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Dunes on Mars-­‐ effects of Crater protection John Read Middle School Grade 5 2013 Introduction Are there more shapes in the dunes outside of craters than inside of craters? This question is important and interesting because it could prove that crater walls can affect the speed and power of wind and dust devils. If there are less shapes in the dunes inside crater walls, then crater walls affected the wind power and/or speed. This is interesting because you can see how much crater walls affect the dune shapes. Hypothesis If there are more shapes in the dunes outside of craters, then the walls of the crater can affect the speed and power of wind. Background Rub ’al Khali, or “the empty quarter” is the largest sand desert in the world. Encompassing most of the Southern third of the Arabian Peninsula including most of Saudi Arabia and areas of Oman, Yemen and the United Arab Emirates. Evidence shows that there used to be lake beds on the now parched desert. It’s so hot and dusty in Rub’al Khali that most life has been obliterated. With lows around 117 F and highs around 133 F, Rub’al Khali is definitely a very hot place. The only good thing about this place is that it’s the largest oil source in the world. Dune descriptions Wind blows sand into ripples and dunes. It also blows the sand into mars erosion. The erosion can make dunes as large as 400 m (1,300 feet) high. There are many different shapes of wind dunes such as U and V. There are also many other types of dunes such as transverse dunes, star dunes, and barchans dunes. Wind bounces and carries sand grains over ground surfaces like mountains and valleys. Also the sand is dropped forming wind dunes, valleys, and mountains. Transverse dunes are large, strongly asymmetrical, elongated dunes lying at right angles to the prevailing wind direction. Lobate dunes are single, lobed-­‐ shaped dunes breaking a long dune crest; generally forms downwind of a blowout. Barchans dunes are large, crescent-­‐shaped dunes lying at the right angles to the prevailing wind having a steep, concave leeward side with the crescent tips pointing downwind. Parabolic dunes are long, scoop-­‐shaped hollow of sand with points tapering to the windward and whose ground plan approximates the form of a parabola. Definitions Sinuous means twisting and turning Deposition: piling up of loose, granular particles by the wind, caused by more material coming upwind than leaving downwind. Falling dune: sand accumulation sloping at the angle of repose of dry sand at the base of a cliff, on a mountain slope, or in a valley, which is formed as sand is blown off a mesa top or over a cliff face or steep slope. Flow separation: when the primary flow near the surface no longer continues to follow the surface contour because of sudden change in contour or because of insufficient flow momentum to allow flow to proceed into a region of increasing pressure. Methods We used HIRISE to collect our data. We focused on Olympia Undae the features we were looking at where dunes. The specific information we plan to record from each image is what shapes are in the dunes and where they are. We decided on this because we think that crater walls affect the speed of the wind, which will change the shapes. We measured how many types of dunes were in each area. 1. We used HIRISE, Themis.asu.edu and Jmars in order to gather our information. 2. We took 9 totals of sand dunes on Mars with a variety in the different environments. 3. Then we compared shapes. Data We didn’t use THEMIS images we instead used HIRISE. We used HIRISE because the quality of the images is so much better and it was easier accessible from John Read Middle School. We used 8 HIRISE images. Conclusion We re-­‐showed our data table and graph below... Some potential inaccuracies are; how we identified the dunes. This could be an inaccuracy because we are not experts on dunes and we did not have a big variety that we know of.one misinterpretation is the shape of the dunes because, again, we are not dune experts. We think the answer to our research question is as follows: Are there more shapes outside the craters than there are inside the craters? Science Question: Are there more shapes in the dunes outside of the crater, or inside of the crater walls? Hypothesis: If there are more dunes outside the crater walls, then, the crater walls, can affect the speed and power of the wind and dust devils. Answer: we think the answer to this question is yes, there are more shapes outside the crater because we think the crater walls slow down the speed of the wind, which makes less shapes in the dunes. Why Is this Question Important? It is important to answer our question because it could prove that crater walls can affect the speed and power of wind. This could also that the variety of shapes in dunes can be affected by the power and speed of wind. The reason our proposal should be accepted is because we looked further with curiosity. Us humans to learn about sand dunes in the crater walls and out of the crater walls, which could be different from each other in the category of size and shape. Future work: it would be helpful if they took more pictures of the dunes in the craters of Olympia Undae. Works Cited "Chapter 10, Section 4." Chapter 10, Section 4. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 June 2013. "Compare." ThinkQuest. Oracle Foundation, n.d. Web. 10 June 2013. "Cratered Terrain -­‐-­‐ Earth and Mars." Cratered Terrain -­‐-­‐ Earth and Mars. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 June 2013. "Death Valley, Earth and Gale Crater Mars -­‐ What In Common? | Video | Space.com." Space.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 June 2013. "Earth and Mars: A Comparison." Earth and Mars: A Comparison. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 June 2013. "Earth and Mars." N.p., n.d. Web. "Mars." Mars. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 June 2013. "Mars:." YouTube. YouTube, 23 Apr. 2011. Web. 10 June 2013. N.p., n.d. Web. "Play JMARS Video Tutorials." Welcome to the JMARS Website. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 June 2013. http://cmex.ihmc.us/voviews/eartmars.htmhttp://cmex.ihmc.us/voviews/eartmars.htm http://www.astronomynotes.com/solarsys/s4c.htm http://www.universetoday.com/14719/does-­‐mars-­‐have-­‐seasons/