Identification, repartition and possible origins of hydrated minerals in Capri/Eos Chasma (Mars), based on CRISM and HiRiSE data

Details Identification, repartition and possible origins of hydrated minerals in Capri/Eos Chasma (Mars), based on CRISM and HiRiSE data Identification, repartition and possible origins of hydrated minerals in Capri/Eos Chasma (Mars), based on CRISM and HiRiSE data

Dec 2009

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2009agufm.p13a1261f&link_type=abstract

American Geophysical Union, Fall Meeting 2009, abstract #P13A-1261

Mathematics

Logic

[5410] Planetary Sciences: Solid Surface Planets / Composition, [5419] Planetary Sciences: Solid Surface Planets / Hydrology And Fluvial Processes, [5464] Planetary Sciences: Solid Surface Planets / Remote Sensing, [6225] Planetary Sciences: Solar System Objects / Mars

Scientific paper

Following the OMEGA/Mars Express discovery of hydrated minerals such as sulfates in the area of Valles Marineris, a wide range of data, including the recent CRISM (The Compact Reconnaissance Imaging Spectrometer for Mars observations, has been used to refine these contents in terms of mineralogy and geometry of the layers that include these minerals. On that purpose, we focused on a region of Valles Marineris, named Capri Chasma, and located at the outlet of this huge canyon system. As most of the canyons of Valles Marineris, Capri Chasma exhibits hesperian light-toned layered deposits, called Interior Layered Deposits (ILD), which seemed to be the location of the sulfates detections. The high spatial resolution of CRISM hyperspectral data, ranging from 18 to 40 m per pixel, allows us to precise the relation between the detection of sulfates and the Interior Layered deposits. Mineralogical maps of the detected hydrated minerals were realized. Two types of sulfates were observed, polyhydrated and monohydrated ones. We show that sulfates probably consist in the bulk component of the ILD and formed alternating layers of different compositions and morphologies. As monohydrated sulfates are associated to massive bright deposits, polyhydrated ones seem more common over flatter and lower albedo layers. Hydrated silica is also found very locally over the ILD material. All these hydrated minerals detections bring precious clues about the formation of the ILD, the history of the canyon, and of the planet climatic evolution. They at least imply that water was locally present in a certain amount at their time of formation, during the Hesperian. Water must have remained liquid at some places over extended durations in the past of the planet. This makes Capri Chasma a crucial region to investigate for the search of biomarkers, or life.

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