T236 Out of This World Lakes

Wednesday, 13 October 2021
1:30 PM - 5:30 PM
D135

CHANGES IN LAKE WATER CHEMISTRY AND DIAGENESIS FROM MINERAL DETECTIONS IN ANCIENT LAKE SEDIMENTS IN GALE CRATER, MARS

Paper number: T236-2
Program: Technical Sessions
Time: 1:35 PM – 1:55 PM

Authors

Abstract

The Mars Science Laboratory Curiosity rover landed in Gale crater, Mars in August 2012 to study a portion of a kilometers-thick sedimentary sequence with evidence for Fe/Mg smectite and sulfate minerals from orbit to interpret past aqueous environments and habitability. Curiosity has investigated nearly 500 m of stratigraphy, and many of the rocks Curiosity has encountered have been laminated mudstones interpreted as lacustrine deposits that were deposited over millions to tens of millions of years. CheMin is an X-ray diffractometer on Curiosity and has analyzed drill powders from 27 ancient fluvio-lacustrine outcrops. CheMin analyses demonstrate changes in type and abundance of igneous silicates, SiO2 phases, phyllosilicates, sulfates, Fe-oxides/oxyhydroxides, and carbonates across Curiosity’s traverse. These changes in mineralogy through the stratigraphic section may be a result of changes in sediment source, lake water chemistry, and diagenetic processes spatially and through time. We will present the mineralogy of the fluvio-lacustrine rocks analyzed by CheMin and evaluate the different hypotheses proposed to explain mineralogical variability.

Geological Society of America Abstracts with Programs. Vol. 53, No. 6

doi: 10.1130/abs/2021AM-367579

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