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Distributed-style volcanism is an end member of terrestrial volcanism that produces clusters of small volcanoes when isolated magma bodies ascend from broad magma source regions. Volcano clusters c...

The Late Amazonian volcanic plains east of Olympus Mons contain numerous channels and fossae. Channel formation hypotheses have included volcanic processes, flowing water, or a combination of both. To evaluate these hypotheses, we conducted detailed geomorphological and facies mapping at two sites containing channels and fossae representative of features in the region. Based on our mapping and morphological analyses using high resolution topography and images from HiRISE and CTX, we classified channels into three types, and fossae into two types. Channel Type 1 and Type 2 are consistent with the morphology of lava channels, however, we found no evidence of channel formation due to thermo-mechanical erosion. Additionally, we calculated the potential for lava to achieve turbulent flow within our two study sites and found it unlikely. Channel Type 3 is consistent with fluvial bedrock erosion, likely sourced from erupted groundwater that entrained regolith into lahar-like flows. Fossae are classified as linear (Type L) or arcuate and branched (Type A). Type L fossae are interpreted to be surface fractures associated with dike emplacement, whereas Type A fossae are interpreted to be surface fractures due to sill emplacement, which may have melted buried ice deposits and generated meltwater floods. Type 1 and Type 2 channels are associated with Type L fossae and fissure-fed effusive eruptions of lava. In contrast, Type 3 channels are co-located with Type A fossae, and are likely due to outbursts of groundwater possibly related to sill emplacement. We attribute the formation and distribution of channels and fossae throughout the plains east of Olympus Mons to be a consequence of the region’s evolving states of stress, which are predominantly influenced by the loading of Olympus Mons.

Igneous rocks are the primary building blocks of planetary crusts. Most igneous rocks originate via decompression melting and/or wet melting of protolith lithologies within planetary interiors and their classification and compositional, petrographic, and textural characteristics, are well-studied. As our exploration of the Solar System continues, so too does the inventory of intrusive and extrusive igneous rocks, settings, and processes. The results of planetary exploration have also clearly demonstrated that impact cratering is a ubiquitous geological process that has affected, and will continue to affect, all planetary objects with a solid surface, whether that be rock or ice. It is now recognized that the production of igneous rocks is a fundamental outcome of hypervelocity impact. The goal of this review is to provide an up-to-date synthesis of our knowledge and understanding of igneous rocks formed by hypervelocity impact. Following a brief overview of the basics of the impact process, we describe how and why melts are generated during impact events and how impact melting differs from endogenic igneous processes. While the process may differ, we show that the products of hypervelocity impact can share close similarities with volcanic and shallow intrusive igneous rocks of endogenic origin. Such impact melt rocks, as they are termed, can display lobate margins and cooling cracks, columnar joints and at the hand specimen and microscopic scale, such rocks can display mineral textures that are typical of volcanic rocks, such as quench crystallites, ophitic, porphyritic, as well as features such as vesicles, flow textures, and so on. Historically, these similarities led to the misidentification of some igneous rocks now known to be impact melt rocks as being of endogenic origin. This raises the question as to how to distinguish between an impact versus an endogenic origin for igneous-like rocks on other planetary bodies where fieldwork and sample analysis may not be possible and all that may be available is remote sensing data. While the interpretation of some impact melt rocks may be relatively straightforward (e.g., for clast-rich varieties and those with clear projectile contamination) we conclude that distinguishing between impact and endogenic igneous rocks is a non-trivial task that ultimately may require sample investigation and analysis to be conducted. Caution is, therefore, urged in the interpretation of igneous rocks on planetary surfaces.

