One of the most exciting discoveries brought about during the last half a century of solar system exploration is that mars was a hydrologically active, earth-like planet. Particularly significant is…

The Planetary Science Institute (PSI), a non-profit research organization based in Tucson, Arizona, was awarded an $655,641 research grant by a civilian federal agency effective August 1, 2021, with a completion deadline of July 31, 2026. This grant was issued without set-aside designation and supports fundamental planetary science research focused on mapping and analyzing tsunami-related landforms on Mars. The project builds on recent discoveries indicating that a megatsunami event covered paleo-shoreline features on Mars' ancient northern ocean, which existed approximately 3.4 billion years ago. PSI will conduct a comprehensive investigation to map the distribution of potential tsunami-related landforms throughout the Martian northern plains and the interior lower flanks of Elysium Mons, establishing spatial and temporal relationships to advance understanding of the planet's paleoclimatic evolution.

The research leverages numerical simulations to determine wave heights and hydrodynamic characteristics associated with the mapped tsunami deposits, contributing to the Rodriguez et al. (2016) paleoclimatic reconstruction. This work directly addresses fundamental questions about Mars' habitability and climate history during its transition from a hydrologically active, Earth-like environment to its current arid state. As a demonstrated capability in planetary science research, PSI regularly serves as a prime contractor and grantee for NASA missions and fundamental research initiatives, bringing extensive expertise in data analysis, geological mapping, theoretical modeling, and collaborative scientific investigation to federal space exploration objectives.

One of the most exciting discoveries brought about during the last half a century of solar system exploration is that mars was a hydrologically active, earth-like planet. Particularly significant is the finding that an ocean probably occupied the martian northern plains ~3.4 GA. This hypothesis has been the subject of debate and scrutiny for nearly half a century. Part of the controversy stemmed from the observation that the proposed paleo-oceanic basin lacks an appreciable continuity of paleo-shoreline features. A recent investigation suggests that the emplacement and long-term preservation of megatsunami deposits over the planet s ancient coastal environments covered the paleoshorelines, hence explaining their absence (https://WWW.nature.COM/articles/SREP25106). This investigation documents two possible megatsunami deposits a younger one, which shows evidence of backwash channels over debris lobate fronts. An older one lacking evidence of backflow and showing dominantly ICY compositions, perhaps because the waves froze during their run-up into the highlands. The older and a younger megatsunami respectively extended from paleoshorelines at the -3,800 m and -4,100 m elevations. A fundamental interpretation in the article is that mars experienced global paleoclimatic cooling during the oceanic regression phase. The evolution of the ocean s coastal environments, which is relevant to the understanding of mars paleoclimatic evolution and potential habitability, remains mostly unknown. Here, we propose to map the distribution of all potential tsunami-related landforms throughout the entire northern plains and the interior lower flanks of elysium mons. We will use our mapping to establish spatial and temporal relationships that will allow US to investigate the evolution of the northern ocean and add detail to the rodriguez ET AL. (2016) paleoclimatic reconstruction. Wave height and other hydrodynamic characteristics will be determined using numerical simulations, which also generate coastal inundation distances and backwash patterns. We will compare these simulation outputs to the mapping results to find the best matching cases and provide reasonable geologic reconstructions of the tsunami events. We will use our mapping of megatsunami features for paleoshoreline reconstruction, which will allow US to investigate the coastal paleoenvironments formed during oceanic regression. These results will allow US to assess the martian ocean s longevity and the paleoclimatic conditions under which IT existed. These results are relevant to current paleoclimatic modeling efforts and the search for geologic materials that might retain former life evidence. To this end, we will identify astrobiologically significant tsunami deposits by combining our mapping and numerical simulations to establish the distribution of tsunami deposits that are mostly composed of eroded ocean floor materials. This proposal advances the mdap objective "to enhance the scientific return from missions to mars conducted by NASA and other space agencies". The methodology proposed is dominated by the analysis and interpretation of released mars spacecraft data, specifically from the NASA mars global surveyor, mars odyssey, and mars reconnaissance orbiter missions, as well as ESA mars express. Our proposed investigation will provide insights into the history of tsunami-driven coastal resurfacing in early mars oceans. Our analysis of surface geomorphologic features within the proposed tsunami deposits will improve our understanding of climate change in the planet s early history and identify areas of astrobiological interest for future mars missions. Thus, IT is in direct support of the goals outlined by mdap, and the decadal survey, particularly those relating to geological processes, the distribution of water, surface-atmosphere interactions, habitability, and climate.