MRO/CRISM Observations of Putative Paleolakes on Mars: Evidence of Water-related Activity

Details MRO/CRISM Observations of Putative Paleolakes on Mars: Evidence of Water-related Activity MRO/CRISM Observations of Putative Paleolakes on Mars: Evidence of Water-related Activity

Dec 2009

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2009agufm.p43d1468r&link_type=abstract

American Geophysical Union, Fall Meeting 2009, abstract #P43D-1468

Biology

[5220] Planetary Sciences: Astrobiology / Hydrothermal Systems And Weathering On Other Planets, [5410] Planetary Sciences: Solid Surface Planets / Composition, [5415] Planetary Sciences: Solid Surface Planets / Erosion And Weathering, [5470] Planetary Sciences: Solid Surface Planets / Surface Materials And Properties

Scientific paper

Putative paleolakes in Martian impact craters have been the subject of local and regional studies as valuable targets for exploration [1 and references therein] since they should provide information about the dynamics of the sedimentary processes and the climate under which they were formed. We identified 20 sites from the 222 suggested by Orofino et al. [2,3] based upon them having: well-developed, regular, and well-defined edges; no evidence of major modification due to subsequent impact; diameters >20 km; and inlet channels with a length > the crater diameter. MRO/CRISM [4] data have previously been used to identify hydrated/hydroxylated materials in other putative paleolakes on Mars [e.g. 5 and references therein]. Here we report our initial analyses of CRISM observations for 10 of the 20 putative paleolakes identified above using spectral data spanning the ~1-2.5 micrometer range, to evaluate the possible presence of mineral spectral signatures indicative of the past presence of water. Such minerals include hydrated/hydroxylated silicates, hydrous sulfates, and hydrous and/or anhydrous carbonates. Spectra from one site provide evidence for features near 1.4, 2.38 and possibly near 2 micrometers. Such features in CRISM [4] data have previously been attributed to hydrated minerals [e.g. 5,6]. These spectra are closely associated with the various morphological features within the putative paleolakes. Although the numbers are small these results suggest ~10% of the putative paleolakes observed as part of our effort exhibit spectral behavior that is consistent with aqueous activity in these locations. [1] Cabrol, N. & E. Grin (1999) Icarus, 142, 160-172 [2] Orofino, V. et al. (2004) Proceedings Planetary Science: Fifth Italian meeting, A. Blanco, E. Dotto, and V. Orofino Eds., pp. 103-108, Alenia Spazio, Gallipoli, Italy [3] Orofino, V. et al. (2009) Icarus, 200, 426-435 [4] Murchie, S. et al. (2007) J. Geophys. Res., 112, E05S03 [5] Murchie, S. et al. (2009), J. Geophys. Res., in press [6] Mustard, J.F. et al. (2008) Nature, 454, 305-309 GM and TLR acknowledge support for this research from NASA’s Mars Data Analysis Program.

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