The December 1974 flow in the SW rift zone at Kilauea Volcano, Hawaii, has been established as a Mars analog due to its physical, chemical, and morphological properties, as well as its interaction with the outgassing plume from the primary Kilauea caldera. We focus on a solfatara site that consists of hydrothermally altered basalt and alteration products deposited in and around a passively degassing volcanic vent situated directly adjacent to the December 1974 flow on its northwest side. Reflectance spectra are acquired in the visible/near-infrared (VNIR) region and emission spectra in the mid-infrared (MIR) range to better understand the spectral properties of hydrothermally altered materials. The VNIR signatures are consistent with silica, Fe-oxides, and sulfates (Ca, Fe). Primarily silica-dominated spectral signatures are observed in the MIR and changes in spectral features between samples appear to be driven by grain size effects in this wavelength range. The nature of the sample coating and the thermal emission signatures exhibit variations that may be correlated with distance from the vent. Chemical analyses indicate that most surfaces are characterized by silica-rich material, Fe-oxides, and sulfates (Ca, Fe). The silica and Fe-oxide-dominated MIR/VNIR spectral signatures exhibited by the hydrothermally altered material in this study are distinct from the sulfate-dominated spectral signatures exhibited by previously studied low-temperature aqueous acid-sulfate weathered basaltic glass. This likely reflects a difference in open vs. closed system weathering, where mobile cations are removed from the altered surfaces in the fumarolic setting. This work provides a unique infrared spectral library that includes martian analog materials that were altered in an active terrestrial solfatara (hydrothermal) setting. Hydrothermal environments are of particular interest as they potentially indicate habitable conditions. Key constraints on the habitability and astrobiological potential of ancient aqueous environments are provided through detection and interpretation of secondary mineral assemblages; thus, spectral detection of fumarolic alteration assemblages observed from this study on Mars would suggest a region that could have hosted a habitable environment.

The Tharsis Montes rift aprons are composed of outpourings of lava from chaotic terrains to the northeast and southwest flank of each volcano. Sinuous and branching channel networks that are present on the rift aprons suggest the possibility of fluvial processes in their development, or erosion by rapidly emplaced lavas, but the style of lava flow emplacement throughout rift apron development is not clearly understood. To better characterize the style of lava emplacement and role of fluvial processes in rift apron development, we conducted morphological mapping of the Pavonis Mons southwest rift apron and the eastern Tharsis plains using images from the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE), Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC), Context Camera (CTX), Thermal Emission Imaging System (THEMIS), and High Resolution Stereo Camera (HRSC) along with the Mars Orbiter Laser Altimeter (MOLA) Precision Experiment Data Records (PEDRs) and gridded data. Our approach was to: (1) search for depositional fans at the slope break between the rift apron and adjacent low slope plains; (2) determine if there is evidence that previously formed deposits might have been buried by plains units; (3) characterize the Tharsis plains morphologies east of Pavonis Mons; and (4) assess their relationship to the rift apron units. We have not identified topographically significant depositional fans, nor did we observe evidence to suggest that plains units have buried older rift apron units. Flow features associated with the rift apron are observed to continue across the slope break onto the plains. In this area, the plains are composed of a variety of small fissures and low shield vents around which broad channel-fed and tube-fed flows have been identified. We also find broad, flat-topped plateaus and sinuous ridges mixed among the channels, tubes and vents. Flat-topped plateaus and sinuous ridges are morphologies that are analogous to those observed on the coastal plain of Hawai‘i, where lava flows have advanced from the volcano's several degree flank onto the nearly zero degree coastal plain. When local volumetric flow rates are low, flow fronts tend to spread laterally and often thicken via endogenous growth, or inflation, of the sheet-like flow units. If flow advance is restricted by existing topography into narrow pathways, inflation can be focused into sinuous, elongate ridges. The presence of plateaus and ridges—emplaced from the rift zones, across the plains to the east of Pavonis Mons—and a lack of fan-like features, or evidence for their burial, are consistent with rift apron lavas crossing a slope break with low local volumetric flow rates that led to inflation of sheet-like and tube-fed lava flows.

