ABSTRACT I’ve enjoyed a rich career of four decades in academia as a Chinese American sedimentary geology professor. From the start, I was a clear minority, being nonwhite and a woman, but somehow with strong mentors and good fortune, I survived, persevered, and flourished. Despite discrimination and marginalization, there have been many positives, and the superb students and colleagues I have met on my journey have enriched my life immensely. I want to see geoscience change to become one of the most inclusive sciences because it is really a capstone science that needs broad and diverse perspectives. I hope my story can encourage others and also highlight how we should continue to create opportunities for inclusive participation. The future of our Earth and the balance of nature and society depend on it!

ABSTRACT In order to address the most important Earth science questions, field scientists must incorporate new cyberinfrastructure (CI) technologies into their workflow and replace some of the traditional, analog methodologies that still prevail today (e.g., notebook, pen, and transit compass). Geologic field data collected via analog methods are far less likely to be fully digitized and integrated with other datasets. Cyberinfrastructure allows data longevity beyond the original investigator. Digital platforms that facilitate data sharing will help break down the artificial barriers between subfields within the Earth sciences and allow researchers to ask new types of questions and provide the means to contend with those that were previously unanswerable. Close communication and coordination between field-based geologists and computer scientists will facilitate the best cyberinfrastructure and data management for the future. Through a National Science Foundation (NSF)/EarthCube–funded project, discussions between these two groups of scientists were undertaken in a field setting so that computer scientists could better understand the type of data geologists collect and how those geoscientists desire to integrate various types of data into their workflow. Similarly, geologists gained a better understanding of how computer scientists can represent, manipulate, and archive complex data in data management systems, with potential solutions to field data challenges. These discussions centered on the unique issues faced by the geological community regarding the collection, storage, manipulation, representation, and integration of field-based data.

ABSTRACT Concretions are diagenetic products of cementation that establish significant records of groundwater flow through porous sedimentary deposits. Common spheroidal ferric oxide concretions form by diffusive coupled with advective mass transfer and share similar physical characteristics with hematite spherules from Meridiani Planum (Mars “blueberries”), investigated by the Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity. Terrestrial concretions from the Jurassic Navajo Sandstone are not perfect analogs to Mars, particularly in terms of their geochemistry. However, the Navajo Sandstone contains exceptional examples that represent typical concretion characteristics from the geologic record. Both ancient and modern analogs provide information about concretion forming processes and their relationship to porosity and permeability, fluid flow events, subsequent weathering, and surficial reworking. Concretions on Earth possess variable mineralogies and form in a variety of lithologies in formations of nearly all geologic ages. Despite the prevalence of concretions, many unknowns exist, including their absolute ages and their precise nucleation and growth mechanisms. Some opportunities for future concretion research lie in three approaches: (1) New analytical techniques may show geochemical gradients and important textures reflecting biotic (role of bacteria) or abiotic origins. (2) Concretion modeling can determine important formation mechanisms. Sensitivity tests and simulations for different parameters can help show the magnitude of influence for different input factors. (3) New age-dating methods that remove preservational bias and expand the supply of datable material may yield quantitative limits to the timing of diagenetic events beyond what relative cross-cutting relationships can show. The discovery of hematite spherules on Mars has driven efforts to better understand both terrestrial examples of ferric oxide concretions and the competing mechanisms that produce spheroidal geometries. The integration of geologic and planetary sciences continues to encourage new findings in the quest to understand the role of water on Mars as well as the tantalizing possibility that extraterrestrial life is associated with mineral records of watery environments.

Utah offers spectacular geologic features and valuable analog environments and processes for Mars studies. Horizontal strata of the Colorado Plateau are analogous to Mars because the overprint of plate tectonics is minimal, yet the effects of strong ground motion from earthquakes or impacts are preserved in the sedimentary record. The close proximity of analog environments and lack of vegetative cover are advantages for field and remote-sensing studies. Dry, desert climate and modern wind processes of Utah are comparable to Mars and its current surface. Analogs in Utah include eolian, sabkha and saline bodies, glacial, lacustrine, spring, alluvial, fluvial, delta, and outflow channel depositional environments, as well as volcanic landforms and impact craters. Analogous secondary processes producing modification features include: diagenetic concretions, weathering and soils, sinkholes, sapping, knobs and pinnacles, crusts and varnish, and patterned grounds. Utah's physical and chemical environments are analogous to conditions on Mars where water existed and could support microorganisms. The development of Mars includes: ancient and modern depositional records, burial and diagenesis, uplift and tectonic alteration, and modern sculpting or weathering of the surface exposures. Recent satellite images are providing unprecedented details that rival the outcrop scale. Analogs in Utah are prime field localities that can be utilized in planning future robotic and human missions to Mars, and for teaching the next generation of planetary explorers.