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Geological Investigations of Mars

A community-maintained open-source textbook in planetary science

Statement of Purpose
Active missions and investigations of Mars provide a growing, dynamic body of information for the student in planetary geology. Data currently being collected is actively changing our interpretations of the state and evolution of the planet. Thus, any conventionally-published textbook is likely out of date by the time it gets to the bookstore, and new versions are needed on a regular basis. Additionally, since there are as variety of courses and departments that may teach the topic "Planetary Science" or "Geology of Mars", the background text needed to introduce students to the primary topics may differ greatly. This project is an effort to generate a textbook developed and maintained by the active professional research community that may be used in an advanced course in geology, astronomy, or natural science. All materials generated in this project will remain open source indefinitely to the research and teaching communities and be provided without restriction to the public for educational purposes. The success of this project and its future development will hopefully be embraced by the teaching and research community in planetary sciences to ensure that a current and relevant body of text be available to provide students with a free source of introductory information.

Invitation
Contributions in content and editing are welcome and encouraged from all members of the Mars exploration and science community. We especially encourage involvement from teaching professors in the geological and planetary sciences who may use this text as a teaching tool in undergraduate and graduate-level courses. Since the primary purpose of this wiki is to act as a textbook, contributors should be conscious of efforts toward readability by new students, applicability of materials, and continuity of topics. While there are no firm criteria for membership in contributors, we expect contributing authors to be established researchers in the field of Mars science or education outreach, and have some record of peer-reviewed publications. To obtain permission to edit this wiki, please contact Scott Nowicki at hidden_email.edu

Goals
1. Present a description of the state of the science for each topic/chapter.
2. Present the most relevant published articles in each topic.
3. Present the student with real journal articles to increase their scientific reading/writing skills.
4. Generate a short list of the most important scientific publications.
5. Design the course for teaching an upper-division course in planetary science, but scalable for an intro science course.
6. To make this text in a format that will be modified as our understanding of the geology of Mars evolves.
7. To guarantee that the generated materials and collected works be provided at no cost to the public.

Guidelines

Development Plan

Table of Contents:

1. Introduction: Mars:Past, Present and Future

2. Cratering and Geologic Time: cratering processes, meteorites, and geologic time

3. Geodynamics: interior, and dynamics
Stegman

4. Gravity Topography and Tectonics: crustal formation and

5. Volcanology: physical volcanology and mineralogy

6. Composition of surface: primary composition and chemical weathering
Kraft, Glotch, Rogers, Bandfield

7. Surface Materials/Aeolian Processes: physical weathering and geomorphology
Nowicki, Taylor Perron

8. Atmosphere
Tim and Mikes

9. Ice/Polar processes
Yves, Kieffer, Byrne

10. Hydrology
11. Climate cycles
12. Index
2. History of missions/observations

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