In Mars: A Warmer, Wetter Planet, Jeff Kargel does an admirable job of tying together the work of many scientists whose results provide evidence for the hypothesis that Mars may have periodically had a warmer, wetter climate than previously recognized. Kargel, an astrogeologist with the U.S. Geological Survey in Flagstaff, Arizona, integrates and explains such diverse work as geomorpho-logic observations, theoretical calculations, and measurements of mineralogy and chemistry obtained from orbiting spacecraft. The book is full of excellent examples of the most recent imaging data from NASA missions to Mars, as well as many photos of terrestrial analogues, which surely will aid the nonspecialist in understanding how planetary geologists go about understanding the landforms of Mars. The book emphasizes image-based comparative geomorphology, but Kargel also devotes text and many of the color plates to non-imaging data such as compositional, topographic, and slope maps as well as spectral analyses and other quantitative information.
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