Final Announcement — December 2007

 

SPONSORS —
Lunar and Planetary Institute
National Aeronautics and Space
   Administration
NASA Mars Exploration Program

CONVENER —
Allan Treiman,
   Lunar and Planetary Institute

SCIENTIFIC ORGANIZING COMMITTEE —
Allan Treiman,
   Lunar and Planetary Institute
Mark Bulmer,
   University of Maryland,
    Baltimore County
Karen Buxbaum,
   Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Jay Dickson,
   Brown University
Lori Fenton,
   Carl Sagan Center
Virginia Gulick,
   NASA Ames Research Center,
   SETI Institute
Michael Hecht,
   Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Jennifer Heldmann,
   NASA Ames Research Center
Richard Zurek,
   Mars Program Office,
   Jet Propulsion Laboratory
  WORKSHOP LOCATION AND DATE
  The Workshop on Martian Gullies: Theories and Tests will be held February 4–5, 2008, at the Lunar and Planetary Institute (LPI), located in the Universities Space Research Association (USRA) building, 3600 Bay Area Boulevard, Houston, Texas, 77058.

 

  KEY POINTS:
Date:
  February 4–5, 2008
Location:
  Houston, Texas
  INTRODUCTION
  In 2000, M. Malin and K. Edgett reported the existence of gullies — landforms produced by massive flows of debris — on steep martian slopes. Malin and Edgett inferred that the gully flows were enabled by abundant liquid water, a result with enormous implications for Mars' climate and history, the chemical alteration of Mars rocks and meteorites, the likelihood of viable martian life, and the availability of resources for human habitation. Thus, our understanding of martian gullies could be important in the design of Mars spacecraft missions, including their science instrumentation, mobility systems, and landing sites.

However, the origin of the liquid water (and even its existence) remains controversial. Some researchers have invoked groundwater from aquifers in Mars' crust. But are these aquifers permanent or transient, related to long-term climate variations (i.e, obliquity) or volcanic heating, shallow or deep, and of fresh water or concentrated brine? Other researchers have invoked local melting of near-surface ice, frost, or snow, covered or not by dust. Still other researchers invoke carbon dioxide erupting from the subsurface, or eschew the need for any fluid. From the abstracts and talks at recent scientific meetings, it is clear that no consensus exists about the formation of martian gullies.

 

 

 

  PURPOSE AND SCOPE
  Considering the potential significance of gullies to NASA's Mars program and spacecraft missions, it is important that hypotheses of gully origin be refined, constrained, and tested. The purposes of this workshop are:
  • To provide a venue for scientific interchange on the ideas of gully origins
  • To formulate tests of these various ideas
The results of the workshop, along with the abstracts and tests, will be presented to the Mars community and the public as a short report.

Thus, the workshop is intended primarily for active researchers in gully formation, Mars surficial processes, and related relevant fields. Attendees should be prepared to compare and contrast the various ideas of gully origins, and consider how those hypotheses could be tested with available and prospective data.

 

 

 

  WORKSHOP FORMAT
  The workshop will include invited talks, contributed talks, posters, and breakout working groups. The workshop will begin with 20-minute invited talks reviewing the proposed theories of gully formation, and will be followed by an invited talk of 30 minutes on new data from the HiRISE imager on the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter.

Contributed talks, 15 minutes long (including discussion time), will allow researchers to present data, hypotheses, and inferences. Discussion periods will follow each half-day of presentations. Following the presentations will be a moderated discussion on ways to test the various hypotheses of gully formation, and breakout working groups to write segments of a report on critical tests of the hypotheses.

 

  WORKSHOP SCHEDULE
 
Monday morning,
February 4		Introduction, three 20-minute invited talks on hypotheses of gully origin, and a 30-minute invited talk on new HiRISE data. Five contributed presentations emphasizing new data, and discussion.
Monday afternoon,
February 4		Seven contributed presentations emphasizing liquid water and ice, followed by five contributed presentations emphasizing numerical models, theory, and laboratory experiments.
Monday evening,
February 4		Reception and poster viewing
Tuesday morning,
February 5		Six contributed presentations emphasizing salts and aeolian processes, and seven contributed presentations emphasizing terrestrial analogs, each followed by a discussion.
Tuesday afternoon,
February 5		Review, moderated discussion of results and hypotheses, and tests of hypotheses; breakout into working groups to write report on tests of gully formation hypotheses.

The program with abstracts is now available.

Oral Presentations:  All electronic presentations must follow workshop guidelines as detailed in the instructions for electronic presentations.

Poster Presentations:  Each poster display space is 44"×44". Two presenters will share one side of one panel, so it is important that displays are confined to the 44"×44" limit.

Posters must be designed to be attached to the panel with pushpins.

 
  REGISTRATION
  A fee of $125.00 ($75.00 for students) will be assessed each participant to cover workshop services including a poster reception on Monday evening, February 4, and morning and afternoon coffee breaks on Monday and Tuesday. You must preregister and prepay by January 16, 2008, to avoid a $25.00 late fee. Please return the downloadable registration form with your payment or use the secure electronic registration form if paying by credit card. Foreign participants who state on the registration form that they have difficulty with currency exchanges may pay in cash at the meeting (and avoid a $25.00 late fee) if they submit the form by January 16, 2008.

Cancellations with requests for refunds will be accepted through January 23, 2008. A $25.00 processing fee will be charged on all cancellations.

 

  
  ACCOMMODATIONS
  Participants are responsible for making their own travel and hotel reservations. For your convenience, a list of local hotels and a local area map showing their locations are provided.

 

  
  CONTACT INFORMATION
 

For further information regarding format and scientific objectives, contact
ALLAN TREIMAN
Lunar and Planetary Institute
Phone: 281-486-2117
E-mail: [email protected]

For further information regarding workshop logistics and announcements, contact
KIMBERLY TAYLOR
Lunar and Planetary Institute
Phone: 281-486-2151
E-mail: [email protected]

 

SCHEDULE
January 16, 2008Deadline for preregistration at reduced rate
February 4–5, 2008Workshop on Martian Gullies: Theories and Tests

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