P21C-01
Recent Results from the Spirit Rover at Home Plate and "Silica Valley"
The Mars Exploration Rover Spirit has spent more than 500 sols exploring Home Plate in the inner basin of the Columbia Hills, and adjacent materials. Home Plate is a plateau of layered rocks 80-90 meters in diameter and ~2 meters high. The rocks are clastic and of moderately altered alkali basalt composition, enriched in some volatile elements. A coarse-grained lower unit is overlain by a finer-grained upper unit. Textural observations, including a prominent bomb sag, indicate that the lower strata were emplaced in an explosive event. Geochemical similarities to nearby volcanic rocks and the enrichment in volatile elements favor an explosive volcanic origin. Along the northern portion of Home Plate, the upper unit is very well sorted and composed of well rounded sand sized grains, pointing to textural maturity and suggesting an eolian origin. Along the southeastern portion, however, the upper unit contains some coarser granules too large to be transported by saltation. While their size is comparable to other clasts on Mars that have moved by saltation-induced creep, the observed textures clearly are consistent with emplacement as a pyroclastic surge. The upper and lower units are effectively identical in composition, so the upper unit probably represents a finer-grained fraction of pyroclastic materials that may have undergone some local reworking by wind. Rocks along the margins of Home Plate show a consistent dip toward the center of the plateau. We interpret Home Plate to be the eroded remnants of a formerly more extensive sheet of pyroclastic materials, perhaps produced in a phreatomagmatic eruption. The inward dips may have arisen when pyroclastic materials overrode and partially buried a pre-existing bowl-shaped depression such as an impact crater, draping the topography. Immediately to the east of Home Plate is a narrow valley bounded on one side by Home Plate and on the other by Mitcheltree Ridge. While operating within this valley, Spirit's inoperative right front wheel excavated a small patch of high albedo soil. Mini-TES spectra of this soil were well fit by amorphous silica, and subsequent investigation with the APXS showed a composition that was more than 90% SiO2. The deposits are also enriched in Ti. Mini-TES spectra of nearby rocks also show a strong signature of amorphous silica, and APXS spectra of these rocks also confirm a high silica content. We consider two hypotheses for the formation of these silica-rich deposits. One is that they developed via precipitation from hydrothermal fluids. Siliceous sinter deposits are common in terrestrial hydrothermal environments where fluids dissolve Si from host rocks at high temperatures and then reprecipitate silica at lower temperatures. Alternatively, the Si-rich materials may represent the remnants of formerly basaltic materials that have been extensively leached in a fumarolic environment under acid sulfate conditions. In either case, the proximity to Home Plate is consistent with formation via the interaction of basaltic volcanism with groundwater. The astrobiological implications of these Si-rich deposits may be significant. Both hydrothermal systems and fumaroles are capable of supporting microbial ecosystems on Earth, and precipitated silica deposits in both environments can preserve strong textural evidence of microbial life.
