Biology
Scientific paper
Dec 2009
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2009agufm.p23a1244w&link_type=abstract
American Geophysical Union, Fall Meeting 2009, abstract #P23A-1244
Biology
[5220] Planetary Sciences: Astrobiology / Hydrothermal Systems And Weathering On Other Planets, [5420] Planetary Sciences: Solid Surface Planets / Impact Phenomena, Cratering, [5470] Planetary Sciences: Solid Surface Planets / Surface Materials And Properties, [6225] Planetary Sciences: Solar System Objects / Mars
Scientific paper
A 60-km-diameter impact crater, which is located near the eastern margin of the Syrtis Major Volcanic Plains (SVMP) at 3.1 N, 57.8 E, displays significant phyllosilicate signatures based on Compact Reconnaissance Imaging Spectrometer for Mars (CRISM) observations. It has a prominent central peak, several small impacts superimposed upon it, and a rim that has undergone significant degradation, with many slumps and terraces. The crater is in lava flows of the SMVP, which have been dated as Hesperian in age, indicating that the impact event is Hesperian or younger in age. The phyllosilicate deposits occur primarily on and around its central peak; a distribution that is observed in hundreds of impact craters on Mars. The floor materials appear spectrally consistent with chlorites, with additional patches of kaolinite clays adjacent to the peak. Our investigation, which includes geologic mapping of stratigraphic and structural features, mineralogic analyses, and computational simulations, uses data acquired from the Mars Orbiter Laser Altimeter (MOLA), the Thermal Emission Imaging System (THEMIS), the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE), and CRISM. It explores the geologic evolution of the impact crater and surroundings in order to discriminate the origin of these deposits from among three possible scenarios, namely: 1) hydrothermal interactions immediately following the impact event, 2) impact-related uplift and exposure, and/or 3) post-impact lacustrine deposition. Each of these scenarios has radically different implications for our understanding of the climatic and geochemical evolution of Mars. These data are compared with those of other nearby craters, which also occur in the SMVP. Previous studies have concluded that the most likely method of phyllosilicate-genesis in SMVP's craters were the result of post-impact hydrothermal processes and impact-related uplift and/or exposure of Noachian hydrated materials which were overlain by lava flow materials of the SVMP. Simulations of post-impact hydrothermal activity in similarly-sized Martian craters are consistent with these CRISM observations; temperatures underneath the crater floor likely exceeded 200 °C, which can account for the chlorite signature, and hydrothermal activity likely persisted in the central peak region longer than elsewhere in the crater, resulting in overprinting of high-temperature hydrothermal mineralogy by clay minerals.
Abramov Oleg
Davila Alfonso F.
Dohm James
Marzo G.
Wheelock S.
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