Magmatism and volcanism have evolved the Martian lithosphere, surface, and climate throughout the history of Mars. Constraining the rates of magma generation and timing of volcanism on the surface clarifies the ways in which magma and volcanic activity have shaped these Martian systems. The ages of lava flows on other planets are often estimated using impact crater counts, assuming that the number and size-distribution of impact craters per unit area reflect the time the lava flow has been on the surface and exposed to potential impacts. Here we show that impact crater age model uncertainty is reduced by adding stratigraphic information observed at locations where neighboring lavas abut each other, and demonstrate the significance of this reduction in age uncertainty for understanding the history of a volcanic field comprising 29 vents in the 110-kilometer-diameter caldera of Arsia Mons, Mars. Each vent within this caldera produced lava flows several to tens of kilometers in length; these vents are likely among the youngest on Mars, since no impact craters in their lava flows are larger than 1 kilometer in diameter. First, we modeled the age of each vent with impact crater counts performed on their corresponding lava flows and found very large age uncertainties for the ages of individual vents, often spanning the estimated age for the entire volcanic field. The age model derived from impact crater counts alone is broad and unimodal, with estimated peak activity in the field around 130Ma (megaannum, 1 million years). Next we applied our volcano event age model (VEAM), which uses a directed graph of stratigraphic relationships and random sampling of the impact crater age determinations to create alternative age models. Monte Carlo simulation was used to create 10,000 possible vent age sets. The recurrence rate of volcanism is calculated for each possible age set, and these rates are combined to calculate the median recurrence rate of all simulations. Applying this approach to the 29 volcanic vents, volcanism likely began around 200-300Ma then first peaked around 150Ma, with an average production rate of 0.4 vents per Myr (million years). The recurrence rate estimated including stratigraphic data is distinctly bimodal, with a second, lower peak in activity around 100Ma. Volcanism then waned until the final vents were produced 10-90Ma. Based on this model, volume flux is also bimodal, reached a peak rate of 1-8 cubic kilometers per million years by 150Ma and remained above half this rate until about 90Ma, after which the volume flux diminished greatly. The onset of effusive volcanism from 200-150Ma might be due to a transition of volcanic style away from explosive volcanism that emplaced tephra on the western flank of Arsia Mons, while the waning of volcanism after the 150Ma peak might represent a larger-scale diminishing of volcanic activity at Arsia Mons related to the emplacement of flank apron lavas.

X-ray fluorescence (XRF) spectroscopy is a well-established and commonly used technique in obtaining diagnostic compositional data on geological samples. Recently, developments in X-ray tube and detector technologies have resulted in miniaturized, field-portable instruments that enable new applications both in and out of standard laboratory settings. These applications, however, have not been extensively applied to geologic field campaigns. This study investigates the feasibility of using developing handheld XRF (hXRF) technology to enhance terrestrial field geology, with potential applications in planetary surface exploration missions. We demonstrate that the hXRF is quite stable, providing reliable and accurate data continuously over a several year period. Additionally, sample preparation is proved to have a marked effect on the strategy for collecting and assimilating hXRF data. While the hXRF is capable of obtaining data that are comparable to laboratory XRF analysis for several geologically-important elements (such as Si, Ca, Ti, and K), the instrument is unable to detect other elements (such as Mg and Na) reliably. While this limits the use of the hXRF, especially when compared to laboratory XRF techniques, the hXRF is still capable of providing the field user with significantly improved contextual awareness of a field site, and more work is needed to fully evaluate the potential of this instrument in more complex geologic environments.

Low-latency teleoperations (LLT) is envisioned to be an element of human exploration missions in a number of different applications. LLT can be broadly considered to encompass any remote operation of an asset with a communication delay that is less than the human response time to allow for what is effectively "real-time" or "near real-time" operations. This paper will explore motivations and operational implications for why and how LLT might be used for human exploration space missions. LLT analyses have been performed under the auspices of the NASA Human Spaceflight Architecture Team (HAT) and Evolvable Mars Campaign (EMC). The EMC created a flexible, evolvable, capability-driven architectural strategy to enable a sustainable long-term human presence at Mars. LLT is envisioned to be part of that strategy for both in-space and on-surface applications, and this paper will expand on operational considerations within that broader strategic context, as well additional contexts. Some operational implications explored in this paper, derived largely from previous work, are: (1) crew mission support, for which we will address roles for Mission Control on earth, balanced with the capability for crew and robotic assets to operate independently, (2) science operations, with a focus on "backroom" support, highly dynamic science, and enhanced science return and efficiency, and (3) operational efficiency at a deep-space destination such as Mars, including implications for communications infrastructures and how to leverage and balance system autonomy with crew operations, both of which can inform the overall operational "choreography" between crew members, multiple shifts, and exploration assets.

