ALBERT

Description: Physical properties of terrains encountered by the Curiosity rover during the first 360 sols of operations have been inferred from analysis of the scour zones produced by Sky Crane Landing System engine plumes, wheel touchdown dynamics, pits produced by ChemCam laser shots, rover wheel traverses over rocks, the extent of sinkage into soils, and the magnitude and sign of rover-based slippage during drives. Results have been integrated with morphologic, mineralogic, and thermophysical properties derived from orbital data, and Curiosity-based measurements, to understand the nature and origin of physical properties of traversed terrains. The hummocky plains (HP) landing site and traverse locations consist of moderately to well consolidated bedrock of alluvial origin variably covered by slightly cohesive, hard-packed basaltic sand and dust, with both embedded and surface-strewn rock clasts. Rock clasts have been added through local bedrock weathering and impact ejecta emplacement and form a pavement-like surface in which only small clasts (〈5 to 10 cm wide) have been pressed into the soil during wheel passages. The bedded fractured (BF) unit, site of Curiosity's first drilling activity, exposes several alluvial-lacustrine bedrock units with little to no soil cover and varying degrees of lithification. Small wheel sinkage values (〈1 cm) for both HP and BF surfaces demonstrate that compaction resistance countering driven-wheel thrust has been minimal and that rover slippage while traversing across horizontal surfaces or going uphill, and skid going downhill, have been dominated by terrain tilts and wheel-surface material shear modulus values.

Description: Stable isotope ratios of H, C, and O are powerful indicators of a wide variety of planetary geophysical processes, and for Mars they reveal the record of loss of its atmosphere and subsequent interactions with its surface such as carbonate formation. We report in situ measurements of the isotopic ratios of D/H and (18)O/(16)O in water and (13)C/(12)C, (18)O/(16)O, (17)O/(16)O, and (13)C(18)O/(12)C(16)O in carbon dioxide, made in the martian atmosphere at Gale Crater from the Curiosity rover using the Sample Analysis at Mars (SAM)'s tunable laser spectrometer (TLS). Comparison between our measurements in the modern atmosphere and those of martian meteorites such as ALH 84001 implies that the martian reservoirs of CO2 and H2O were largely established ~4 billion years ago, but that atmospheric loss or surface interaction may be still ongoing.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Webster, Chris R -- Mahaffy, Paul R -- Flesch, Gregory J -- Niles, Paul B -- Jones, John H -- Leshin, Laurie A -- Atreya, Sushil K -- Stern, Jennifer C -- Christensen, Lance E -- Owen, Tobias -- Franz, Heather -- Pepin, Robert O -- Steele, Andrew -- MSL Science Team -- Achilles, Cherie -- Agard, Christophe -- Alves Verdasca, Jose Alexandre -- Anderson, Robert -- Anderson, Ryan -- Archer, Doug -- Armiens-Aparicio, Carlos -- Arvidson, Ray -- Atlaskin, Evgeny -- Aubrey, Andrew -- Baker, Burt -- Baker, Michael -- Balic-Zunic, Tonci -- Baratoux, David -- Baroukh, Julien -- Barraclough, Bruce -- Bean, Keri -- Beegle, Luther -- Behar, Alberto -- Bell, James -- Bender, Steve -- Benna, Mehdi -- Bentz, Jennifer -- Berger, Gilles -- Berger, Jeff -- Berman, Daniel -- Bish, David -- Blake, David F -- Blanco Avalos, Juan J -- Blaney, Diana -- Blank, Jen -- Blau, Hannah -- Bleacher, Lora -- Boehm, Eckart -- Botta, Oliver -- Bottcher, Stephan -- Boucher, Thomas -- Bower, Hannah -- Boyd, Nick -- Boynton, Bill -- Breves, Elly -- Bridges, John -- Bridges, Nathan -- Brinckerhoff, William -- Brinza, David -- Bristow, Thomas -- Brunet, Claude -- Brunner, Anna -- Brunner, Will -- Buch, Arnaud -- Bullock, Mark -- Burmeister, Sonke -- Cabane, Michel -- Calef, Fred -- Cameron, James -- Campbell, John -- Cantor, Bruce -- Caplinger, Michael -- Caride Rodriguez, Javier -- Carmosino, Marco -- Carrasco Blazquez, Isaias -- Charpentier, Antoine -- Chipera, Steve -- Choi, David -- Clark, Benton -- Clegg, Sam -- Cleghorn, Timothy -- Cloutis, Ed -- Cody, George -- Coll, Patrice -- Conrad, Pamela -- Coscia, David -- Cousin, Agnes -- Cremers, David -- Crisp, Joy -- Cros, Alain -- Cucinotta, Frank -- d'Uston, Claude -- Davis, Scott -- Day, Mackenzie -- de la Torre Juarez, Manuel -- DeFlores, Lauren -- DeLapp, Dorothea -- DeMarines, Julia -- DesMarais, David -- Dietrich, William -- Dingler, Robert -- Donny, Christophe -- Downs, Bob -- Drake, Darrell -- Dromart, Gilles -- Dupont, Audrey -- Duston, Brian -- Dworkin, Jason -- Dyar, M Darby -- Edgar, Lauren -- Edgett, Kenneth -- Edwards, Christopher -- Edwards, Laurence -- Ehlmann, Bethany -- Ehresmann, Bent -- Eigenbrode, Jen -- Elliott, Beverley -- Elliott, Harvey -- Ewing, Ryan -- Fabre, Cecile -- Fairen, Alberto -- Farley, Ken -- Farmer, Jack -- Fassett, Caleb -- Favot, Laurent -- Fay, Donald -- Fedosov, Fedor -- Feldman, Jason -- Feldman, Sabrina -- Fisk, Marty -- Fitzgibbon, Mike -- Floyd, Melissa -- Fluckiger, Lorenzo -- Forni, Olivier -- Fraeman, Abby -- Francis, Raymond -- Francois, Pascaline -- Freissinet, Caroline -- French, Katherine Louise -- Frydenvang, Jens -- Gaboriaud, Alain -- Gailhanou, Marc -- Garvin, James -- Gasnault, Olivier -- Geffroy, Claude -- Gellert, Ralf -- Genzer, Maria -- Glavin, Daniel -- Godber, Austin -- Goesmann, Fred -- Goetz, Walter -- Golovin, Dmitry -- Gomez Gomez, Felipe -- Gomez-Elvira, Javier -- Gondet, Brigitte -- Gordon, Suzanne -- Gorevan, Stephen -- Grant, John -- Griffes, Jennifer -- Grinspoon, David -- Grotzinger, John -- Guillemot, Philippe -- Guo, Jingnan -- Gupta, Sanjeev -- Guzewich, Scott -- Haberle, Robert -- Halleaux, Douglas -- Hallet, Bernard -- Hamilton, Vicky -- Hardgrove, Craig -- Harker, David -- Harpold, Daniel -- Harri, Ari-Matti -- Harshman, Karl -- Hassler, Donald -- Haukka, Harri -- Hayes, Alex -- Herkenhoff, Ken -- Herrera, Paul -- Hettrich, Sebastian -- Heydari, Ezat -- Hipkin, Victoria -- Hoehler, Tori -- Hollingsworth, Jeff -- Hudgins, Judy -- Huntress, Wesley -- Hurowitz, Joel -- Hviid, Stubbe -- Iagnemma, Karl -- Indyk, Steve -- Israel, Guy -- Jackson, Ryan -- Jacob, Samantha -- Jakosky, Bruce -- Jensen, Elsa -- Jensen, Jaqueline Klovgaard -- Johnson, Jeffrey -- Johnson, Micah -- Johnstone, Steve -- Jones, Andrea -- Joseph, Jonathan -- Jun, Insoo -- Kah, Linda -- Kahanpaa, Henrik -- Kahre, Melinda -- Karpushkina, Natalya -- Kasprzak, Wayne -- Kauhanen, Janne -- Keely, Leslie -- Kemppinen, Osku -- Keymeulen, Didier -- Kim, Myung-Hee -- Kinch, Kjartan -- King, Penny -- Kirkland, Laurel -- Kocurek, Gary -- Koefoed, Asmus -- Kohler, Jan -- Kortmann, Onno -- Kozyrev, Alexander -- Krezoski, Jill -- Krysak, Daniel -- Kuzmin, Ruslan -- Lacour, Jean Luc -- Lafaille, Vivian -- Langevin, Yves -- Lanza, Nina -- Lasue, Jeremie -- Le Mouelic, Stephane -- Lee, Ella Mae -- Lee, Qiu-Mei -- Lees, David -- Lefavor, Matthew -- Lemmon, Mark -- Lepinette Malvitte, Alain -- Leveille, Richard -- Lewin-Carpintier, Eric -- Lewis, Kevin -- Li, Shuai -- Lipkaman, Leslie -- Little, Cynthia -- Litvak, Maxim -- Lorigny, Eric -- Lugmair, Guenter -- Lundberg, Angela -- Lyness, Eric -- Madsen, Morten -- Maki, Justin -- Malakhov, Alexey -- Malespin, Charles -- Malin, Michael -- Mangold, Nicolas -- Manhes, Gerard -- Manning, Heidi -- Marchand, Genevieve -- Marin Jimenez, Mercedes -- Martin Garcia, Cesar -- Martin, Dave -- Martin, Mildred -- Martinez-Frias, Jesus -- Martin-Soler, Javier -- Martin-Torres, F Javier -- Mauchien, Patrick -- Maurice, Sylvestre -- McAdam, Amy -- McCartney, Elaina -- McConnochie, Timothy -- McCullough, Emily -- McEwan, Ian -- McKay, Christopher -- McLennan, Scott -- McNair, Sean -- Melikechi, Noureddine -- Meslin, Pierre-Yves -- Meyer, Michael -- Mezzacappa, Alissa -- Miller, Hayden -- Miller, Kristen -- Milliken, Ralph -- Ming, Douglas -- Minitti, Michelle -- Mischna, Michael -- Mitrofanov, Igor -- Moersch, Jeff -- Mokrousov, Maxim -- Molina Jurado, Antonio -- Moores, John -- Mora-Sotomayor, Luis -- Morookian, John Michael -- Morris, Richard -- Morrison, Shaunna -- Mueller-Mellin, Reinhold -- Muller, Jan-Peter -- Munoz Caro, Guillermo -- Nachon, Marion -- Navarro Lopez, Sara -- Navarro-Gonzalez, Rafael -- Nealson, Kenneth -- Nefian, Ara -- Nelson, Tony -- Newcombe, Megan -- Newman, Claire -- Newsom, Horton -- Nikiforov, Sergey -- Nixon, Brian -- Noe Dobrea, Eldar -- Nolan, Thomas -- Oehler, Dorothy -- Ollila, Ann -- Olson, Timothy -- de Pablo Hernandez, Miguel Angel -- Paillet, Alexis -- Pallier, Etienne -- Palucis, Marisa -- Parker, Timothy -- Parot, Yann -- Patel, Kiran -- Paton, Mark -- Paulsen, Gale -- Pavlov, Alex -- Pavri, Betina -- Peinado-Gonzalez, Veronica -- Peret, Laurent -- Perez, Rene -- Perrett, Glynis -- Peterson, Joe -- Pilorget, Cedric -- Pinet, Patrick -- Pla-Garcia, Jorge -- Plante, Ianik -- Poitrasson, Franck -- Polkko, Jouni -- Popa, Radu -- Posiolova, Liliya -- Posner, Arik -- Pradler, Irina -- Prats, Benito -- Prokhorov, Vasily -- Purdy, Sharon Wilson -- Raaen, Eric -- Radziemski, Leon -- Rafkin, Scot -- Ramos, Miguel -- Rampe, Elizabeth -- Raulin, Francois -- Ravine, Michael -- Reitz, Gunther -- Renno, Nilton -- Rice, Melissa -- Richardson, Mark -- Robert, Francois -- Robertson, Kevin -- Rodriguez Manfredi, Jose Antonio -- Romeral-Planello, Julio J -- Rowland, Scott -- Rubin, David -- Saccoccio, Muriel -- Salamon, Andrew -- Sandoval, Jennifer -- Sanin, Anton -- Sans Fuentes, Sara Alejandra -- Saper, Lee -- Sarrazin, Philippe -- Sautter, Violaine -- Savijarvi, Hannu -- Schieber, Juergen -- Schmidt, Mariek -- Schmidt, Walter -- Scholes, Daniel -- Schoppers, Marcel -- Schroder, Susanne -- Schwenzer, Susanne -- Sebastian Martinez, Eduardo -- Sengstacken, Aaron -- Shterts, Ruslan -- Siebach, Kirsten -- Siili, Tero -- Simmonds, Jeff -- Sirven, Jean-Baptiste -- Slavney, Susie -- Sletten, Ronald -- Smith, Michael -- Sobron Sanchez, Pablo -- Spanovich, Nicole -- Spray, John -- Squyres, Steven -- Stack, Katie -- Stalport, Fabien -- Stein, Thomas -- Stewart, Noel -- Stipp, Susan Louise Svane -- Stoiber, Kevin -- Stolper, Ed -- Sucharski, Bob -- Sullivan, Rob -- Summons, Roger -- Sumner, Dawn -- Sun, Vivian -- Supulver, Kimberley -- Sutter, Brad -- Szopa, Cyril -- Tan, Florence -- Tate, Christopher -- Teinturier, Samuel -- ten Kate, Inge -- Thomas, Peter -- Thompson, Lucy -- Tokar, Robert -- Toplis, Mike -- Torres Redondo, Josefina -- Trainer, Melissa -- Treiman, Allan -- Tretyakov, Vladislav -- Urqui-O'Callaghan, Roser -- Van Beek, Jason -- Van Beek, Tessa -- VanBommel, Scott -- Vaniman, David -- Varenikov, Alexey -- Vasavada, Ashwin -- Vasconcelos, Paulo -- Vicenzi, Edward -- Vostrukhin, Andrey -- Voytek, Mary -- Wadhwa, Meenakshi -- Ward, Jennifer -- Weigle, Eddie -- Wellington, Danika -- Westall, Frances -- Wiens, Roger Craig -- Wilhelm, Mary Beth -- Williams, Amy -- Williams, Joshua -- Williams, Rebecca -- Williams, Richard B -- Wilson, Mike -- Wimmer-Schweingruber, Robert -- Wolff, Mike -- Wong, Mike -- Wray, James -- Wu, Megan -- Yana, Charles -- Yen, Albert -- Yingst, Aileen -- Zeitlin, Cary -- Zimdar, Robert -- Zorzano Mier, Maria-Paz -- New York, N.Y. -- Science. 2013 Jul 19;341(6143):260-3. doi: 10.1126/science.1237961.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91109, USA. chris.r.webster@jpl.nasa.gov〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23869013" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉

Description: The Curiosity rover discovered fine-grained sedimentary rocks, which are inferred to represent an ancient lake and preserve evidence of an environment that would have been suited to support a martian biosphere founded on chemolithoautotrophy. This aqueous environment was characterized by neutral pH, low salinity, and variable redox states of both iron and sulfur species. Carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, sulfur, nitrogen, and phosphorus were measured directly as key biogenic elements; by inference, phosphorus is assumed to have been available. The environment probably had a minimum duration of hundreds to tens of thousands of years. These results highlight the biological viability of fluvial-lacustrine environments in the post-Noachian history of Mars.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Grotzinger, J P -- Sumner, D Y -- Kah, L C -- Stack, K -- Gupta, S -- Edgar, L -- Rubin, D -- Lewis, K -- Schieber, J -- Mangold, N -- Milliken, R -- Conrad, P G -- DesMarais, D -- Farmer, J -- Siebach, K -- Calef, F 3rd -- Hurowitz, J -- McLennan, S M -- Ming, D -- Vaniman, D -- Crisp, J -- Vasavada, A -- Edgett, K S -- Malin, M -- Blake, D -- Gellert, R -- Mahaffy, P -- Wiens, R C -- Maurice, S -- Grant, J A -- Wilson, S -- Anderson, R C -- Beegle, L -- Arvidson, R -- Hallet, B -- Sletten, R S -- Rice, M -- Bell, J 3rd -- Griffes, J -- Ehlmann, B -- Anderson, R B -- Bristow, T F -- Dietrich, W E -- Dromart, G -- Eigenbrode, J -- Fraeman, A -- Hardgrove, C -- Herkenhoff, K -- Jandura, L -- Kocurek, G -- Lee, S -- Leshin, L A -- Leveille, R -- Limonadi, D -- Maki, J -- McCloskey, S -- Meyer, M -- Minitti, M -- Newsom, H -- Oehler, D -- Okon, A -- Palucis, M -- Parker, T -- Rowland, S -- Schmidt, M -- Squyres, S -- Steele, A -- Stolper, E -- Summons, R -- Treiman, A -- Williams, R -- Yingst, A -- MSL Science Team -- New York, N.Y. -- Science. 2014 Jan 24;343(6169):1242777. doi: 10.1126/science.1242777. Epub 2013 Dec 9.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉Division of Geologic and Planetary Sciences, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91125, USA.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24324272" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉

