<p dir="ltr">This dissertation explores the history of water on Mars through the lens of the Mars 2020 Perseverance rover mission at Jezero crater. In particular, I use in-situ rover observations to characterize evidence of past surface alteration at Jezero crater. I also present investigations of a modern lake analog on Earth to contextualize potential past depositional processes within the Jezero paleolake system.</p>

The history of climatic changes in the Asian Summer Monsoon system over the Tibetan Plateau during the Holocene has been the subject of significant research due to the importance of the plateau as the headwaters for many major rivers providing water resources to the surrounding large, populous countries. In general, previous research has concluded that monsoon rainfall and summer temperatures peaked during the early Holocene (9-11 ka BP) in Tibet, coincident with peak Northern Hemisphere summer insolation. Atmospheric teleconnections with upstream Northern Hemisphere westerly circulation patterns influenced by North Atlantic sea surface temperature changes have also been noted at millennial and centennial timescales. However, recent studies have noted that the timing of peak monsoon warmth and wetness during the Holocene are not synchronous across the entirety of the Tibetan Plateau, and studies of modern precipitation indicate several distinct regions of monsoon precipitation variability at interannual scales, suggesting the monsoon response to past and future climate change may be regionally heterogeneous for the plateau. Clear assessment of this regionality within the monsoon climate region is a topic of continuing research, but it has been hindered by lack of climate records in remote areas, dating difficulties, and concerns over the comparability of interpreted climate-proxy relationships between the many different biological, hydrological, and geochemical proxies applied. The first part of this dissertation uses ¹⁴C and U-Th series geochronology, sedimentology, and GIS analysis of exposed lake shoreline sediments surrounding the numerous closed-basin lake systems of the central and western Tibetan Plateau to investigate regional heterogeneity in monsoon rainfall, and to develop a new well-dated lake level record from the Ngangla Ring Tso lake system in the poorly studied southwestern region. The major conclusions are: 1) peak early Holocene monsoon rainfall, recorded by the highest paleoshorelines surrounding 130 lake systems, intensified more relative to today in the western part (west of 86°E longitude) of the Tibetan Plateau when compared to eastern regions, closely following regions of modern rainfall variability; 2) monsoon rainfall in the Ngangla Ring Tso region peaked during the early Holocene insolation maximum, consistent with other records, remained significantly higher than modern until ~6.0 ka BP, but with abrupt reductions in monsoon rainfall associated with North Atlantic ice-rafted debris peaks. The warm and wet period of the early and middle Holocene was also likely coincident with the first major colonization of the Tibetan Plateau by prehistoric humans. Current research suggests early foragers employing stone tools first forayed into the middle elevation areas above 3,000 m elevation on the northeastern fringe of the plateau as early as 14.8 ka BP, and therefore the dominant hypothesis suggests plateau colonization proceeded from this direction, heading westward through the Holocene. However, well studied and dated archaeological sites from the high plateau are exceedingly rare, requiring further investigation. The second part of this dissertation presents new age controls for the Holocene Zhongba microlithic site in the southwestern Tibetan Plateau, using ¹⁴C dating of organic and carbonate-rich paleo-wetlands sediments hosting in situ stone artifacts. The major conclusions of this study are: 1) artifacts at the Zhongba site, which are typologically similar to microlithics across the plateau, can be no older than 6.5 ka BP, consistent with the prevailing east-to-west colonization hypothesis, and 2) microlithic tools continued to be important as late as 1.3 ka BP at the site, even though metal is found in sites of similar age elsewhere in Tibet.

Honey Lake Basin is a large, hydrologically closed valley with two playa lakes that are separated by a low elevation sill. The Basin has a complex hydrogeologic setting, with numerous groundwater flow paths that interact with surface waters and three basic aquifers; shallow, deep, and geothermal. Thirteen flow paths; eleven cold and two thermal, are identified and the geochemical evolution of those paths are characterized by integrating solute chemistry and isotopic data. The chemical flow paths include recharge in either granitoid or volcanic terrains in the Sierra Nevada Range and the Modoc Plateau, respectively. The groundwater then flows through alluvial fan and stream sedimentary environments and eventually flows through lacustrine and playa sediments in the closed basin. This investigating characterizes geochemical evolution of groundwater flow from both mafic and granitic terrains to lacustrine sediments with evaporite minerals, in a closed basin environment. Temperature data reveal that thermal waters circulate to 1.6-3.0 km and 2.8-3.8 km along two major fault zones. Shallow groundwaters above 17°C are determined to have a component of thermal water and mixing ratios are presented. δ18O and δD data show that deep groundwater was recharged by cooler, more humid precipitation from the last ice age, whereas shallow groundwaters reflect current meteoric conditions and show extensive evaporation trends. The two thermal flow paths show exchange with silicate minerals at high temperatures (>100°C). δ13C data show interaction with carbonate minerals in basin fill lacustrine sediments. 3H concentrations and 14C ages show that deep groundwaters throughout the Basin and shallower groundwaters in the center of the basin are not greatly affected by post-1952 recharge. Mean 14C ages range from modern to 23,500 years old. NETPATH was used to model geochemical evolution along the flow paths. Groundwater on the west side of the basin (granitic terrain) is typically low TDS (~150 mg/L) calcium-bicarbonate water and evolves into higher TDS (~300 mg/L) sodium-bicarbonate groundwater as it interacts with granitic rocks and then lacustrine sediments. Groundwater on the east side of the basin (mafic terrain) is typically low TDS (~200 mg/L) sodium-bicarbonate water and evolves into high TDS (~300 mg/L) sodium-bicarbonate water groundwater as it interacts with mafic rocks and then lacustrine sediments. Dissolution of silicate minerals and calcite, and ion exchange with clays is responsible for major chemistry changes. As both of these types of groundwaters come into contact with lacustrine sediments with evaporite minerals on the playas, dissolution of halite and gypsum dominate and the groundwater becomes extremely high in TDS (~ 1100 mg/L on the Honey Lake Playa and ~ 43,000 mg/L on the Fish Spring Playa) and strongly sodium-chloride in character.