Investigating Sedimentary Rocks to Understand Past Wet Climate of Mars (original) (raw)
Related papers
Deposition, exhumation, and paleoclimate of an ancient lake deposit, Gale crater, Mars
Science, 2015
Our observations suggest that individual lakes were stable on the ancient surface of Mars for 100 to 10,000 years, a minimum duration when each lake was stable both thermally (as liquid water) and in terms of mass balance (with inputs effectively matching evaporation and loss of water to colder regions). We estimate that the stratigraphy traversed thus far by Curiosity would have required 10,000 to 10,000,000 years to accumulate, and even longer if overlying strata are included. Though individual lakes may have come and gone, they were probably linked in time through a common groundwater table. Over the long term, this water table must have risen at least tens of meters to enable accumulation of the delta and lake deposits observed by Curiosity in Gale crater. ▪ RESEARCH
Deposits from giant floods in Gale crater and their implications for the climate of early Mars
2020
This study reports in-situ sedimentologic evidence of giant floods in Gale crater, Mars, during the Noachian Period. Features indicative of floods are a series of symmetrical, 10 m-high gravel ridges that occur in the Hummocky Plains Unit (HPU). Their regular spacing, internal sedimentary structures, and bedload transport of fragments as large as 20 cm suggest that these ridges are antidunes: a type of sedimentary structure that forms under very strong flows. Their 150 m wavelength indicates that the north-flowing water that deposited them was at least 24 m deep and had a minimum velocity of 10 m/s. Floods waned rapidly, eroding antidune crests, and re-deposited removed sediments as patches on the up-flow limbs and trough areas between these ridges forming the Striated Unit (SU). Each patch of the SU is 50–200 m wide and long and consists of 5–10 m of south-dipping layers. The strike and dip of the SU layers mimic the attitude of the flank of the antidune on which they were deposite...
Icarus, 2011
Gale Crater contains a 5.2 km-high central mound of layered material that is largely sedimentary in origin and has been considered as a potential landing site for both the MER (Mars Exploration Rover) and MSL (Mars Science Laboratory) missions. We have analyzed recent data from Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter to help unravel the complex geologic history evidenced by these layered deposits and other landforms in the crater. Results from imaging data from the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) and Context Camera (CTX) confirm geomorphic evidence for fluvial activity and may indicate an early lacustrine phase. Analysis of spectral data from the CRISM (Compact Reconnaissance Imaging Spectrometer for Mars) instrument shows clay-bearing units interstratified with sulfate-bearing strata in the lower member of the layered mound, again indicative of aqueous activity. The formation age of the layered mound, derived from crater counts and superposition relationships, is $3.6-3.8 Ga and straddles the Noachian-Hesperian time-stratigraphic boundary. Thus Gale provides a unique opportunity to investigate global environmental change on Mars during a period of transition from an environment that favored phyllosilicate deposition to a later one that was dominated by sulfate formation.
Evolution and depositional environments of the Eberswalde fan delta, Mars
Icarus, 2008
The Eberswalde crater and its contributing basins have been analyzed in detail in order to reconstruct the geological evolution of the water-related landforms with particular focus on the Eberswalde delta-like feature. Based on a complex strata organization characterized by a topset-foreset-bottomset geometry, typical of delta progradation on Earth, we interpret the Eberswalde feature to be a fan delta associated with a lacustrine system. Depositional sub-environments have been recognized and mapped and the sedimentary processes discussed. A sequence stratigraphy approach has been used to evaluate the system, which we interpret to result from three depositional sequences. These sequences suggest relative water level fluctuations and a longer trend over time towards decreasing water content inside the basin.
Geology
Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) Curiosity rover data are used to describe the morphology of desiccation cracks observed in ancient lacustrine strata at Gale crater, Mars, and to interpret their paleoenvironmental setting. The desiccation cracks indicate subaerial exposure of lacustrine facies in the Sutton Island member of the Murray formation. In association with ripple cross-stratification and possible eolian cross-bedding, these facies indicate a transition from longer-lived perennial lakes recorded by older strata to younger lakes characterized by intermittent exposure. The transition from perennial to episodically exposed lacustrine environments provides evidence for local to regional climate change that can help constrain Mars climate models.