Inflation of narrow tube-fed basaltic lava flows (tens of meters across), such as those confined by topography, can be focused predominantly along the roof of a lava tube. This can lead to the development of an unusually long tumulus, its shape matching the sinuosity of the underlying lava tube. Such a situation occurred during Kīlauea Volcano's (Hawai'i, USA) ongoing East Rift Zone eruption on a lava tube active from July through November 2010. Short-lived breakouts from the tube buried the flanks of the sinuous, ridge-like tumulus, while the tumulus crest, its surface composed of lava formed very early in the flow's emplacement history, remained poised above the surrounding younger flows. At least several of these breakouts resulted in irrecoverable uplift of the tube roof. Confined sections of the prehistoric Carrizozo and McCartys flows (New Mexico, USA) display similar sinuous, ridge-like features with comparable surface age relationships. We contend that these distinct features formed in a fashion equivalent to that of the sinuous tumulus that formed at Kīlauea in 2010. Moreover, these sinuous tumuli may be analogs for some sinuous ridges evident in orbital images of the Tharsis volcanic province on Mars. The short-lived breakouts from the sinuous tumulus at Kīlauea were caused by surges in discharge through the lava tube, in response to cycles of deflation and inflation (DI events) at Kīlauea's summit. The correlation between DI events and subsequent breakouts aided in lava flow forecasting. Breakouts from the sinuous tumulus advanced repeatedly toward the sparsely populated Kalapana Gardens subdivision, destroying two homes and threatening others. Hazard assessments, including flow occurrence and advance forecasts, were relayed regularly to the Hawai'i County Civil Defense to aid their lava flow hazard mitigation efforts while this lava tube was active.

We used light detection and ranging (LiDAR) data to calculate roughness patterns (homogeneity, mean-roughness, and entropy) for five lava types at two different resolutions (1.5 and 0.1 m/pixel). We found that end-member types (ʻaʻā and pāhoehoe) are separable (with 95% confidence) at both scales, indicating that roughness patterns are well suited for analyzing types of lava. Intermediate lavas were also explored, and we found that slabby-pāhoehoe is separable from the other end-members using 1.5 m/pixel data, but not in the 0.1 m/pixel analysis. This suggests that the conversion from pāhoehoe to slabby-pāhoehoe is a meter-scale process, and the finer roughness characteristics of pāhoehoe, such as ropes and toes, are not significantly affected. Furthermore, we introduce the ratio $$ \frac{ENT}{HOM} $$ (derived from lava roughness) as a proxy for assessing local lava flow rate from topographic data. High entropy and low homogeneity regions correlate with high flow rate while low entropy and high homogeneity regions correlate with low flow rate. We suggest that this relationship is not directional, rather it is apparent through roughness differences of the associated lava type emplaced at the high and low rates, respectively.

Observation is the primary role of all field geologists, and geologic observations put into an evolving conceptual context will be the most important data stream that will be relayed to Earth during a planetary exploration mission. Sample collection is also an important planetary field activity, and its success is closely tied to the quality of contextual observations. To test protocols for doing effective planetary geologic field- work, the Desert RATS(Research and Technology Studies) project deployed two prototype rovers for two weeks of simulated exploratory traverses in the San Francisco volcanic field of northern Arizona. The authors of this paper represent the geologist crew members who participated in the 2010 field test.We document the procedures adopted for Desert RATS 2010 and report on our experiences regarding these protocols. Careful consideration must be made of various issues that impact the interplay between field geologic observations and sample collection, including time management; strategies relatedtoduplicationofsamplesandobservations;logisticalconstraintson the volume and mass of samples and the volume/transfer of data collected; and paradigms for evaluation of mission success. We find that the 2010 field protocols brought to light important aspects of each of these issues, and we recommend best practices and modifications to training and operational protocols to address them. Underlying our recommendations is the recognition that the capacity of the crew to flexibly execute their activities is paramount. Careful design of mission parameters, especially field geologic protocols, is critical for enabling the crews to successfully meet their science objectives.

Future piloted space exploration missions will focus more on science than engineering, a change which will challenge existing concepts for flight crew tasking and demand that participants with contrasting skills, values, and backgrounds learn to cooperate as equals. In terrestrial space flight analogs such as Desert Research And Technology Studies, engineers, pilots, and scientists can practice working together, taking advantage of the full breadth of all team members training to produce harmonious, effective missions that maximize the time and attention the crew can devote to science. This paper presents, in a format usable as a reference by participants in the field, a successfully tested crew interaction model for such missions. The model builds upon the basic framework of a scientific field expedition by adding proven concepts from aviation and human spaceflight, including expeditionary behavior and cockpit resource management, cooperative crew tasking and adaptive leadership and followership, formal techniques for radio communication, and increased attention to operational considerations. The crews of future spaceflight analogs can use this model to demonstrate effective techniques, learn from each other, develop positive working relationships, and make their expeditions more successful, even if they have limited time to train together beforehand. This model can also inform the preparation and execution of actual future spaceflights.

