January 16, 2026

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Speaker: Morgan Carrington, PhD Candidate, The University of Texas at Austin

Title: Amphitheater-headed Canyons on Earth and Mars: Insights from Geomorphic Modelling and Drone-based Remote Sensing

Abstract: Amphitheater-headed canyons are morphologically distinct valleys, characterized by stubby, curved canyon heads, near-constant valley width from source to outlet, and large-scale topographic relief. In contrast to other incised martian valleys, such as more typical ‘valley networks’, amphitheater-headed canyons are thought to have formed later in Mars history when surface water activity was more sparse, episodic, and/or spatially-focused. This suggestion, in addition to observations of morphologically similar canyons on Earth, has motivated deeper investigations into the hydrologic processes responsible for their formation. Two end-member processes have been proposed: groundwater seepage and surface runoff. In this talk, I will discuss two projects that focus on different approaches but ultimately aim to constrain the relative roles of each endmember process in canyon formation. The first project distinctly defines amphitheater-headed canyons as knickpoints (or knickzones) in the landscape, a distinction that we use to apply a knickpoint retreat model driven by surface runoff. Our findings suggest that, compared to canyons on Earth, runoff delivery on Mars was inefficient. In the second (and currently ongoing) project, we dive into the enigmatic morphologies of amphitheater-headed canyons on Earth and seek to characterize how the 3D viewing perspectives can provide more insight into the formation mechanisms responsible for canyon formation.

Biography:  Morgan Carrington received their B.S. in Geology from UCLA in 2022 and is currently a 4th year PhD candidate in the Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences in the Jackson School of Geosciences, advised by Prof. Tim Goudge and Dr. Joel Johnson. Their research stands at the confluence of geomorphology, remote sensing, and planetary science – all fields that she jointly uses to characterize and constrain processes responsible for forming aqueous landforms across the solar system. Outside of her current focus on amphitheater-headed canyons, she is also interested and seeking future ventures into polar/arctic regions and the ways that climate can be encapsulated in geomorphic signatures.