P21C-02
Evidence for Siliceous Deposits Formed by Acid-Sulfate Alteration at Home Plate in Gusev Crater, Mars
The Alpha Particle X-ray Spectrometer (APXS) instrument on the Mars Exploration Rover (MER) Spirit measured three targets on or adjacent to Home Plate in Gusev Crater that have unusually high SiO2 concentrations (68 to 91%), unusually low FeO concentrations (1 to 7%, with total Fe as FeO), and unusually high TiO2/FeO ratios (0.2 to 1.2 by weight). Two targets are high albedo soil (Gertrude Weise) exposed by the rover wheels (Kenosha Comets and Lefty Ganote), and one target is a rock (Fuzzy Smith). Kenosha Comets has the highest SiO2 concentration, lowest FeO concentration, and highest TiO2/FeO ratio. Mineralogical evidence from the MER Miniature Thermal Emission Spectrometer (Mini-TES) suggests that high proportions of amorphous (non- crystalline) SiO2 account for the high SiO2 concentration of Gertrude Weise. Mini-TES data were not acquired for Fuzzy Smith. The spectral evidence for amorphous SiO2 includes deep emissivity minima near 9 and 21 microns. Amorphous SiO2 is typically characterized by a shoulder near 8 microns, but the Gertrude Weise spectra are instead characterized by a well-defined emissivity minimum. The difference is attributed to scattering and/or geometric effects. The chemistry of Gertrude Weise and Fuzzy Smith is very similar to that for a tholeiitic basaltic rock altered under acid-sulfate conditions in a fumarolic (hydrothermal) environment on Kilauea Volcano (Hawaii). The terrestrial acid sulfate alteration resulted in compositions having about 62 to 91% SiO2, 1 to 8% FeO, and 0.3 to 5 TiO2/FeO. The SiO2 and TiO2 are passively enriched while all other major elements are removed by leaching. XRD analysis shows that SiO2 and TiO2 are present as amorphous SiO2 (opal-A) and anatase, respectively. Alunite is also present. Thermal emission spectra of the Kilauea rock obtained from its exterior surface and from 500-1000 micron and <150 micron powders derived by grinding and sieving are all characterized by the emissivity features at 8, 9, and 21 micron for opal-A. The features at 9 and 21 microns are emissivity minima and, like Gertrude Weise, the feature near 8 microns is also an emissivity minimum. The <150 micron powder has additional spectral features in the transparency region between about 9.5 and 12 microns. The correspondence of available chemical and thermal emission data for the terrestrial analog and martian samples implicates a common formation pathway, i.e., acid sulfate alteration in a fumarolic environment. Although other formation pathways merit investigation for the martian samples (e.g., SiO2 sinters), acid-sulfate conditions in a fumarolic environment are consistent with the proposed volcanic origin for Home Plate and with the presence of SO3-rich (22 to 35 %) soils and clods in the vicinity of Home Plate. These ferric sulfate rich materials also show excess SiO2 by mass balance. By analogy with VNIR spectra for the Kilauea sample, a broad M-OH spectral feature at 2.25 microns detected from martian orbit by CRISM or OMEGA can be interpreted as evidence for high-SiO2 deposits on the surface.
P21C-03 INVITED
Origin and Evolution of the Layered Sulfate-Rich Rocks in Meridiani Planum, Mars
Opportunity rover observations show that Meridiani Planum has extensive exposures of sulfate-rich dirty sandstones partially covered by a mix of wind-blown basaltic sand, dust, and a lag deposit of 1 to 5 mm diameter hematitic concretions. The dirty sandstones are interpreted to have formed in an acid-sulfate evaporative lacustrine system that left behind sulfate-rich muds with a siliciclastic component. Erosion by wind and water produced sandstones that were then cemented and diagenetically altered by rising groundwater. Subsequent wind erosion of these deposits and associated advection of basaltic sand onto the outcrops produced the surfaces encountered during the rover's traverses. On a regional scale these sulfate-rich deposits are up to several kilometers in thickness, extend over several hundred thousand square kilometers, and unconformably overlie the fluvially dissected Noachian cratered terrain. Both OMEGA and CRISM hyperspectral data show clear evidence for the presence of phyllosilicate minerals in the cratered terrains adjacent to the sulfate deposits, but not within the sulfate section proper. The ensemble of evidence indicates a change in Meridiani Planum from fluvial erosion and formation of phyllosilicate minerals to deposition of evaporite deposits associated with an acid-sulfate aqueous system. This change is interpreted to be due to a major climatic shift in which a relatively vigorous hydrologic system with extensive neutral rain and snowfall changed to more arid conditions in which a regional-scale acid sulfate groundwater system emerged in Meridiani Planum with enough of a hydrostatic head to produce and retain 1 to 3 km of sulfate-rich deposits.
