The surface of mars is composed primarily of igneous rocks derived from extrusive volcanism, which has been a dominant geologic process throughout the history of the planet. Understanding the volcanic…

This $366,015 federal grant award from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) to the University of Pittsburgh (Pitt) will fund research to improve understanding of volcanic processes on Mars. The research aims to validate terrestrial lava flow propagation models for Martian applications, determine eruption conditions that produced Martian lava flows, and assess variations in flow rheology and crystal content. The work leverages data from the recent 2012-2013 Tolbachik eruption in Russia as a terrestrial analog to refine flow modeling approaches. The overarching goal is to connect Martian volcanic surface morphology to eruption conditions, providing insights into the volcanotectonic evolution of the Tharsis region. This grant does not have a set-aside designation, as Pitt competes for federal research funding as a large public research university. Pitt frequently partners with government agencies like NASA on projects spanning disciplines like planetary science, engineering, and biomedical research.

The surface of mars is composed primarily of igneous rocks derived from extrusive volcanism, which has been a dominant geologic process throughout the history of the planet. Understanding the volcanic evolution and specific emplacement conditions of lava flows at martian volcanoes is critical for determining the timing and duration of heat sources below these centers. However, detailed analysis and modeling of individual lava flows has been hindered in the past by the low spatial resolution of older orbital instruments. With higher resolution data from themis, CTX and hirise and developments in lava flow modeling based on observations of active terrestrial volcanoes, we now have the ability to examine changes in morphology, petrology and emplacement conditions for individual martian lava flows. This study is designed to answer specific volcanological questions regarding flow fields on mars, including: 1) how can terrestrial flow propagation models be validated for mars applications; 2) what were the eruption conditions that produced martian lava flows and did they vary across a given flow field and over time; 3) do martian flows exhibit differences in modeled down-flow viscosity and crystal content, are these detected using other datasets, and can rheological parameters be associated with specific aspects of flow morphology; and 4) what do the results of modeling volcanic processes imply regarding the larger volcanotectonic evolution of the tharsis region the overarching goal of the proposed work is to first test and refine well-developed terrestrial discharge rate and flow propagation models (developed for active flows) at a terrestrial analog site the 2012-2013 tolbachik eruption in russia. This eruption was the largest and most thermally intense flow field-forming volcanic event in the past fifty years. As such, IT produced a terrestrial flow field that is perhaps the most similar to those seen in the tharsis region. Furthermore, an unprecedented amount of satellite data coverage was acquired during the tolbachik eruption leading to the ability to test the accuracy of thermorheologic models of discharge rate versus flow size/direction. The second phase of the study will then apply these refined models to extract eruption rates and examine down-flow variations of individual lava flows in the southwest flow field of arsia mons. This unique terrestrial eruption and dataset should allow US, for the first time, to connect planetary flow surface morphology to exact eruption conditions by constraining the thermorheologic models of flow formation. In a preliminary test of this approach, an individual flow in the arsia mons flow field was modeled as having a predicted effusion rate of 2600 M3/S, an initial velocity of 4-5 M/S, and a down-flow increase in crystal content of 23%. However, the accuracy of these results is not known and will be greatly improved using the terrestrial dataset and flow modeling. The proposed research is directly relevant to the solar systems working program in that IT will improve our understanding of mars volcanic evolution by developing a lava flow modeling approach using a terrestrial case study to extract discharge rates for complex lava flow units/fields, thus allowing US to evaluate igneous processes and their evolution through time. Specifically, IT uses comparative planetology, data synthesis, and field studies of terrestrial analogs as well as numerical modeling of physical processes. Furthermore, this study addresses the volcanism topic under the surfaces and interior research area in that IT will identify the physical and chemical variations in volcanic activity and investigate how past volcanic activity on mars provides insight into interior processes