Maddy Turner is a planetary scientist working as a Postdoctoral Research Fellow with the Carl Sagan Center at the SETI Institute. Maddy’s primary research focuses include remote structural mapping and quantitative geomorphology of planetary bodies, including methods development and implementation. As a planetary scientist at the SETI Institute, she works on characterizing both the Martian and Lunar surfaces through Bayesian analyses of cratered terrains. Her recent publications describe how the volumetric, temporal, and geographic fluxes in Mars’ sedimentary rocks can inform us on regional and global climate patterns in the planets’ history.

Maddy has also been a participating member of the Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) Curiosity Rover Science Team since 2018.

Nature Research Briefing: Changes in Mar’s habitability could have been driven by carbonate formation and transient oases

• Madison Turner; Sabrina Y Khan; Axel Noblet; Kevin Lewis; Edwin S Kite “Early thinning, late persistence, diachronous boundaries, and a regional dichotomy in Mars’ young sedimentary rocks” Nature Communications Earth & Environment. (2025) 6.
• Madison Turner Edwin Kite “Pacing Early Mars Sedimentary Rock Formation” Geophysical Research Letters. (2026) 53.
• Madison Turner; Aster C Cowart; Steve G Banham; Frances Rivera-Hernández; William Rapin; Edwin S Kite “Centimeter-scale polygonal terrain on Mars: constraints on polygonal ground formation from the Curiosity Rover” In Prep.
• Edwin S Kite; Benjamin M Tutolo; Madison Turner; Heather Franz; David G Burtt; Thomas F Bristow; Woodward W Fischer; Ralph E Milliken; Abigail A Fraeman; Daniel Zhou “Carbonate formation and fluctuating habitability on Mars” Nature. (2025) 643.
• Daniel Y Zhou; Madison Turner; William Rapin; Juergen Schieber; Amelie L Roberts; Aster C Cowart; Megan E Hoffman; Bernard Hallet; Steve G Banham; Deirdra Fey; Kevin W Lewis; Sanjeev Gupta; Claire E Newman; Ashwin R Vasavada; Cathy M Weitz; William E Dietrich; John A Grant; Daniel Viúdez-Moreiras; Edwin S Kite “How does topography affect wind abrasion on Mars? Recently observed shifts in ventifact orientation at Gale crater” Icarus. (2025) 437.
• Madison Turner; Leafia Sheraden-Cox; Sabrina Y Khan; Kevin Lewis “Explorations of the Quaternary Peoria Loess: A Terrestrial Analog for Martian Dust Deposition” Journal of Geophysical Resarch: Planets. Submitted.
• Madison Turner Kevin Lewis “The Geologic Structure of the Vera Rubin Ridge, Gale Crater, Mars” Journal of Geophysical Research: Planets. (2023) 128. 
• Melissa J Meyer; Ralph E Milliken; Kathryn M Stack; Lauren A Edgar; Elizabeth B Rampe; Madison Turner; Kevin W Lewis; Edwin S Kite; Gwénaël Caravaca; Ashwin R Vasavada; William E Dietrich; Alexander B Bryk; Olivier Gasnault; Stéphane Le Mouélic; Christina H Seeger; Rachel Y Sheppard “Geological context and significance of the clay-sulfate transition region in Mount Sharp, Gale crater, Mars: An integrated assessment based on orbiter and rover data” GSA Bulletin. (2024). 
• Rob Sullivan Mariah M Baker; Claire Newman; Madison Turner; Juergen Schieber; Catherine Weitz; Bernard Hallet; Douglas Ellison; Michelle Minitti “The Aeolian Environment in Glen Torridon, Gale crater, Mars” Journal of Geophysical Research: Planets. (2022) 127, 8. 
• Lyle L Nelson; Jahandar Ramezani; John E Almond; Simon A F Darroch; Wendy L Taylor; Dana C Brenner; Ryan P Furey; Madison Turner; Emmy F Smith “Pushing the boundary: A calibrated Ediacaran-Cambrian stratigraphic record from the Nama Group in northwestern Republic of South Africa” Earth and Planetary Science Letters. (2022) 580.
• Ben T Cardenas; John P Grotzinger; Mike P Lamb; Christopher Fedo; Alex Bryk; William Dietrich; Nathaniel Stein; Kevin Lewis; Madison Turner “Fluvial barform deposits of the Carolyn Shoemaker formation, Gale crater, Mars” Journal of Sedimentary Research. (2022) 92, 12.