Ongoing Work:
Planetary Systems and Earth Analogs
Mount Sharp depositional environments
In my current role with the Mars Science Laboratory rover Science Team I have taken an active role in the analysis of the sedimentology and associated depositional environments recorded in the Mount Sharp stratigraphy in Gale Crater. My analysis of the ripple morphology has been used by the Science Team to confirm the features as wave-generated ripples (Mondro et al., 2025 Science Advances; Highlights). I have measured and correlated stratigraphic sections of the Amapari Marker Bed along the MSL rover traverse to explore the lateral extent of the depositional environment (Mondro et al., 2025 Journal of Geophysical Research - Planets). Using the most recent MSL data I am working with other Science Team members to decipher the origin and depositional history of the Gediz Vallis Ridge.
Gale Crater thermal burial models
I am using models of burial temperatures to assess subsurface diagenetic conditions in the lower Mount Sharp stratigraphy during crater fill. The detection of smectite clays and the absence of illite and other phases in the lower stratigraphy examined by MSL, at Yellowknife Bay, suggest that the burial temperatures were anomalously low for a full crater fill model. There is extensive evidence for diagenesis and groundwater activity throughout the stratigraphy that MSL has traversed so far and yet previous crater fill models do not account for the effect of groundwater on subsurface conditions. My models found that accounting for water-saturated pore space during burial decreases the burial temperatures to a point where smectite could be preserved. My ongoing work is developing more complex burial models to assess burial temperatures for a range of crater fill scenarios.
Burial and exhumation of Mount Sharp from fractures
In another aspect of my current work with the MSL team I am calculating the stress field orientations from fracture orientation measurements to better refine the models for crater fill processes. The style of crater fill – uniform versus mound-forming sediment accumulation – is still under debate, as is the timing of groundwater activity relative to the exhumation of Mount Sharp. I have mapped three successive fracture sets mapped in a portion of the stratigraphy that record a sequence of changing stress fields during burial and subsequent exhumation events. The vertically orientated fractures were most likely formed from uniform overburden pressure during the initial filling of Gale Crater, which does not support a mound-forming style of crater fill. All three fracture sets are filled, indicating that groundwater was still active during or after the exhumation of Mount Sharp.
Morphology of alluvial fans on Mars
The depositional environments recorded by alluvial fans represent the final era of potential habitability on the Martian surface. Alluvial fan deposits can often look similar to deltaic or fluvial systems in visible remote sensing images but are formed in depositional and climatic environments that are distinct from those that lead to other radial depositional features. I expanded the global catalog of alluvial fans on Mars by adding newly identified features and characterizing all new and previously identified features based on morphologic parameters (Mondro et al., 2023. Icarus). Ongoing and future work will investigate the depositional environments of targeted features of interest.
Previous Work:
Europa fracture populations
The presence of small fractures , if present, could significantly impact the mechanical properties of the ice shell and may provide pathways for the migration of ocean material within the ice shell. Extrapolating mapped fracture populations along a best-fit power law function predicts fracture abundances that are up to two orders of magnitude higher than abundance of observed fractures, and which vary by an order of magnitude between regions (Mondro et al., 2023. Earth and Planetary Science Letters).
Depositional style of terrestrial alluvial fans
This study focuses on a single lithology of alluvial fan catchments, specifically basaltic-sourced fans, as a targeted investigation within the more general relationship between depositional style and catchment lithology. In six alluvial fans across the southern Basin and Range in the southwest United States, the proportion of debris flow facies identified in the stratigraphic sections across the alluvial fans roughly correlates to the area percentage of basalt within the fan catchment. The results show that specifically for fans sourced from entirely basaltic catchments in arid, temperate climates, the fans are formed by debris-flow processes regardless of catchment relief.
(manuscript in prep)
Sediment characteristics of Mars alluvial fans
Sedimentology of alluvial fans can provide insight into the weather processes in the catchment, energy of water flow events, and style of deposition. Without the advantages of field observations, remote sensing data can be used as a proxy to investigate sediment characteristics of alluvial fans on Mars. Thermal inertia, measured from surface temperature changes, is dependent on grain size of sediment at the surface. My analysis of thermal inertia of fan surfaces shows that Mars alluvial fans are finer-grained than expected, which may suggest lower-energy runoff events and a colder climate during the era of formation. (Mondro et al., 2024. Icarus)
Kurdistan Region structural reconstruction
As an Exploration Geologist at Chevron, I analyzed the sequence stratigraphy and depositional history of a mixed carbonate-clastic sedimentary basin incorporated into the Zagros fold belt in northern Iraq. By integrating well-log data, interpretation of reflection seismic surveys, previously collected field data, and structural mapping of surface units from satellite images, I created regional depositional environment maps to show basin-scale shifts from carbonate reef growth to clastic sedimentary deposition shedding during the closing of the Neo-Tethys Ocean.
Taiwan tectonic history
Incremental strain histories from syntectonic fibers in pyrite pressure shadows in the eastern Central Range of Taiwan indicate a progressive change from down dip to along strike extension during deformation. The changing extension direction shows that the rocks were advected laterally through a displacement field with systematic variations in kinematics relative to the largely fixed geometry of the orogen (Mondro et al., 2017. Tectonophysics).
Carbon transport in small mountainous rivers
Small rivers on high-standing islands (HSIs) around the world provide a significant contribution to the total amount of carbon delivered to the global ocean. Comparing total dissolved organic carbon (DOC) and particulate organic carbon (POC) fluxes from rivers in Dominica show DOC and POC yields among the highest carbon yields to date worldwide, indicating the importance of volcanic active margin terrains in the annual global carbon cycle.