Chloe Roque

Chloe Roque

Biography

Chloe Roque is a senior mathematics major with a physics minor at St. Edward’s
University in Austin, Texas. Originally from Houston, she developed a passion for
mathematics and space exploration, inspired by NASA and women in STEM. Her research
interests span computational mathematics, planetary science, and aerospace applications.
Chloe has conducted atmospheric physics research using NASA AERONET and Pandora data,
mathematics research on interpretability in text-to-image diffusion models, and participated
in the MIT Summer Research Program under Dr. Gaia Stucky de Quay, investigating controls
on overflow in ancient Martian lake basins. She also interned at Valkyrie Intelligence,
developing data-driven solutions for nonprofit initiatives. Chloe is passionate about science
communication and expanding STEM access through mentorship and outreach. She founded
and serves as president of Women in STEM at St. Edward’s University and plans to pursue
doctoral studies in mathematical and computational methods for aerospace engineering and
planetary science.

Investigating the Controls on Overflow in Ancient Martian Lake Basins
Chloe Roque1 and Gaia Stucky de Quay2
1Department of Mathematics, St. Edward’s University
2Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Ancient Martian lake basins preserve evidence of past surface water and provide insight into the
planet’s climate history. While some lake basins overflowed to form open-basin lakes (OBLs)
—such as Perseverance Rover’s Jezero crater — others remained closed-basin lakes (CBLs).
However, the processes controlling this transition remain uncertain. One proposed explanation is
that OBLs experienced a wetter climate, with more runoff leading to greater water accumulation.
To investigate this hypothesis, we used the Mars Orbiter Laser Altimeter (MOLA) digital elevation
models (DEMs), THEMIS infrared imagery, and previously developed erosion datasets and lake
maps to compare drainage-network concavity, average eroded depth, spill depth, watershed-to-lake
area ratio, and basin geometry between OBLs and CBLs. Basin geometry clearly separated the
two populations, with OBLs generally exhibiting larger watershed-to-lake area ratios. In contrast,
drainage-network concavity and average eroded depth showed substantial overlap, suggesting
limited evidence that enhanced runoff alone explains overflow. An optimized precipitationthreshold
analysis further showed that basin geometry distinguished most OBLs and CBLs,
supporting the conclusion that basin geometry, rather than climate alone, controlled lake overflow.
These results provide new insight into the hydrologic evolution of ancient Martian lakes and may
help identify promising targets for future exploration.