Scientific Reports
This investigation documents that the Rugged Terrain Unit, the Stimson formation, and the Greenheugh sandstone were deposited in a 1200 m-deep lake that formed after the emergence of Mt. Sharp in Gale crater, Mars, nearly 4 billion years ago. In fact, the Curiosity rover traversed on a surface that once was the bottom of this lake and systematically examined the strata that were deposited in its deepest waters on the crater floor to layers that formed along its shoreline on Mt. Sharp. This provided a rare opportunity to document the evolution of one aqueous episode from its inception to its desiccation and to determine the warming mechanism that caused it. Deep water lacustrine siltstones directly overlie conglomerates that were deposited by mega floods on the crater floor. This indicates that the inception phase of the lake was sudden and took place when flood waters poured into the crater. The lake expanded quickly and its shoreline moved up the slope of Mt. Sharp during the lake-...
Aeolian processes in Proctor Crater on Mars: Sedimentary history as analyzed from multiple data sets
Journal of Geophysical research, 2003
The sedimentary history of Proctor Crater is described especially with regards to aeolian processes. Proctor Crater is a 150 km diameter crater in Noachis Terra, within the southern highlands of Mars. The analysis leading to the sedimentary history incorporates several data sets including imagery, elevation, composition, and thermal inertia, mostly from the Mars Global Surveyor mission.
Sedimentology
Reconstruction of the palaeoenvironmental context of Martian sedimentary rocks is central to studies of ancient Martian habitability and regional palaeoclimate history. This paper reports the analysis of a distinct aeolian deposit preserved in Gale crater, Mars, and evaluates its palaeomorphology, the processes responsible for its deposition, and its implications for Gale crater geological history and regional palaeoclimate. Whilst exploring the sedimentary succession cropping out on the northern flank of Aeolis Mons, Gale crater, the Mars Science Laboratory rover Curiosity encountered a decametre-thick sandstone succession, named the Stimson formation, unconformably overlying lacustrine deposits of the Murray formation. The sandstone contains sand grains characterized by high roundness and sphericity, and cross-bedding on the order of 1 m in thickness, separated by sub-horizontal bounding surfaces traceable for tens of metres across outcrops. The cross-beds are composed of uniform thickness cross-laminations interpreted as wind-ripple strata. Cross-sets are separated by sub-horizontal bounding surfaces traceable for tens of metres across outcrops that are interpreted as dune migration surfaces. Grain characteristics and presence of wind-ripple strata indicate deposition of the Stimson formation by aeolian processes. The absence of features characteristic of damp or wet aeolian sediment accumulation indicate deposition in a dry aeolian system. Reconstruction of the palaeogeomorphology suggests that the Stimson dune field was 993
2021
EXAMPLE FROM THE SOUTHEASTERN MARGIN OF HOLDEN CRATER. M. Pondrelli1, A. Frigeri2, L. Marinangeli3, I. DI Pietro3, A.C. Tangari3, M. Pantaloni4, E. Luzzi5, R. Pozzobon6, A. Nass7, A.P. Rossi5, 1IRSPS, Università G. d’Annunzio, viale Pindaro 42, 65127, Pescara, Italy, 2Istituto di Astrofisica e Planetologia Spaziali, Istituto Nazionale di Astrofisica, Roma, Italy, 3Laboratorio di Telerilevamento e Planetologia, Dip. di Scienze Psicologiche, della Salute e del Territorio (DISPUTer), Università G. d'Annunzio, Via Vestini 31, 66013, Chieti, Italy, 4Servizio Geologico d’Italia, ISPRA, via V. Brancati 48, 00144, Rome, Italy, 5Department of Physics and Earth Sciences, Jacobs University Bremen, Campus Ring 1, 28759, Bremen, Germany, 6Department of Geosciences, University of Padova, Via Gradenigo 6, 3131, Padova, Italy, 7DLR, Institute of Planetary Research, Rutherfordstrasse 2, 12489 Berlin, Germany,