P21C-04
Spectral Mapping of Interior Layered Deposits of Western Candor Chasma by CRISM
Western Candor Chasma contains a 3 km-thick sequence of interior layered deposits (ILDs) that may have been emplaced by sedimentary deposition subsequent to formation of Valles Marineris. Proposed genetic mechanisms include subaerial fluvial deposition or volcanism, accumulation of airfall dust, lacustrine evaporite precipitation, hydrovolcanism, or alternatively deep erosion of the chasma wall materials. Observations by the Mars Express/OMEGA spectrometer showed that the ILDs contain both monohydrated and polyhydrated sulfates in close spatial association with fine-grained ferric oxides having distinctive visible-infrared absorptions (Gendrin et al. 2005a,b). In general, OMEGA data also suggest that monohydrated sulfates are associated with steeper slopes and higher albedos than are polyhydrated sulfates (Mangold 2006). CRISM has observed the ILDs in western Candor using both its 200 m/pixel global mapping mode and targeted observations at 20 or 40 m/pixel. CRISM data show spatial heterogeneity in spectral properties to the spatial resolution limit of the instrument. Both monohydrated sulfates (indicated by 2130- and 2400-nm absorptions) and polyhydrated sulfates (indicated by 1450-, 1940-, and 2420-nm absorptions) are evident at all elevations in the ILDs. Polyhydrate signatures occur on intermediate-albedo, relatively intact exposures of stratified material and are rare, but not absent, in nearby erosional debris. Typically the polyhydrate outcrops are low-sloped and form erosion-resistant cap rocks. The monohydrated sulfate also occurs in intermediate- to high-albedo outcrops, but is more commonly distributed as dark, erosional debris on ledges and in depressions that has been modified by wind to form dunes. Only in rare cases can the dark debris be associated with a discrete, dark source layer. The erosional debris exhibits enhancements in sulfate absorptions as well as in 530-, 660-, and 860- to 900-nm absorptions due to ferric iron minerals; different debris deposits have band centers consistent with hematite and with one or more non- hematitic phases. To the spatial resolution limit of CRISM, there is no evidence for comparable sulfate- or ferric- containing materials in the chasma walls, whose spectra are instead dominated by high-Ca pyroxene. Preliminary interpretations of the CRISM data covering western Candor Chasma include: (a) the ILDs have a lithology distinct from the chasma walls; (b) interbedded layers weather to form surfaces with distinct absorptions due to polyhydrated and monohydrated sulfates; (c) the difference in sulfate absorptions may be attributable to deposition of different phases in response to environmental changes or to preferential dehydration / rehydration of sulfate phases in some exposures; and (d) enhancement of ferric iron absorptions in erosional debris is consistent with abrasion generating more optically active, finer-grained particles, possibly from gray hematite- bearing, sulfate-rich layers. An outstanding issue is whether the dark erosional debris is derived locally from thin, poorly resolved layers, is transported tens of kilometers from common sources, or represents a dark component that is sorted from higher-albedo source layers. References: A. Gendrin et al., Science 307, 1587-1591 (2005a); A. Gendrin et al., Lunar and Planetary Science XXXVI, 1378 (2005b); N. Mangold et al., in Martian Sulfates as Recorders of Atmospheric-Fluid-Rock Interactions, 7039 (2006).
