Physics
Scientific paper
Dec 2006
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2006agufm.p22a..04g&link_type=abstract
American Geophysical Union, Fall Meeting 2006, abstract #P22A-04
Physics
3672 Planetary Mineralogy And Petrology (5410), 5410 Composition (1060, 3672), 5464 Remote Sensing, 6225 Mars
Scientific paper
Holden crater is a ~150 km diameter crater centered at 326 E, 26S breached in the south by Uzboi Vallis. Holden has been proposed as a possible landing site for the Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) rover and has been the subject of intense scrutiny due to its potential as a paleolake basin. Near the region where Uzboi Vallis breaches the southern Holden Crater wall are layered rocks that have been suggested to be aqeously deposited. Additionally, fan-shaped deposits originate in the southern and western crater walls that have been interpreted as alluvial fans and fan deltas. New analyses of THEMIS and TES data indicate that both the basement and layered rocks - those interpreted to have been deposited in an aqueous environment - near the breach point of Holden crater are olivine and pyoxene- rich. Based on THEMIS IR imagery, these units have a higher thermal inertia than the surrounding terrain. The higher-TI units correspond with lighter-toned layered units seen in THEMIS Vis and MOC imagery that also have a distinct mafic signature in THEMIS daytime IR false-color decorrelation stretch images. The fan deposit in western Holden Crater, which has been proposed as a specific landing site for MSL may also have an elevated olivine abundance based on TES data. High olivine and pyroxene abundances in the sedimentary units of Holden crater do not preclude the presence of water in the history of the crater. However, based on analysis of TES and THEMIS data over the region, there is no evidence for extended chemical weathering present at the surface. Olivine-rich bedrock is likely to be a regional property as it is also present in chaos terrain to the northeast of Holden which is the source of the Landon Vallis outflow channel. These regions should be considered high priority targets for future investigations by OMEGA and CRISM.
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