BALTIMORE (Map, News) - A new online map shows the forces that once shaped Mars, including long periods of wet, dry and volcanic conditions.

False-color images taken by the Compact Reconnaissance Imaging Spectrometer for Mars (CRISM) show deposits left by ancient oceans, rivers and groundwater springs revealed beneath layers of hardened magma and dust.

“The images clearly show the distribution of certain minerals, which tells us about the planet’s history,” said Scott Murchie of the Applied Physics Laboratory, CRISM’s lead investigator. “This map moves the information out of the domain of specialists and makes the very latest Mars research accessible to anyone with an interest in the planet.”

The map, (click here to view) lets visitors explore Mars’ past through a high-resolution map peppered with observations from the most powerful spectrometer ever sent to the red planet. CRISM’s primary purpose is to search for signs of liquid water by identifying minerals that form only in the presence of water. Molecules of water trapped in these minerals leave particular patterns in the sunlight reflected back, and CRISM, which senses up to 544 wavelengths, of light, captured those patterns.

More than 900 observations are available online to both researchers and space exploration enthusiasts, said APL’s Frank Seelos, CRISM’s science operations lead.

“The images provide good indication of where there are mineral signatures of volcanic deposits or past wet environments,” Seelos said. “Even non-scientists can get a sense of the variety of geologic features on Mars and the processes that created them.”

Visitors can compare the global maps shot by CRISM — aboard the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter — with images taken by NASA’s Viking, Mars Global Surveyor and Mars Odyssey spacecraft.

The analysis was developed with scientists working on a similar instrument, called OMEGA, on the European Space Agency’s Mars Express, said CRISM team member Olivier Barnouin-Jha. “OMEGA’s team pioneered some of the techniques that we use, and CRISM provides unprecedented resolution for an imaging spectrometer at Mars.”

khille@baltimoreexaminer.com