W12 THE PLANETS HOMEWORK MODULE 5 PROF. MILITZER, SUMMER 2015 DUE ON JULY 26, 2015 BY 11 PM

This homework is done with the program GoogleEarth version 7 or later. You can either download it on your own computer or use a computer on campus and install it there. For installation instructions and computer locations on campus, please read the appendix at the end of the assignment. Type your answers in the provided answer sheet and submit it to the bcourse website. Make sure to press Submit after uploading your file. You should receive a confirmation email. We accept the following formats: DOC, DOCX, PDF, ODT. Before we start: After starting GoogleEarth, please switch to Mars (by going to View/Explore) and follow the following steps to set up: (1) Enable the Scale legend (View/Scale Legend). The scale bar allows you to zoom in and out. You may also find it useful to enable Grid (View/Grid) when traveling to and navigating between locations.

(2) Make sure that metric units and degrees/minutes/seconds notation are used by going to the Tools/Options menu and selecting the appropriate options. In this assignment, we will ask you to navigate to specific latitude/longitude coordinates in degrees, minutes, seconds notation. (3) Know your options when navigating to coordinates: (a) Simply use the hand tool or your mouse to manually move the map. It is important to note that the lat/long coordinates of your cursor are displayed at the bottom of the screen. (b) Input the coordinates in the Fly to space (within Search) on the left side of the screen. The coordinates need to be written with a space in between the degrees, minutes and seconds, and a comma between the latitude and longitude with the latitude appearing first in the list. Make sure to specify N,S,E, or W. Entering 1 56 37 S, 5 31 09 W without quotes should land you near the rover Opportunity. (c) To remember a location of interest, you may insert a placemark by going to Add/Placemark and inputting the coordinates within the dialogue box.

Assignment Questions (Use the answer sheet): (1) Navigate to 1956'10"N and 2453'05"E (to input in Fly to/Search, try: 18 26 4.11 N, 179 48 48.79 E, zoom in to 20km resolution. The coordinates of your cursor are displayed at the bottom of the screen. Describe what geological feature you see and estimate its horizontal and vertical dimensions. Compare and contrast what you see to similar features on the moon and explain what it tells us about the earlier history of Mars. You may want to add a placemark at this location. Do this by clicking the yellow thumbtack icon at the top. (2) Now enable the CTX image browser (listed under Spacecraft Imagery in Layers). Areas imaged by the Context Camera (CTX) should now be outlined with orange rectangles. Zoom out until the scale bar reads 100km and find the green hiker icon marking Marte Vallis, which is southeast of your current location. Click on the green hiker icon and click again to load a high resolution image and description of Marte Vallis.

Now fly to 11 0'42.16"N, and 17846'59.48"W , zoom in to 3500 meter resolution. The marker should lie directly between two distinct features. Notice that the features are structurally altered. Notice the black streaks on the slopes of the more northwestern feature. They are called slope streaks. Look them up and answer the following questions. What process shaped these features? Indicate the relative time of alteration and formation of these features and your reasoning for this order.

(3) Fly to 616'59"S, and 6909'18"W and zoom in to a scale of 1km. You should be centered on a prominent cliff. (If GoogeEarth does not automatically load the grey HiRISE image, please load it manually.) What are the features of this cliff? How do you think these features formed? Compare it with the Nanga Parbat's Rupal Face and Kermadec Trench (both on Earth). In what way are these features same/different? (4a) Navigate to 445035N, 1114525W and zoom in to 20km. Describe the parallel ridges that you see and explain how they may have formed. Can you name a similar feature on Earth? (4b)Now zoom out to about 200 km resolution, keeping your focus on the feature. Do you see any relation to another adjacent named landform? How might these two features be related? What is the relative time of formation of these features? (5) Fly to 2655'28.84"S and 3427'35.03"W and zoom in to 4 or 8 km. The marker will be in the center of a half-circle feature. Describe what you see and how it may have formed. Does this indicate rapid or gentle flow? Explain why.

(6) In the layers window, under the Mars Gallery drop down menu enable the Rovers and Landers option. Double click the MSL Curiosity Rover (USA) and allow the window to pan to the Curiosity lander site. Explore the area, including the high-resolution panoramic mosaic. Use your existent knowledge and do some extra research: why is this location chosen for landing? What are the advantages of landers over satellites anyways? (7a) Next compare two larger regions of the planet. First fly to 390244S and 193211E and zoom in to 100 km. Estimate the number of craters in the field of view, measure the width of the largest crater, and comment on the size distribution of the population of craters. (7b) Then fly to 290226 N and 1063355 E view once again at 100 km resolution and answer the same questions for this region. In which location is the exposed surface older? Explain briefly. The next exercises are a bit more work. For these you will generate topographic cross-sections of features on Earth and Mars. These cross-sections will allow us to compare the scale of similar features on the two planets. For this we will make use of the Path tool in GoogleEarth. Begin by comparing the cross-sections of two large canyons: Vallis Marineris on Mars and Yarlung Tsangpo Grand Canyon on Earth. You should be able to find both by typing the name into the search bar while viewing the corresponding planet. To do this:

Select the path tool on the GoogleEarth interface

Select a specific longitude (indicate your chosen value in your submission) and draw

from North to South a path, placing points at evenly spaced intervals by left-clicking the mouse. I recommend zooming in to 50km resolution, and walking across the valley.

