Diverse Aqueous Conditions on Mars from New Orbital Detections of Carbonate and Sulfate

Details Diverse Aqueous Conditions on Mars from New Orbital Detections of Carbonate and Sulfate Diverse Aqueous Conditions on Mars from New Orbital Detections of Carbonate and Sulfate

Oct 2010

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2010dps....42.3402w&link_type=abstract

American Astronomical Society, DPS meeting #42, #34.02; Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, Vol. 42, p.1015

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Diverse aqueous environments on ancient Mars have been a key inference from the Compact Reconnaissance Imaging Spectrometer for Mars (CRISM) on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, which has identified many alteration minerals in a range of settings [e.g., 1-4]. Here we report two new minerals detected using CRISM.
In the southern highlands northwest of the Hellas basin, a mid-sized crater exposes carbonate in its central uplift. Spectral absorptions at 1, 2.33, and 2.53 microns are most consistent with Fe-carbonate, distinct from the Mg-carbonates identified from orbit by [5]. Fe-carbonate is associated with Mg-phyllosilicate in fractured materials formerly buried kilometers beneath the surface, and--like the Mg/Fe-carbonate found by the Spirit rover [6]--suggests a reducing, neutral-to-alkaline alteration environment.
One of the largest phyllosilicate exposures on Mars occurs in the Mawrth Vallis region [e.g., 7]. We identify bassanite (Ca-sulfate hemihydrate) in layers underlying the phyllosilicate-bearing beds [8], a stratigraphy distinct from that predicted by global models of martian aqueous history [9]. Bassanite could have formed via acid-sulfate alteration of Ca-carbonate, through dehydration of gypsum, or under hydrothermal conditions [10].
These detections expand the known mineralogic diversity of Mars and the range of environments to explore for past habitability.
[1] Mustard, J. F. et al. (2008) Nature 454, 305-309.
[2] Murchie, S. L. et al. (2009) J. Geophys. Res. 114, E00D06.
[3] Ehlmann, B. L. et al. (2009) J. Geophys. Res. 114, E00D08.
[4] Wray, J. J. et al. (2009) Geology 37, 1043-1046.
[5] Ehlmann, B. L. et al. (2008) Science 322, 1828-1832.
[6] Morris, R. V. et al. Science, in press, doi:10.1126/science.1189667.
[7] Poulet, F. et al. (2005) Nature 438, 623-627.
[8] Wray, J. J. et al. Icarus, in press, doi:10.1016/j.icarus.2010.06.001.
[9] Bibring, J.-P. et al. (2006) Science 312, 400-404.
[10] Vaniman, D. T. et al. (2009) LPSC 40, 1654.

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