SurfaceFeatures

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Sam Houston State University *

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1404

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Geology

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Dec 6, 2023

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Planet 1 Planet 1 (a) Feature: Stream beds Planet 1 (b) Feature: Lava flows Planet 1 (c) What I know about this planet: This planet has/had a molten interior, an atmosphere, liquid water, and a stable crust. Carissa Buckland PHYS 1404 04 Part 1: Planet Features 1) What feature requires a planet to have a hot, molten interior? (HIGHLIGHT OR BOLD) dunes impact craters stream beds volcanic lava flows 2) What feature requires a planet to have an atmosphere? dunes impact craters stream beds volcanic lava flows 3) What feature requires a planet to have liquid on the surface? dunes impact craters stream beds volcanic lava flows 4) What feature does not require a planet to have any particular characteristics? dunes impact craters stream beds volcanic lava flows The following images are of three different Earth-like planets (Mercury, Earth, and Mars). All the images are of the solid, rocky surface and were taken by NASA spacecraft. 5) Examine these images and identify the type of surface feature shown: sand dunes, impact craters, stream beds, lava flows. 6) For each planet, write down what you can determine about the planet based on those images (if it has an atmosphere, a molten interior, or liquid on the surface).

Planet 3 Image credit: NASA/JPL Planet 3 (a) Feature: sand Planet 3 (b) Feature: Planet 3 (c) Feature: Feature: Notice that the presence of some impact craters indicates that this feature has not been modifi What I know about this planet: This planet has/had an atmosphere, molten interior, stable crust, low erosion rate, and wind. Planet 2 Planet 2 (a) Feature: impact crater Planet 2 (b) Feature: impact crater What I know about this planet: weak/thin atmosphere; little geological activity; Carissa Buckland PHYS 1404 04 dune Impact crater Lava flows

Mars Climate Change Olympus Mons Mars has an atmosphere, and it once had a hot, molten interior and liquid water (although not any more). Mercury does not have an atmosphere, liquid water, or a hot, molten interior. 7) Using the information given, identify each of the planets as Earth, Mercury, or Mars. • PLANET 1 Earth • PLANET 2 Mercury • PLANET 3 Mars 8) The Moon is completely covered in craters. What can you determine about the Moon based on this information? The Moon is completely covered in craters because the Moon has no atmosphere to protect the surface from impacting bodies. The Moon also has very little geologic activity or weathering, so craters remain intact for billions of years. MARS SURFACE FEATURES AND CLIMATE EVOLUTION In order to understand the climate of Mars, we need to understand how the geologic history, atmosphere, and climate of Mars are all related. This is a photo of Olympus Mons, a volcano on Mars. 1) How can you tell there has not been an eruption for a long period of time? There are signs of very old lava flow, and the craters are very old, which shows no new activity. 2) Based on this photo, does Mars currently have a hot, molten interior? Yes No 3) Did Mars have a hot, molten interior in the past ? Yes No This is a photo of some dried stream beds on Mars. 4) How can you tell that this river system on Mars has not had flowing water for millions of years? No erosion from flowing water has occurred and no actively moving water can be observed.

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Mars Climate Change Part 2: Causes of Interior Heat vs Surface Heat It is very important to understand the causes of a hot interior compared to the causes of a hot surface . 5) Which does the Sun heat? the interior (core) of a planet the surface of a planet 6) Does the distance of a planet from the Sun affect the heat of the interior ? Why or why not? No, distance from the Sun does not impact the interior temperature of a planet. The interior temperature of a planet is influenced by other factors, like the heat generated by gravitational foce. 7) Why are Earth’s and Venus’ interiors still hot, but the interior of Mars and Mercury have cooled, even though they all formed at the same time 4.6 bya and Mercury is the closest planet to the Sun? Interior temperatures are influenced by planetary mass. Larger mass planets have more heat produced by their elemental cores.

Volcanoes on Mars The temperature of the interior is related to planet size. Next we need to determine what affects the temperature of the surface . 8) Look at the map of volcanoes on Mars. Is it likely that the heat from the lava from these volcanoes was enough to heat the surface and melt all the ice that formed water in the rivers on Mars? Yes No If lava did not heat the whole surface, something else did. When Mars had a hot molten interior, volcanoes also emitted greenhouse gasses (e.g. CO 2 ) into the atmosphere. 9) Use the following terms to explain the causes and effects of the listed items below. (liquid water on surface, active volcanoes, CO 2 in the atmosphere, warmer climate) A hot molten interior caused: active volcanoes Volcanoes erupted causing: CO 2 in the atmosphere Greenhouse gasses in the atmosphere caused: liquid water on the surface A warmer atmosphere caused: warmer climate Part 3: Predicting Surface Features The warm interior meant volcanoes erupted greenhouse gasses which kept the surface of Mars warm enough for there to be liquid water. Now that the interior of Mars is cool and solid, there is less greenhouse gas in the atmosphere so the whole surface is cooler. 10) Circle the features that were forming on the surface of Mars billions of years ago. volcanoes sand dunes rivers lakes craters 11) Circle the features that are forming on the surface of Mars right now. volcanoes sand dunes rivers lakes craters 12) How was early Mars different than Mars today? (Why is your answer to question 11 different from your answer to question 10?) The surface features required for the formation of volcanoes and bodies of liquid water are no longer present on the Mars of today but were present at some point.

SurfaceFeatures

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