Publication Date:
2005-02-19
Description:
Data from the Observatoire pour la Mineralogie, l'Eau, les Glaces, et l'Activite (OMEGA) on the Mars Express spacecraft identify the distinct mafic, rock-forming minerals olivine, low-calcium pyroxene (LCP), and high-calcium pyroxene (HCP) on the surface of Mars. Olivine- and HCP-rich regions are found in deposits that span the age range of geologic units. However, LCP-rich regions are found only in the ancient Noachian-aged units, which suggests that melts for these deposits were derived from a mantle depleted in aluminum and calcium. Extended dark regions in the northern plains exhibit no evidence of strong mafic absorptions or absorptions due to hydrated materials.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Mustard, J F -- Poulet, F -- Gendrin, A -- Bibring, J-P -- Langevin, Y -- Gondet, B -- Mangold, N -- Bellucci, G -- Altieri, F -- New York, N.Y. -- Science. 2005 Mar 11;307(5715):1594-7. Epub 2005 Feb 17.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉Geological Sciences, Brown University, Providence, RI 02912, USA. john_mustard@brown.edu〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15718427" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉
Keywords:
Absorption
;
Atmosphere
;
Calcium
;
Extraterrestrial Environment
;
Geologic Sediments
;
*Iron Compounds
;
*Magnesium Compounds
;
*Mars
;
*Minerals
;
*Silicates
;
Spacecraft
;
Spectroscopy, Near-Infrared
;
Spectrum Analysis
;
Time
;
Water
Print ISSN:
0036-8075
Electronic ISSN:
1095-9203
Topics:
Biology
,
Chemistry and Pharmacology
,
Computer Science
,
Medicine
,
Natural Sciences in General
,
Physics
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