Publications

During spring 2006, talus from the toe area of a rock-block slide of about 800,000 m3 buried California State Highway 140, one of the main routes into heavily-visited Yosemite National Park, USA. Closure of the highway for 92 days caused business losses of about 4.8 million USD. The rock slide, composed of slate and phyllite, moved slowly downslope from April to June 2006, creating a...

Abundant wind-related features occur along Spirit's traverse into the Columbia Hills over the basaltic plains of Gusev Crater. Most of the windblown sands are probably derived from weathering of rocks within the crater, and possibly from deposits associated with Ma'adim Vallis. Windblown particles act as agents of abrasion, forming ventifacts, and are organized in places into various bed...

The initial spacecraft exploration of the Moon in the 1960s-70s yielded extensive data, primarily in the form of film and television images, which were used to produce a large number of hardcopy maps by conventional techniques. A second era of exploration, beginning in the early 1990s, has produced digital data including global multispectral imagery and altimetry, from which a new...

In the first 6 months of the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter's Primary Science Phase, the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera has returned images sampling the diversity of volcanic terrains on Mars. While many of these features were noted in earlier imaging, they are now seen with unprecedented clarity. We find that some volcanic vents produced predominantly effusive...

The 1883 eruption of Augustine Volcano produced a tsunami when a debris avalanche traveled into the waters of Cook Inlet. Older debris avalanches and coeval paleotsunami deposits from sites around Cook Inlet record several older volcanic tsunamis. A debris avalanche into the sea on the west side of Augustine Island ca. 450 years ago produced a wave that affected areas 17 m above high...

For centuries, navigators of the world’s oceans have been familiar with an effect of Earth’s magnetic field: It imparts a directional preference to the needle of a compass. Although in some settings magnetic orientation remains important, the modern science of geomagnetismhas emerged from its romantic nautical origins and developed into a subject of great depth and diversity. The...

We have remapped the geology of the north polar plateau on Mars, Planum Boreum, and the surrounding plains of Vastitas Borealis using altimetry and image data along with thematic maps resulting from observations made by the Mars Global Surveyor, Mars Odyssey, Mars Express, and Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter spacecraft. New and revised geographic and geologic terminologies assist with...

For some 19 areas of Titan's surface, the Cassini RADAR instrument has obtained synthetic aperture radar (SAR) images during two different flybys. The time interval between flybys varies from several weeks to two years. We have used the apparent misregistration (by 10-30 km) of features between separate flybys to construct a refined model of Titan's spin state, estimating six parameters...

Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) images of Titan's north polar region reveal quasi‐circular to complex features which are interpreted to be liquid hydrocarbon lakes. We investigate methane transport in Titan's hydrologic cycle using the global distribution of lake features. As of May 2007, the SAR data set covers ∼22% of the surface and indicates multiple lake morphologies which are...

Reduced weathering rates due to the lack of liquid water and significantly greater typical surface ages should result in a higher density of meteorites on the surface of Mars compared to Earth. Several meteorites were identified among the rocks investigated during Opportunity's traverse across the sandy Meridiani plains. Heat Shield Rock is a IAB iron meteorite and has been officially...

Temperatures of the Arsia Mons caldera floor and two nearby control areas were obtained by the Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Thermal Emission Spectrometer (TES). These observations revealed that the Arsia Mons caldera floor exhibits thermal behavior different from the surrounding Tharsis region when compared with thermal models. Our technique compares modeled and observed data to determine...

Veneers and thicker rinds that coat outcrop surfaces and partially cemented fracture fills formed perpendicular to bedding document relatively late stage alteration of ancient sedimentary rocks at Meridiani Planum, Mars. The chemistry of submillimeter thick, buff-colored veneers reflects multiple processes at work since the establishment of the current plains surface. Veneer composition...