A CaSSIS and HiRISE map of the Clay-bearing Unit at the ExoMars 2022 landing site in Oxia Planum

Mounds in Oxia Planum: The Burial and Exhumation of the ExoMars Rover Landing Site

“…The widely exposed clay-bearing plains will be the focus of Rosalind Franklin's biosignature detection and surface/subsurface aqueous environment investigations. The clay-bearing plains are bright-toned, highly fractured, low-relief regions that are consistent with detections of phyllosilicates by Observatoire pour la Minéralogie, l'Eau, les Glaces et l'Activité (Bibring et al, 2004) and absorption spectra in hyperspectral Compact Reconnaissance Imaging Spectrometer for Mars (CRISM; Murchie et al, 2007) data which correspond to Fe/Mg-rich phyllosilicates such as vermiculite and/or smectite clays (Carter et al, 2016;Mandon et al, 2021;Parkes Bowen et al, 2022). The clay-bearing plains contain at least two distinct geologic members (Mandon et al, 2021).…”

“…Oxia Planum contains a diversity of Noachian-aged geologic features and geochemical characteristics which make it a suitable candidate for astrobiological exploration, including extensive Fe/Mg-rich clay-bearing plains indicative of widespread aqueous alteration (e.g. Parkes Bowen et al, 2022;Brossier et al, 2022;Carter et al, 2016;Gary-Bicas & Rogers, 2021;Mandon et al, 2021;Quantin-Nataf et al, 2021), a hydrated silica-bearing sedimentary fan at the terminus of the Coogoon Valles network suggesting the presence of a standing body of water (e.g. Fawdon et al, 2021a;Quantin-Nataf et al, 2021;Molina et al, 2017), and a series of landforms revealing a complex depositional and erosional history (Quantin-Nataf et al, 2021;Roberts et al, 2021).…”

“…The clay-bearing plains contain at least two distinct geologic members (Mandon et al, 2021). These are a lower, thicker member which exhibits orange tones in HiRISE (High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment;McEwen et al, 2007) images and contains closely spaced meter-scale fractures, and overlying this, an upper, thinner member which exhibits blue-white tones in HiRISE and contains more widely spaced decameter-scale fractures (Parkes Bowen et al, 2022;Quantin-Nataf et al, 2021). 21699100, ja, Downloaded from https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1029/2022JE007246 by The Open University, Wiley Online Library on [11/11/2022].…”

“…Rosalind Franklin will investigate the surface and subsurface geologic and geochemical environments of Oxia Planum, with a primary objective to search for evidence of extinct life through the identification of potential habitable paleoenvironments and biosignatures (Vago et al., 2017). Oxia Planum contains a diversity of Noachian‐aged geologic features and geochemical characteristics which make it a suitable candidate for astrobiological exploration, including extensive Fe/Mg‐rich clay‐bearing plains indicative of widespread aqueous alteration (e.g., Brossier et al., 2022; Carter et al., 2016; Gary‐Bicas & Rogers, 2021; Mandon et al., 2021; Parkes Bowen et al., 2022; Quantin‐Nataf et al., 2021), a hydrated silica‐bearing sedimentary fan at the terminus of the Coogoon Valles network suggesting the presence of a standing body of water (e.g., Fawdon et al., 2022; Molina et al., 2017; Quantin‐Nataf et al., 2021), and a series of landforms revealing a complex depositional and erosional history (Quantin‐Nataf et al., 2021; Roberts et al., 2021).…”

“…These mounds are topographically prominent features which represent three‐dimensional exposures of material accessible for study by Rosalind Franklin . Their relatively high albedo in Context Camera (CTX; Malin et al., 2007) and white‐yellow tones in Color and Stereo Surface Imaging System (Thomas et al., 2017) Near‐IR, Panchromatic, Blue‐Green products (NPB, see Section 2) contrast with the orange‐blue tones of the surrounding clay‐bearing plains in HiRISE and CaSSIS (Parkes Bowen et al., 2022; Quantin‐Nataf et al., 2021).…”