P21C-05
Multi-sulfate and Iron Oxide Assemblages Within the Valles Marineris Interior Layered Deposits
MarsExpress OMEGA showed that many of the Interior Layered Deposits (ILDs) in Valles Marineris contain sulfates and proposed the sulfates as indicators of past aqueous activity in the Theiikian period (Gendrin etal, 2005; Bibring etal, 2005; Bibring etal, 2006). Better discrimination of the sulfate assemblages present and the stratigraphic relationships within the ILD is critical to understanding the environment during and since their formation. We present a method for identifying classes of sulfates present in a multi-sulfate exposure with MRO CRISM data. Multiple mineral phases can be defined by diagnostic absorptions in spatially distinct wavelength regions. Combinations of minerals phases is more complicated but can be resolved by identifying superposed absorption feature and assuming linear mixing. We focus on four wavelength regions: (a) 2.4 and 2.1 μm, (b) 2.2 μm, (c) 1.9 and 1.4 μm, and (d) 0.9 μm, in a methodical classification of possible sulfate types present. While there is some overlap in the wavelength regions, absorptions are sufficiently separate to be recognizable. Additionally, care must be taken to select geologically feasible minerals assemblages. (a) Hydrated sulfates have an absorption near 2.4 um due to probable interactions between the H2O and SO3 molecules (Cloutis etal, 2006). Monohydrated sulfates have a distinct absorption near 2.1 μm due to combinations of H2O stretch and rotation vibrations of the single water molecule in a sulfate structure (Cloutis etal, 2006) which shifts with cation. Thus minerals such as kieserite (MgSO4 H2O) and szomolnokite (Fe2+SO4 H2O) can be distinguished in CRISM data. (b) The 2.21-2.26 μm region is generally convex in sulfates, but gypsum (CaSO4 2H2O ) and jarosite group members (MFe3(SO4)2(OH)6) have absorptions there. The minimum within this wavelength region depends on the mineral present. (c)The ~1.9 μm is due to the OH stretch and H2O bend combination tone and the ~1.4 μm absorption is due to the 1st overtone of the OH stretch. Sulfates or other minerals with 2+ structural H2O are necessary for the deep water and hydroxyl absorptions in many spectra we observe. (d) Ferric and ferrous minerals have wide absorptions near 0.9 μm due to charge transfer and electronic transition processes. Presence of a ~0.9 μm absorption could indicate either a iron-bearing sulfate, a co-existing iron oxide, or both. Ferrous minerals such as olivine and pyroxene can be excluded by the position and width of their 1.0 and 2.0 μm absorptions. An eastern Candor Chasma ILD has a multiple sulfate assemblage including mono- and polyhydrated sulfates with a variety of cations that are uniform within a specific layer. The sulfates are intimately or spatially mixed on the meter scale. The relative strengths of mono and polyhydrated sulfate absorptions vary with layering, indicating a degree of independence. Mineralogy and geomorphology is consistent with an evaporite sequence or groundwater alteration of ash or aeolian deposits. In addition, iron oxide spectral features overprint the sulfate spectra in some places and cut across layering in others, suggesting the iron-bearing phase may be either separate from the sulfate occurrences or spatially redistributed. Future work will better characterize the assemblage there and in other chasmata ILDs.
P21C-06
Hydrated Minerals in Circumpolar Terrains: Geographic Distribution, Mineralogical Composition and Possible Origins
The nearly global mapping provided at a scale of a few km by the OMEGA Vis/NIR imaging spectrometer on board Mars Express revealed that hydrated minerals on Mars are mostly observed in ancient terrains (Bibring et al., 2005). These discoveries led to the conclusion that surface water on Mars was mainly present early in the history of the planet, and that Mars has remained cold and dry during the last 3 billion years (Bibring et al., 2006). The observation by OMEGA of a very strong calcium sulfate signature (most likely dominated by gypsum) within the boundaries of the Olympia Planitia Dune field (Langevin et al., 2005) is a major puzzle as this geological feature is at most a few 100 m.y. old. An independent analysis of the OMEGA data (Horgan et al. 2007) confirmed the results of Langevin et al. (2005), in particular the identification of gypsum as the dominant mineralogical hydrated species in the dune field. The extended region richest in gypsum (~ 60 km x 200 km) remained unresolved at a resolution of 1 km/pixel (Langevin et al., 2006). With its 20 m resolution, CRISM, the Vis/NIR imaging spectrometer on board MRO, secured the relationship between the gypsum signature and the dune field as well as its absence over the "basal unit" (only a few pixels wide in OMEGA data) which is exposed between the dune field and the ice (Roach et al., 2007). CRISM showed that the gypsum signatures were highest over dune crests and weakest over exposed bedrock. Mineralogical modeling of the CRISM and OMEGA spectra shows that Gypsum represents at least 60% of the dune material in the eastern part of the Olympia field and decreases towards the western part. This lower limit has been raised since then by accounting for aerosol contributions which reduce the strength of absorption bands. The low albedo (< 20%) requires significant intimate and/or intra- mixture of dark material. The low thermal inertia (Herkenhoff and Vasavada, 1999) is difficult to reconcile with morphologic evidence for induration (Schatz et al., 2006). Weaker occurrences of the 1.93 µm OH stretch band have been observed in other northern and southern circumpolar locations. Sulfates and hydrated oxides provide much better matches for these signatures than phyllosilicates. The formation of large amounts of hydrated sulfates in the relatively young northern circumpolar terrains requires a source of sulfur (already present in soils? volcanic activity?) as well as water, which most likely is provided by outflows from the nearby polar cap (Fishbaugh et al., 2007). This process for generating hydrated minerals is distinct from that which was active during the first few hundred million years of the history of the planet. Bibring et al., Science 307, p. 1576-1581 (2005); Bibring et al., Science 312, p. 400-404 (2006); Feldman et al., Lunar Planet. Sci. 38 #2311 (2007); Fishbaugh et al., J. Geophys. Res. 112, E07002 (2007); Herkenhoff and Vasavada, J. Geophys. Res. 104, 16484. Horgan et al., 7th Int. Conf. on Mars #3241 (2007); Langevin et al., Science 307, p. 1581-1583 ; Langevin et al., Lunar Planet. Sci. 36 #1652 (2005) ; Roach et al., Lunar Planet. Sci. 38 #1970 (2007) ; Schatz et al., J. Geophys. Res. 111, E04006 (2006).
