Michelle Tebolt
Michelle Tebolt's PhD dissertation focused on Martian fluvial (river) processes that occurred ~3.8 billion years ago when there was liquid water on the surface to consider the question: How has water influenced the surface of Mars? Or more specifically: Where were the past liquid water reservoirs on Mars and how long did they persist?
To answer these questions, Michelle uses remote sensing data of the Martian surface at different scales (e.g. satellite and rover imagery) as well as field work of terrestrial analogs to study fluvial sedimentary rocks. These rocks preserve evidence of the ancient aqueous processes and can be used to interpret information about the paleoenvironment such as direction and depth of water flow. Water is considered a requirement for life, so locations beyond Earth that have or had an abundance of water are particularly compelling to study from an astrobiology perspective.
Michelle's professional highlights over the last few years include participating and publishing with the Mars 2020 Perseverance rover team, as well as obtaining her remote pilots license and leading a field excursion to capture done images of sedimentary outcrop in Utah in 2023 as the remote pilot in command.
Research and Academic Interests
Sedimentology/Stratigraphy
Remote Sensing
Planetary Geoscience
Mars Fluvial History
Departments and Programs
Courses
Fall 2024
- Sedimentology
Spring 2025
- Geomorphology, Planetary Geoscience/Mars Sedimentology
Selected Publications
Stack, Kathryn, L. Ives, S. Gupta, M. Lamb, M. Tebolt, G. Caravaca, J. Grotzinger, P. Russell, D.Shuster, A. Williams, H.E.F. Amundsen, S. Alwmark, A. Annex, R.Barnes, J. Bell, O. Beyssac, Tanja, L. Crumpler, E. Dehouck, R. Wiens. “Sedimentology and Stratigraphy of the Shenandoah Formation, Western Fan, Jezero Crater, Mars.” Journal of Geophysical Research: Planets. 129. Feb. 2024 https://doi.org /10.1029/2023JE008187.
Tebolt, Michelle, and Timothy A. Goudge. “Global Investigation of Martian Sedimentary Fan Features: Using Stratigraphic Analysis to Study Depositional Environment”. Icarus, Sept. 2021, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.icarus.2021.114718.
Levy, Joseph S., Caleb I. Fassett, John W. Holt, Reid Parsons, Will Cipolli, Timothy A. Goudge, Michelle Tebolt, Lily Kuentz, Jessica Johnson, Fairuz Ishraque, Bronson Cvijanovich, and Ian Armstrong “Surface Boulder Banding Indicates Martian Debris-Covered Glaciers Formed over Multiple Glaciations.” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, vol. 118, no. 4, Jan. 2021. www.pnas.org, https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2015971118.
Tebolt, Michelle., J. Levy, T. Goudge, and N. Schorghofer, “Slope, elevation, and thermal inertia trends of martian recurring slope lineae initiation and termination points: Multiple possible processes occurring on coarse, sandy slopes.” 2020 Icarus, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.icarus.2019.113536.
Grants, Fellowships, Honors, Awards
UT Austin Graduate School Continuing Fellowship (2022-2023)
Photos
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