Publication Date:
2009-05-23
Description:
The Mars rover Opportunity has explored Victoria crater, an approximately 750-meter eroded impact crater formed in sulfate-rich sedimentary rocks. Impact-related stratigraphy is preserved in the crater walls, and meteoritic debris is present near the crater rim. The size of hematite-rich concretions decreases up-section, documenting variation in the intensity of groundwater processes. Layering in the crater walls preserves evidence of ancient wind-blown dunes. Compositional variations with depth mimic those approximately 6 kilometers to the north and demonstrate that water-induced alteration at Meridiani Planum was regional in scope.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Squyres, S W -- Knoll, A H -- Arvidson, R E -- Ashley, J W -- Bell, J F 3rd -- Calvin, W M -- Christensen, P R -- Clark, B C -- Cohen, B A -- de Souza, P A Jr -- Edgar, L -- Farrand, W H -- Fleischer, I -- Gellert, R -- Golombek, M P -- Grant, J -- Grotzinger, J -- Hayes, A -- Herkenhoff, K E -- Johnson, J R -- Jolliff, B -- Klingelhofer, G -- Knudson, A -- Li, R -- McCoy, T J -- McLennan, S M -- Ming, D W -- Mittlefehldt, D W -- Morris, R V -- Rice, J W Jr -- Schroder, C -- Sullivan, R J -- Yen, A -- Yingst, R A -- New York, N.Y. -- Science. 2009 May 22;324(5930):1058-61. doi: 10.1126/science.1170355.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉Department of Astronomy, Space Sciences Building, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853, USA. squyres@astro.cornell.edu〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19461001" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉
Keywords:
Extraterrestrial Environment
;
Ferric Compounds
;
*Mars
;
Spacecraft
;
Water
Print ISSN:
0036-8075
Electronic ISSN:
1095-9203
Topics:
Biology
,
Chemistry and Pharmacology
,
Computer Science
,
Medicine
,
Natural Sciences in General
,
Physics
