Judging a planet by its cover : insights into lunar crustal structure and Martian climate history from surface features

Orbital spacecraft make observations of a planet's surface in the present day, but careful analyses of these data can yield information about deeper planetary structure and history. In this thesis, I use data sets from four orbital robotic spacecraft missions to answer longstanding questions about the crustal structure of the Moon and the climatic history of Mars. In chapter 2, I use gravity data from the Gravity Recovery and Interior Laboratory (GRAIL) mission to constrain the quantity and location of hidden volcanic deposits on the Moon. In chapter 3, I combine GRAIL data with elevation measurements from the Lunar Orbiter Laser Altimeter (LOLA) aboard the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) to investigate the nature of isostatic compensation in the lunar highlands. In chapter 4, I present a new technique for analysis of the Martian polar layered deposits (PLDs). In chapter 5, I apply that technique using images of the PLDs from the MOC and HiRISE instruments aboard the Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) and Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) to constrain their ages and deposition rates.

Department dc:contributor.department

Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences.

Grantor dc:publisher

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Year dc:date.issued

2014

Author dc:creator

• Sori, Michael M. (Michael Manuel)

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Maria T. Zuber.

• Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences.

Statement dc:rights

• M.I.T. theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. See provided URL for inquiries about permission.

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/95557

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/95557