Description: We determined radiogenic and cosmogenic noble gases in a mudstone on the floor of Gale Crater. A K-Ar age of 4.21 +/- 0.35 billion years represents a mixture of detrital and authigenic components and confirms the expected antiquity of rocks comprising the crater rim. Cosmic-ray-produced (3)He, (21)Ne, and (36)Ar yield concordant surface exposure ages of 78 +/- 30 million years. Surface exposure occurred mainly in the present geomorphic setting rather than during primary erosion and transport. Our observations are consistent with mudstone deposition shortly after the Gale impact or possibly in a later event of rapid erosion and deposition. The mudstone remained buried until recent exposure by wind-driven scarp retreat. Sedimentary rocks exposed by this mechanism may thus offer the best potential for organic biomarker preservation against destruction by cosmic radiation.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Farley, K A -- Malespin, C -- Mahaffy, P -- Grotzinger, J P -- Vasconcelos, P M -- Milliken, R E -- Malin, M -- Edgett, K S -- Pavlov, A A -- Hurowitz, J A -- Grant, J A -- Miller, H B -- Arvidson, R -- Beegle, L -- Calef, F -- Conrad, P G -- Dietrich, W E -- Eigenbrode, J -- Gellert, R -- Gupta, S -- Hamilton, V -- Hassler, D M -- Lewis, K W -- McLennan, S M -- Ming, D -- Navarro-Gonzalez, R -- Schwenzer, S P -- Steele, A -- Stolper, E M -- Sumner, D Y -- Vaniman, D -- Vasavada, A -- Williford, K -- Wimmer-Schweingruber, R F -- MSL Science Team -- New York, N.Y. -- Science. 2014 Jan 24;343(6169):1247166. doi: 10.1126/science.1247166. Epub 2013 Dec 9.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉Division of Geological and Planetary Sciences, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91125, USA.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24324273" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉

Description: The Curiosity rover has analyzed various detrital sedimentary rocks at Gale crater, among which fluvial and lacustrine rocks are predominant [ Grotzinger et al. , 2014, 2015]. Conglomerates correspond both to the coarsest sediments analyzed and the least modified by chemical alteration, enabling us to link their chemistry to that of source rocks on the Gale crater rims. In this study, we report the results of 6 conglomerate targets analyzed by APXS and 40 analyzed by ChemCam. The bulk chemistry derived by both instruments suggests two distinct end-members for the conglomerate compositions. The first group (Darwin type) is typical of conglomerates analyzed before sol 540; it has a felsic alkali-rich composition, with a Na 2 O/K 2 O 〉 5. The second group (Kimberley type) is typical of conglomerates analyzed between sol 540 and 670 in the vicinity of the Kimberley waypoint; it has an alkali-rich potassic composition with Na 2 O/K 2 O 〈 2. The variety of chemistry and igneous textures (when identifiable) of individual clasts suggest that each conglomerate type is a mixture of multiple source rocks. Conglomerate compositions are in agreement with most of the felsic alkali-rich float rock compositions analyzed in the hummocky plains (as reported in Sautter et al., 2015 ). The average composition of conglomerates can be taken as a proxy of the average igneous crust composition at Gale crater. Differences between the composition of conglomerates and that of finer-grained detrital sediments analyzed by the rover suggest modifications by diagenetic processes (especially for Mg-enrichments in fine grained rocks), physical sorting and mixing with finer-grained material of different composition.