Name your Path and save it using the GoogleEarth New Path dialogue box.

Find your path in the Places list, right click it and select Show Elevation profile. A

graph similar to the one below should appear (the example is of a different feature).

Include a picture of the each profile in your submitted homework. The easiest

way to do this is to take a screen-shot (see instructions at the end), and crop the picture around the plot. Then insert the plot into the homework answer sheet.

For Vallis Marineris, I recommend zooming in to 50km resolution, then walk across the valley with your mouse while recording the elevation in latitude steps of approximately 20 arc minutes. A good place to take an intersect of Yarlung Tsangpo canyon is north of the Tsangpo Gorge tag (on Earth). (8) Using the topographic profiles of each canyon, determine the depth of the canyon (the difference between the highest and lowest point) and the distance between the North and South rim, also briefly describe and compare the shape of the two profiles. (9) Identify the tallest of the four large volcanoes on Mars using the colorized terrain map under the Global Maps layer is helpful for this task:

As before, generate an elevation profile along the north-south cross section cuts across the center of its crater. Using the 30 arc minute resolution. Next switch back to GoogleEarth back to Earth and create a north-south profile for Mount Everest. Finally visit the Big Island of Hawaii. Generate an elevation profile of a north-south cross section in 5 arc minute intervals starting from the ocean floor and crossing the Big Islands highest peak (Mauna Kea). Please provide images of your three topographic profiles: Using these profiles for each find the height (the difference in altitude between the peak and nearest low-point) of the mountain. Using this definition, what is the tallest mountain on each planet? (10) Back on Mars, search for Valles Marineris in the search bar. Using the colorized terrain map, see how far you can trace this water-eroded valley. Using the Path tool, draw a path that water would have taken from its source, as far as you continue to see erosion

features. Dont worry about being too precise; the profile will have noise from other features. Then do the same thing for the Nile River on the Earth.

What direction did the water flow through Valles Marineris? Why? Compare the length which water flowed through Valles Marineris to the length of the Nile River. Then compare the elevation change between the source and outflow of both. What might you conclude about the nature of the water flow through Valles Marineris? (Hint: Another source of evidence are the tear-shaped islands present in Valles Marineris but do not exist on Earth.)

Comments on cutting and pasting images a) On a Mac, you can take screen shot by pressing the Shift, the Command, and number 4 key at the same time. The operating system then lets us select the screen range of your choice and delivers it as Screenshot.png on your desktop. Then insert the image in your homework file. b) On a PC, you first need to press the PrintScreen button (somewhere on the upper right hiding on your keyboard) which copies your whole screen into the Clipboard. Then you can paste it with Control-v into various graphics applications. MS Paint comes with the PC operating system but many other graphics programs work as well. From these programs you would then save it as JPG or PNG file. (You could also try pasting directly into MS Word. The file size may also get huge, however. Try to keep your images under two megabytes!)

You have three opt ions to gain access to GoogleEarth 6 or later needed for this HW. Option 1: Installing it on your own computer (much preferred) Please download it from: http://earth.google.com/

Additional comments can be found here: http://google-latlong.blogspot.com/2009/02/google-earth-goes-to-mars.html Option 2: Find a fellow student in class and use his or her computer Option 3: Use one with the campus computer labs Please follow the instruction by on of the system administrators. It only works on Macs: However I did find time to look into the GoogleEarth installation and found that it installs with no hassle on our general access iMacs. This will actually be an easier solution for your students, as our general access facilities are open later and on weekends. The two facilities that your students can install GoogleEarth are: 2180 Valley Life Sciences M-F 9AM-10PM Sat CLOSED Sun CLOSED 1st Floor Moffit M-TH 9AM-9PM Fri-Sat 9AM-5PM Sun 1PM-9PM This information can also be found here: http://facility.berkeley.edu/labs/hours.html All students need to log on to our systems is a working Calnet ID. Again, the install will only work on our iMacs, not on PCs, but the installation is very simple. The students can download the program with a quick google search, then continue to open and execute the installer. If your students are uncomfortable with the process they can ask one of our consultants to assist them, the consultants can be found at the front of the facility. If you have any questions about the process or our facilities please do not hesitate to ask.