Observation is the primary role of all field geologists, and geologic observations put into an evolving conceptual context will be the most important data stream that will be relayed to Earth during a planetary exploration mission. Sample collection is also an important planetary field activity, and its success is closely tied to the quality of contextual observations. To test protocols for doing effective planetary geologic fieldwork, the Desert RATS (Research and Technology Studies) project deployed two prototype rovers for two weeks of simulated exploratory traverses in the San Francisco volcanic field of northern Arizona. The authors of this paper represent the geologist crewmembers who participated in the 2010 field test. We document the procedures adopted for Desert RATS 2010 and report on our experiences regarding these protocols. Careful consideration must be made of various issues that impact the interplay between field geologic observations and sample collection, including time management; strategies related to duplication of samples and observations; logistical constraints on the volume and mass of samples and the volume/transfer of data collected; and paradigms for evaluation of mission success. We find that the 2010 field protocols brought to light important aspects of each of these issues, and we recommend best practices and modifications to training and operational protocols to address them. Underlying our recommendations is the recognition that the capacity of the crew to "flexibly execute" their activities is paramount. Careful design of mission parameters, especially field geologic protocols, is critical for enabling the crews to successfully meet their science objectives.

The 2010 Desert RATS field test utilized two Space Exploration Vehicles (prototype planetary rovers) and four crewmembers (2 per rover) to conduct a geologic traverse across northern Arizona while testing continuous and twice-per-day communications paired with operation modes of separating and exploring individually (Divide & Conquer) and exploring together (Lead & Follow), respectively. This report provides qualitative conclusions from the geologist crewmembers involved in this test as to how these modes of communications and operations affected our ability to conduct field geology. Each mode of communication and operation provided beneficial capabilities that might be further explored for future Human Spaceflight Missions to other solar system objects. We find that more frequent interactions between crews and an Apollo-style Science Team on the Earth best enables scientific progress during human exploration. However, during multiple vehicle missions, this communication with an Earth-based team of scientists, who represent "more minds on the problem", should not come at the exclusion of (or significantly decrease) communication between the crewmembers in different vehicles who have the "eyes on the ground". Inter-crew communications improved when discussions with a backroom were infrequent. Both aspects are critical and cannot be mutually exclusive. Increased vehicle separation distances best enable encounters with multiple geologic units. However, seemingly redundant visits by multiple vehicles to the same feature can be utilized to provide improved process-related observations about the development and modification of the local terrain. We consider the value of data management, transfer, and accessibility to be the most important lesson learned. Crews and backrooms should have access to all data and related interpretations within the mission in as close to real-time conditions as possible. This ensures that while on another planetary surface, crewmembers are as educated as possible with respect to the observations and data they will need to collect at any moment.

Several irregularly shaped craters located within Arabia Terra, Mars, represent a new type of highland volcanic construct and together constitute a previously unrecognized Martian igneous province. Similar to terrestrial supervolcanoes, these low-relief paterae possess a range of geomorphic features related to structural collapse, effusive volcanism and explosive eruptions. Extruded lavas contributed to the formation of enigmatic highland ridged plains in Arabia Terra. Outgassed sulphur and erupted fine-grained pyroclastics from these calderas probably fed the formation of altered, layered sedimentary rocks and fretted terrain found throughout the equatorial region. The discovery of a new type of volcanic construct in the Arabia volcanic province fundamentally changes the picture of ancient volcanism and climate evolution on Mars. Other eroded topographic basins in the ancient Martian highlands that have been dismissed as degraded impact craters should be reconsidered as possible volcanic constructs formed in an early phase of widespread, disseminated magmatism on Mars.

