Mathematics – Logic
Scientific paper
Dec 2008
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2008agufm.p53b1456f&link_type=abstract
American Geophysical Union, Fall Meeting 2008, abstract #P53B-1456
Mathematics
Logic
5134 Thermal Properties, 5460 Physical Properties Of Materials, 5464 Remote Sensing, 5470 Surface Materials And Properties, 6225 Mars
Scientific paper
The identification of phyllosilicates on Mars implies aqueous activity at the time of their formation and is important for understanding the history of Martian water and the past habitability of Mars. In addition, a significant fraction of the global water budget of Mars may be locked into clay mineral deposits within the Martian crust. As a result, six out of seven final landing sites being considered for the Mars Science Laboratory are sites where phyllosilicates have been identified in CRISM and OMEGA data. The physical characteristics of these materials, as identified using thermal inertia data, are an important component for understanding the geologic history of these deposits. Thermal inertia values provide information regarding effective particle size and help to constrain the possible presence of duricrust, rocks, and exposed bedrock at these locations. These identified physical characteristics suggest the degree of resistivity to erosion, which has implications for the post-emplacement modification of these deposits. At the aforementioned six locations (Nili Fossae Trough, Holden Crater, Mawrth Vallis, Miyamoto crater, southern Meridiani Planum, and Gale crater) the physical properties were quantified using THEMIS-derived thermal inertia data to characterize the physical properties at each site and identify the presence or absence of physical diversity among these materials. I identified a wide range of surface properties at these locations ranging from indurated surfaces intermixed with unconsolidated aeolian material (thermal inertia of 150-460 J m-2 K-1 s- 1/2) at Mawrth Vallis, to exposures of in-place bedrock and the presence of rocky material (thermal inertia exceeding 800 J m-2 K-1 s-1/2) in Gale crater. In addition, the surface texture and morphologic features observed in high-resolution visible images (such as narrow-angle MOC, HiRISE, and CTX) are dissimilar across these phyllosilicate exposures, and confirm the interpretation of thermal inertia values. The diversity of the physical nature of these materials implies that the environment that deposited phyllosilicates on Mars and their post-emplacement modification is not consistent across all deposits. This result has important implications for the interpretation of their emplacement and subsequent history, and the potential role of water in these regions.
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