Description: The rover Opportunity has investigated the rim of Endeavour Crater, a large ancient impact crater on Mars. Basaltic breccias produced by the impact form the rim deposits, with stratigraphy similar to that observed at similar-sized craters on Earth. Highly localized zinc enrichments in some breccia materials suggest hydrothermal alteration of rim deposits. Gypsum-rich veins cut sedimentary rocks adjacent to the crater rim. The gypsum was precipitated from low-temperature aqueous fluids flowing upward from the ancient materials of the rim, leading temporarily to potentially habitable conditions and providing some of the waters involved in formation of the ubiquitous sulfate-rich sandstones of the Meridiani region.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Squyres, S W -- Arvidson, R E -- Bell, J F 3rd -- Calef, F 3rd -- Clark, B C -- Cohen, B A -- Crumpler, L A -- de Souza, P A Jr -- Farrand, W H -- Gellert, R -- Grant, J -- Herkenhoff, K E -- Hurowitz, J A -- Johnson, J R -- Jolliff, B L -- Knoll, A H -- Li, R -- McLennan, S M -- Ming, D W -- Mittlefehldt, D W -- Parker, T J -- Paulsen, G -- Rice, M S -- Ruff, S W -- Schroder, C -- Yen, A S -- Zacny, K -- New York, N.Y. -- Science. 2012 May 4;336(6081):570-6. doi: 10.1126/science.1220476.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉Department of Astronomy, 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/22556248" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉

Description: Sedimentary rocks examined by the Curiosity rover at Yellowknife Bay, Mars, were derived from sources that evolved from an approximately average martian crustal composition to one influenced by alkaline basalts. No evidence of chemical weathering is preserved, indicating arid, possibly cold, paleoclimates and rapid erosion and deposition. The absence of predicted geochemical variations indicates that magnetite and phyllosilicates formed by diagenesis under low-temperature, circumneutral pH, rock-dominated aqueous conditions. Analyses of diagenetic features (including concretions, raised ridges, and fractures) at high spatial resolution indicate that they are composed of iron- and halogen-rich components, magnesium-iron-chlorine-rich components, and hydrated calcium sulfates, respectively. Composition of a cross-cutting dike-like feature is consistent with sedimentary intrusion. The geochemistry of these sedimentary rocks provides further evidence for diverse depositional and diagenetic sedimentary environments during the early history of Mars.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉McLennan, S M -- Anderson, R B -- Bell, J F 3rd -- Bridges, J C -- Calef, F 3rd -- Campbell, J L -- Clark, B C -- Clegg, S -- Conrad, P -- Cousin, A -- Des Marais, D J -- Dromart, G -- Dyar, M D -- Edgar, L A -- Ehlmann, B L -- Fabre, C -- Forni, O -- Gasnault, O -- Gellert, R -- Gordon, S -- Grant, J A -- Grotzinger, J P -- Gupta, S -- Herkenhoff, K E -- Hurowitz, J A -- King, P L -- Le Mouelic, S -- Leshin, L A -- Leveille, R -- Lewis, K W -- Mangold, N -- Maurice, S -- Ming, D W -- Morris, R V -- Nachon, M -- Newsom, H E -- Ollila, A M -- Perrett, G M -- Rice, M S -- Schmidt, M E -- Schwenzer, S P -- Stack, K -- Stolper, E M -- Sumner, D Y -- Treiman, A H -- VanBommel, S -- Vaniman, D T -- Vasavada, A -- Wiens, R C -- Yingst, R A -- MSL Science Team -- New York, N.Y. -- Science. 2014 Jan 24;343(6169):1244734. doi: 10.1126/science.1244734. Epub 2013 Dec 9.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉Department of Geosciences, State University of New York, Stony Brook, NY 11794, USA.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24324274" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉

Description: The landforms of northern Gale crater on Mars expose thick sequences of sedimentary rocks. Based on images obtained by the Curiosity rover, we interpret these outcrops as evidence for past fluvial, deltaic, and lacustrine environments. Degradation of the crater wall and rim probably supplied these sediments, which advanced inward from the wall, infilling both the crater and an internal lake basin to a thickness of at least 75 meters. This intracrater lake system probably existed intermittently for thousands to millions of years, implying a relatively wet climate that supplied moisture to the crater rim and transported sediment via streams into the lake basin. The deposits in Gale crater were then exhumed, probably by wind-driven erosion, creating Aeolis Mons (Mount Sharp).〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Grotzinger, J P -- Gupta, S -- Malin, M C -- Rubin, D M -- Schieber, J -- Siebach, K -- Sumner, D Y -- Stack, K M -- Vasavada, A R -- Arvidson, R E -- Calef, F 3rd -- Edgar, L -- Fischer, W F -- Grant, J A -- Griffes, J -- Kah, L C -- Lamb, M P -- Lewis, K W -- Mangold, N -- Minitti, M E -- Palucis, M -- Rice, M -- Williams, R M E -- Yingst, R A -- Blake, D -- Blaney, D -- Conrad, P -- Crisp, J -- Dietrich, W E -- Dromart, G -- Edgett, K S -- Ewing, R C -- Gellert, R -- Hurowitz, J A -- Kocurek, G -- Mahaffy, P -- McBride, M J -- McLennan, S M -- Mischna, M -- Ming, D -- Milliken, R -- Newsom, H -- Oehler, D -- Parker, T J -- Vaniman, D -- Wiens, R C -- Wilson, S A -- New York, N.Y. -- Science. 2015 Oct 9;350(6257):aac7575. doi: 10.1126/science.aac7575.