Post contributed by Dr. David A. Vaz, Centre for Earth and Space Research, University of Coimbra.

Mars lost a part of its atmosphere to space, a process that transformed the planet from a wet planet into a cold and arid place. The extension and timing of this climatic change are still uncertain. To assess the magnitude of this environmental change we must investigate the Martian geological record. Sedimentary deposits of aeolian origin are common on Mars (Image 1) and may provide valuable information about Martian environmental changes. However, we first need to understand how the diverse bedforms that exist on Mars’s surface form, and evaluate the boundary conditions that control their morphologies. Particularly, relationships between the size of aeolian bedforms and variable atmospheric density may be used to interpret the sedimentary record and infer paleo-environmental conditions through time.

Image 1: Barchan dune covered by dark-toned ripples with spacings between crests of ~3 m. These bedforms are migrating over brighter-toned transverse aeolian ridges (TARs). HiRISE image ESP_027864_2295_COLOR (credit: NASA/JPL/University of Arizona).