A field of small (10s of km in diameter) volcanoes in the Syria Planum region of Mars is mapped to determine abundance, distribution, and alignments of vents. These data are used to assess possible variations in eruption style across space and time. Each eruption site is assigned a point location. Nearest neighbor and two-point azimuth analyses are conducted to assess the spacing and orientations between vents across the study area. Two vent fields are identified as unique volcanic units along with the previously identified Syria Mons volcano. Superposition relationships and crater retention rates indicate that these three volcanic episodes span ~ 900 Ma, beginning in the early Hesperian and ending in the Early Amazonian. No clear hiatus in eruptive activity is identified between these events, although a progression from eruptions at Syria Mons, to regionally distributed eruptions that form the bulk of the Syria Planum plains, to a final migration of dispersed eruptions to Syria's northwest is identified. Nearest neighbor analyses suggest a non-random distribution among the entire population of Syria Planum, which is interpreted as resulting from the interaction of independent magma bodies ascending through the crust during different stress regimes throughout the region's eruptive history. Two-point azimuth results identify three orientations of enhanced alignments, which match well with radial extensions of three major tectonic centers to the south, east, and northwest of the study area. As such, Syria Planum volcanism evolved from a central vent volcano to dispersed shield field development over several hundred million years, during which the independent magma bodies related to each small volcano interacted to some extent with one or more of at least three buried tectonic patterns in the older crust. These results show a strong relationship between independent mapping efforts of tectonic and volcanic features. Continued integration of volcano-tectonic mapping should provide direct constraints for future geodynamic models of magma production and thermal evolution of the Tharsis province.

article i nfo Available online 1 January 2009 A sharp crustal magnetic field contrast of almost two orders of magnitude at 185 km altitude, as determined by electron reflection (ER) magnetometry, exists between the nonmagnetic bulk of the Tharsis province and its relatively strongly magnetized southwestern region. The 3 nT magnetic field contour passes west of Ulysses Patera, south of Arsia Mons, through Thaumasia Planum and appears largely unmodified by impact craters, suggesting a post-Noachian origin. This sharp magnetic boundary is most easily explained by thermal demagnetization caused by pervasive magmatic intrusion throughout the upper crust on its nonmagnetic side. Using a best guess range of assumptions, we model these intrusions and their demagnetizing effects on preexisting crustal magnetization distributions and fit the resulting model magnetic field magnitudes to ER magnetic profiles across the boundary. Within the framework of our assumptions, we find that the magmatic boundary may not be as sharp as its magnetic counterpart, extending over 0-600 km, and that a minimum of ∼10-35 km average accumulated thickness of intrusions are required to completely demagnetize the crust on the northeast side of the boundary. The best-fit modeled intrusions extend horizontally between ∼120 km and 220 km beyond the magnetic boundary to the southwest for most of its length, with the inferred intrusion thickness and penetration distance being larger for minerals with higher magnetic blocking temperatures (magnetite vs. pyrrhotite). Such thicknesses of intrusion are consistent with magma production rates similar to those at Hawaii, if we allow accumulation over 0.1 to 1 Ga. If the volume of intrusion is representative of most of Tharsis, these thicknesses imply average intrusive-extrusive ratios higher than previously estimated, and in closer agreement with previous magma production estimates based on heat flow. Mapped fields of late Amazonian small volcanic vents, with diverse morphologies and a wide spatial distribution, may represent the latest stages of volcanism and record some of the polybaric processes that likely have occurred as magma intruded multiple levels of the crust. Also, intrusions are inferred to extend beneath most of the length of the upper southwest rift apron of Arsia Mons, implying that localized extrusion may be responsible, along with volcanism from the rift zone, for the apron's plateau shape. Lastly, within our model, the maximum pre-intrusion lateral magnetization coherence scale in this region is found to be less than ∼200 km.

The morphology and topography of volcanic landforms provide critical information to the investigation of their tectonic setting and the physical characteristics (e.g., rheology) of their eruption products. Their investigation is also an important prerequisite for studies of comparative planetology, (e.g., the comparison between surface features of the Earth and other planetary bodies). Numerous small and low shield volcanoes on Mars and associated vents and lava flows have previously been compared to terrestrial plains-style volcanism, which is defined as being an intermediate style between flood basalts and the Hawai'ian shields. This study investigates the topography and morphology of Martian landforms associated with plains volcanism using MOLA, MOC, THEMIS, HRSC, and HiRISE data. Low shields and other landforms of plains volcanism on Mars display similarities with terrestrial basaltic volcanic fields, and we do not observe any features that do not have morphologic analogues on Earth. The most typical landforms of Martian plains-style volcanism are low shields, defined as volcanic shields with diameters of typically less than 50 km, heights of a few hundred meters only, and extremely shallow flank slopes of less than 0.5°. Other surface features related to plains-style volcanism on Mars are craters, fissure vents, cinder and spatter cones, lava flows (that are commonly associated with lava channels and tubes), lava inflation features, and volcanic rift zones. Our results reconfirm the Viking Orbiter-based conclusion that plains volcanism in the eastern Snake River Plains is perhaps the best terrestrial morphological analogue for these Martian surface features. Icelandic shields, distinct structures in Hawai'i, and other basaltic landforms also show similarities to Martian plains volcanism. Sinuous rilles, previously not described in association with plains volcanism on Mars, are interpreted as evidence for high eruption rates. The extremely shallow flank slopes of the low shields suggest the eruption of shield-building lavas with low viscosity, which might be the result of high eruption temperatures, high effusion rates, a low Si- and a high Mg-content along with a possible high Fe-content, or a combination of these factors. The spatial distribution of low shield clusters in Tharsis does not show any obvious association with large-scale tectonic features. Plains volcanism might represent a relatively recent type of volcanism on Mars, which is not related to mantle plumes but to a zone of partial melting in an anomalously warm mantle underneath a thickened crust (Schumacher and Breuer, Geophys. Res. Lett. 34, L14202, doi: 10.1029/2007GL030083, 2007).