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉Division of Geologic and Planetary Sciences, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91125, USA. ; Department of Earth Science and Engineering, Imperial College London, London SW7 2AZ, UK. ; Malin Space Science Systems, Post Office Box 910148, San Diego, CA 92121, USA. ; Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, University of California-Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz, CA 95064, USA. ; Department of Geological Sciences, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN 47405, USA. ; Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, University of California-Davis, Davis, CA 95616, USA. ; Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91109, USA. ; Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, MO 63130, USA. ; Astrogeology Science Center, U.S. Geological Survey, Flagstaff, AZ 86001, USA. ; Center for Earth and Planetary Studies, National Air and Space Museum, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC 20560, USA. ; Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN 37996, USA. ; Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD 21218, USA. ; Laboratoire Planetologie et Geodynamique de Nantes-Le Centre National de la Recherche, Unite Mixte de Recherche 6112 and Universite de Nantes, 44322 Nantes, France. ; Planetary Science Institute, Tucson, AZ 85719, USA. ; Department of Geology, Western Washington University, Bellingham, WA 98225, USA. ; Department of Space Sciences, NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, CA 94035, USA. ; NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD 20771, USA. ; Department of Earth and Planetary Science, University of California-Berkeley, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA. ; Laboratoire de Geologie de Lyon, Universite de Lyon, 69364 Lyon, France. ; Department of Geology and Geophysics, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX 77843, USA. ; Department of Physics, University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario N1G 2W1, Canada. ; Department of Geosciences, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, NY 11794-2100, USA. ; Department of Geological Sciences, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX 78712, USA. ; Astromaterials Research and Exploration Science Division, NASA Johnson Space Center, Houston, TX 77058, USA. ; Department of Geological Sciences, Brown University, Providence, RI 02912, USA. ; Institute of Meteoritics, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM 87131 USA. ; LZ Technology, NASA Johnson Space Center, Houston, TX 77058, USA. ; Space Remote Sensing, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, NM 87544, USA.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26450214" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉

Description: Diagenetic silica enrichment in fracture-associated halos that cross-cut lacustrine and unconformably overlying aeolian sedimentary bedrock are observed on the lower north slope of Aeolis Mons in Gale crater, Mars. The diagenetic silica enrichment is co-located with detrital silica enrichment observed in the lacustrine bedrock, yet extends into a considerably younger, unconformably draping aeolian sandstone, implying that diagenetic silica enrichment post-dates the detrital silica enrichment. A causal connection between the detrital and diagenetic silica enrichment implies that water was present in the subsurface of Gale crater long after deposition of the lacustrine sediments, and that it mobilized detrital amorphous silica and precipitated it along fractures in the overlying bedrock. Although absolute timing is uncertain, the observed diagenesis likely represents some of the most recent groundwater activity in Gale crater, and suggests that the timescale of potential habitability extended considerably beyond the time that the lacustrine sediments of Aeolis Mons were deposited.

Description: The Yellowknife Bay formation represents a ~5 m thick stratigraphic section of lithified fluvial and lacustrine sediments analyzed by the Curiosity rover in Gale crater, Mars [ Grotzinger et al ., 2014 ]. Previous works have mainly focused on the mudstones that were drilled by the rover at two locations. The present study focuses on the sedimentary rocks stratigraphically above the mudstones by studying their chemical variations in parallel with rock textures. Results show that differences in composition correlate with textures and both manifest subtle but significant variations through the stratigraphic column. Though the chemistry of the sediments does not vary much in the lower part of the stratigraphy, the variations in alkali elements indicate variations in the source material and/or physical sorting. as shown by the identification of alkali feldspars. The sandstones contain similar relative proportions of hydrogen to the mudstones below, suggesting the presence of hydrous minerals that may have contributed to their cementation. Slight variations in magnesium correlate with changes in textures suggesting that diagenesis, through cementation and dissolution modified the initial rock composition and texture simultaneously. The upper part of the stratigraphy (~1m thick) displays rocks with different compositions suggesting a strong change in the depositional system. The presence of float rocks with similar compositions found along the rover traverse suggests some of these outcrops extend further away in the nearby hummocky plains.