Other
Scientific paper
Dec 2004
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2004agufm.p24a..02p&link_type=abstract
American Geophysical Union, Fall Meeting 2004, abstract #P24A-02
Other
5400 Planetology: Solid Surface Planets, 5415 Erosion And Weathering, 5420 Impact Phenomena (Includes Cratering), 5455 Origin And Evolution, 5464 Remote Sensing
Scientific paper
The landing sites for Spirit and Opportunity were selected to "follow the water" to the best of our abilities, given the knowledge gained from previous orbiter instruments and the limitations of the landing system to deliver the rovers safely to the surface. Even with these limitations, it was still possible to select landing sites with high potential to deliver on this requirement. Prior to the Opportunity landing, the regional, hematite-bearing deposit discovered by the Thermal Emission Spectrometer on Mars Global Surveyor was interpreted either as a subaqueous precipitate or a volcanic ash or other deposit subjected to hydrothermal alteration by groundwater. The landing site fortuitously placed the rover in the 20 meter diameter Eagle Crater with immediate access to sulfate-rich sediments. This outcrop exhibits clearly recognizable subaqueous depositional structures such as water-formed current ripples. To date, Opportunity has found this sedimentary deposit to be remarkably uniform in composition and stratigraphic expression over the 750 meters traversed between Eagle Crater and Endurance Crater. The evaporite composition and finely laminated stratigraphy over this region implies low-energy subaqueous deposition in a large body of shallow water. The regional extent and topography of the Meridiani Planum deposit can be interpreted in at least two ways. First, the long-wavelength hummocky topography of the deposit suggests a somewhat eroded sequence laid down in either a very large lake or playa environment, for which the northwest confining topography is now absent. Second, the hummocky form of the regional deposit could be primary, indicating evaporite platform deposition at the margin of a northern plains ocean.
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