| Summary: | Periglacial landforms on Earth reflect cold-climate conditions and are intimately related to processes due to the presence of ground ice and perennially frozen ground, permafrost. The overall objective of this thesis is to investigate the potential of Svalbard as an analogue to Mars cold-climate landforms, and explore past and present processes and surface conditions on Mars by inference from morphological counterparts in Svalbard. Svalbard has unique advantages that make it a very useful study area. Svalbard is easily accessible and offers a periglacial landscape where many different landforms can be encountered in close spatial proximity. These landforms include thermal contraction cracks, slope stripes, rock glaciers, gullies, debris flows, solifluction lobes, protalus ramparts, and pingos, all of which are close morphological analogues to landforms on Mars. An approach of integrated landscape analysis, inferred from landform assemblages in Svalbard, is aimed to explore modeling landscape evolution on Mars. Key datasets include visual remote sensing data of similar resolution (20–25 cm/pxl) from Svalbard (High Resolution Stereo Camera–Airborne Extended [HRSC-AX]) and Mars (High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment [HiRISE]). Additional data are digital elevation models over both Svalbard and Mars and remote sensing data from Mars, such as Thermal Emission Imaging System (THEMIS) and Context Camera (CTX) images. Field work was done in combination with remote sensing to acquire ground-truth data. In Svalbard, fluvial and debris-flow processes are evident in the formation of gullies, but the morphological characteristics clearly show that the transport and sedimentation of eroded material are predominated by debris flows. Most investigated gullies on Mars lack clear evidence for debris-flow processes. The Martian gully fan morphology is more consistent with the deposition of small overlapping fans by multiple fluvial flow events. Clear evidence for debris flows on Mars was only found in two new locations, in ...
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