P21C-07 INVITED
The Interannual Record of Water Vapor and Water Ice Clouds at Mars From Spacecraft Observations
The combination of observations from a number of spacecraft at Mars including Viking, Mars Global Surveyor, Mars Odyssey, Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, and Mars Express, allows for the comparison of atmospheric conditions across several martian years. The atmospheric component of the martian water cycle, as expressed in terms of water vapor abundance and water ice cloud optical depth, displays a generally repeatable pattern from year to year, with modest interannual variation. The main features of the atmospheric water cycle are present each year. Water vapor has an annual maximum at high northern latitudes during northern summer and a secondary maximum at high southern latitudes during southern summer. Water ice clouds are most abundant in winter polar hoods (especially in the north) and during the aphelion season in the form of a low-latitude cloud belt. However, details in the timing and amplitude of these main features can vary from year to year in response to other phenomena such as large dust storms. For example, an early-season large dust storm at low latitudes late in 2004 (Mars Year 27, Ls=135°), caused an early end to the aphelion season ice cloud belt. Here we discuss the major repeatable features of the atmospheric water cycle and the degree to which interannual variations have been observed by spacecraft observations.
P21C-08 INVITED
From Gullies to Outflow Channels: HiRISE's Perspective on Fluvial Activity on Mars
The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter's High-Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) has imaged many putative fluvial landforms on Mars at unprecedented resolution. These targets include gullies, young valleys, outflow channels, valley networks, and large valley systems. The gullies, which may provide evidence of recent water flow on Mars, have received particular attention. We find that gullies exhibit a wide range of morphologies, sizes (varying width, lengths and depths), geologic settings, and associations with other features. This diversity challenges several of the proposed gully formation mechanisms and may suggest a diversity of origins for these landforms. HiRISE is also providing additional details of meter- and larger-scale erosional features located within the outflow channels, including layering in the walls, subchannels in the floors, and multiple headcuts within the cataract systems. Fewer HiRISE images have been taken of older features, including the valley networks, because the nearly ubiquitous Martian dust mantle (as well as other mantling and infilling material) often obscures key bedforms of interest. For example, HiRISE observations of Warrego Vallis, the textbook ancient martian valley network, are challenging to interpret as the valley floors have been partially infilled by post formation materials. However, the addition of HiRISE color and stereo data is proving useful in helping to unravel some of the mysteries associated with their formation. Finally, HiRISE has found evidence for surface runoff (e.g., gullies, dissected alluvial fans) in some pristine, mid-sized impact craters (e.g., Mojave, Hale). One possible explanation may be that these fluvial features formed from the release of volatiles or subsurface fluids, followed by localized precipitation, melting and runoff associated with impact processes. In my presentation, I will summarize the most interesting HiRISE observations of the Martian fluvial landforms, focus on evidence for recent fluvial activity, and discuss our current interpretations.