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Quarterly Journal of Engineering Geology and Hydrogeology
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Quarterly Journal of Engineering Geology and Hydrogeology; 2004; v. 37; issue.1; p. 5-6;
DOI: 10.1144/1470-9236/04-041
© 2004 Geological Society of London

Photo Feature

Is there a role for engineering geology on Mars?

Alan Forster

British Geological Survey, Keyworth NG12 5GG, UK

The first 250 words of the full text of this article appear below. Images appear only in PDF or full-text views.

In January this year, the European Space Agency's (ESA) satellite ‘Mars Express’ started to record stereoscopic colour images of amazing detail and clarity of the Martian surface (at high resolution, 12 m per pixel). ‘Mars Express’ is Europe's first spacecraft to visit Mars and the mission comprised an orbiter to study the atmosphere, surface and subsurface plus a lander that was to investigate the surface and search for signs of life. One of the mission's most important objectives was to search for signs of water because NASA research of the Martian surface had indicated that there was evidence for catastrophic floods early in its history that had left large outflow channels and valley networks that must have been formed by water.

According to Francois Costard of the Laboratoire de Geologie Dynamique de la Terre et des Planètes, Orsay, France, quoted on ESA's web site (http://sci.esa.int/science-e/www/object/index.cfm?fobjectid=31026): ‘The valley networks formed more than 3.8 billion years ago. They must have been carved by rivers fed by rainfall or by groundwater sapping. Liquid water must have been on the surface for a long time to form them, so the temperature and pressure must have been higher then than now.’

The indication of significant water quantities in the past and the observed topography raise the questions: was there any landslide activity associated with over-steepening of slopes during the rapid erosion and werethere landslides associated with high groundwater pressures or during drawdown conditions if the water came from underground sources?

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D.P. Neuffer and R.A. Schultz
Mechanisms of slope failure in Valles Marineris, Mars
Quarterly Journal of Engineering Geology and Hydrogeology, 2006; 39: 227 - 240.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]