Mars displays a wide variety of volcanic landforms, ranging from enormous Olympus Mons, the largest volcano in the solar system, to small cones and hills. The ancient cratered highlands include many paterae (complex, possibly explosively produced craters), which are among the oldest volcanic features on the planet. Volcanic flows form vast plains in many areas of the planet, particularly in the equatorial and northern midlatitudes. Large shield volcanoes dominate the Tharsis and Elysium volcanic provinces, along with many domical or conic volcanic hills. Pyroclastics likely comprise a significant portion of some of the highland paterae, and possibly also the vast volume of the enigmatic Medusae Fossae Formation. Volcanic activity may have continued until quite recently in Martian history, particularly at plains-forming flow fields that have very few superposed impact craters. Most Martian meteorites are basaltic in composition.

We summarize a proposed experiment to use the International Space Station to formally examine the application and validation of low-latency telepresence for surface exploration from space as an alternative, precursor, or potentially as an adjunct to astronaut "boots on the ground." The approach is to develop and propose controlled experiments, which build upon previous field studies and which will assess the effects of different latencies (0 to 500 msec), task complexity, and alternate forms of feedback to the operator. These experiments serve as an example of a pathfinder for NASA's roadmap of missions to Mars with low-latency telerobotic exploration as a precursor to astronaut's landing on the surface to conduct geological tasks.

Ina is an enigmatic volcanic feature on the Moon known for its irregularly shaped mounds, the origin of which has been debated since the Apollo Missions. Three main units are observed on the floor of the depression (2.9 km across, < or =64 m deep) located at the summit of a low-shield volcano: irregularly shaped mounds up to 20 m tall, a lower unit 1 to 5 m in relief that surrounds the mounds, and blocky material. Analyses of Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera images and topography show that features in Ina are morphologically similar to terrestrial inflated lava flows. Comparison of these unusual lunar mounds and possible terrestrial analogs leads us to hypothesize that features in Ina were formed through lava flow inflation processes. While the source of the lava remains unclear, this new model suggests that as the mounds inflated, breakouts along their margins served as sources for surface flows that created the lower morphologic unit. Over time, mass wasting of both morphologic units has exposed fresh surfaces observed in the blocky unit. Ina is different than the terrestrial analogs presented in this study in that the lunar features formed within a depression, no vent sources are observed, and no cracks are observed on the mounds. However, lava flow inflation processes explain many of the morphologic relationships observed in Ina and are proposed to be analogous with inflated lava flows on Earth.

The extraction and identification of volatile resources that could be utilized by humans including water, oxygen, noble gases, and hydrocarbons on the Moon, Mars, and small planetary bodies will be critical for future long-term human exploration of these objects. Vacuum pyrolysis at elevated temperatures has been shown to be an efficient way to release volatiles trapped inside solid samples. In order to maximize the extraction of volatiles, including oxygen and noble gases from the breakdown of minerals, a pyrolysis temperature of 1400°C or higher is required, which greatly exceeds the maximum temperatures of current state-of-the-art flight pyrolysis instruments. Here we report on the recent optimization and field testing results of a high temperature pyrolysis oven and sample manipulation system coupled to a mass spectrometer instrument called Volatile Analysis by Pyrolysis of Regolith (VAPoR). VAPoR is capable of heating solid samples under vacuum to temperatures above 1300°C and determining the composition of volatiles released as a function of temperature.