[1] Juventae Chasma contains four light-toned sulfate-bearing mounds (denoted here as A-D from west to east) inside the trough, mafic outcrops at the base of the mounds and in the wall rock, and light-toned layered deposits of opal and ferric sulfates on the plateau. Hyperspectral visible/near-infrared Compact Reconnaissance Imaging Spectrometer for Mars (CRISM) spectra were used to identify monohydrated and polyhydrated sulfate (PHS) outcrops of layered material on the bright mounds. Most of the monohydrated sulfate signatures closely resemble those of szomolnokite (FeSO 4 ÁH 2 O), characterized by a water band near 2.08 mm, while some areas exhibit spectral features more similar to those of kieserite (MgSO 4 ÁH 2 O), with a band centered closer to 2.13 mm. The largest PHS outcrops occur on the top of mound B, and their spectral features are most consistent with ferricopiapite, melanterite, and starkeyite, but a specific mineral cannot be uniquely identified at this time. Coordinated analyses of CRISM maps, Mars Orbiter Laser Altimeter elevations, and High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment images suggest that mounds A and B may have formed together and then eroded into separate mounds, while mounds C and D likely formed separately. Mafic minerals (low-Ca pyroxene, high-Ca pyroxene, and olivine) are observed in large $2-10 km wide outcrops in the wall rock and in smaller outcrops $50-500 m across at the floor of the canyon. Most of the wall rock is covered by at least a thin layer of dust and does not exhibit strong features characteristic of these minerals. The plateau region northwest of Juventae Chasma is characterized by an abundance of light-toned layered deposits. One region contains two spectrally unique phases exhibiting a highly stratified, terraced pattern. CRISM spectra of one unit eroded into swirling patterns with arc-like ridges exhibit a narrow 2.23-mm band assigned to hydroxylated ferric sulfate. A thin layer of a fractured material bearing an opaline silica phase is observed at the contact between the older plateau unit and the younger hydroxylated ferric sulfate-bearing light-toned layered deposits. Hydrothermal processes may have produced an acidic environment that fostered formation of the hydrated silica and hydroxylated ferric sulfate units.

[1] Analyses of MRO/CRISM images of the greater Mawrth Vallis region of Mars affirm the presence of two primary phyllosilicate assemblages throughout a region ∼1000 × 1000 km. These two units consist of an Fe/Mg-phyllosilicate assemblage overlain by an Al-phyllosilicate and hydrated silica assemblage. The lower unit contains Fe/Mgsmectites, sometimes combined with one or more of these other Fe/Mg-phyllosilicates: serpentine, chlorite, biotite, and/or vermiculite. It is more than 100 m thick and finely layered at meter scales. The upper unit includes Al-smectite, kaolin group minerals, and hydrated silica. It is tens of meters thick and finely layered as well. A common phyllosilicate stratigraphy and morphology is observed throughout the greater region wherever erosional windows are present. This suggests that the geologic processes forming these units must have occurred on at least a regional scale. Sinuous ridges (interpreted to be inverted channels) and narrow channels cut into the upper clay-bearing unit suggesting that aqueous processes were prevalent after, and possibly during, the deposition of the layered units. We propose that layered units may have been deposited at Mawrth Vallis and then subsequently altered to form the hydrated units. The Fe/Mg-phyllosilicate assemblage is consistent with hydrothermal alteration or pedogenesis of mafic to ultramafic rocks. The Al-phyllosilicate/hydrated silica unit may have formed through alteration of felsic material or via leaching of basaltic material through pedogenic alteration or a mildly acidic environment. These phyllosilicate-bearing units are overlain by a darker, relatively unaltered, and indurated material that has probably experienced a complex geological history.Citation: Noe Dobrea, E. Z., et al. (2010), Mineralogy and stratigraphy of phyllosilicate-bearing and dark mantling units in the greater Mawrth Vallis/west Arabia Terra area: Constraints on geological origin,

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