadrangle, Venus: Preliminary Results

Digital Mapping

Geologic Mapping of Aqueous Sedimentary Basins on Mars

Geology of the MTM 40012 Quadrangle, Mars

Geologic Mapping of the Circum-Hellas Highlands of Mars

Geologic Mapping of the South Polar Region of Mars

Recent Variable Infilling of the Utopia Basin: Regional Provenance and Processes

Stratigraphy of Terra Meridiani, Mars

Field Trip to Mars

Field Trip to the Spring Deposits of the Western Rift and to the Very Large Array, New Mexico

List of Attendees of the 2001 Planetary Geologic Mappers Meeting


Accessibility FOIA Privacy Policies and Notices

Take Pride in America logo USA.gov logo U.S. Department of the Interior | U.S. Geological Survey
URL: http://pubsdata.usgs.gov/pubs/of/2002/0078/index.html
Page Contact Information: GS Pubs Web Contact
Page Last Modified: Wednesday, 07-Dec-2016 19:23:08 EST