Elemental Composition and Chemical Evolution of Geologic Materials in Gale Crater, Mars: APXS Results From Bradbury Landing to the Vera Rubin Ridge

Berger, J. A.; Gellert, R.; Boyd, Nicholas; King, P. L.; McCraig, M. A.; O’Connell‐Cooper, C. D.; Schmidt, M. E.; Spray, John G.; Thompson, L. M.; VanBommel, S. J.; Yen, A. S.

doi:10.1029/2020je006536

Cited by 48 publications

(93 citation statements)

References 118 publications

(346 reference statements)

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“…Thus, Berger et al. (2020) hypothesized that some Mg‐sulfate could also be present in the bedrock matrix, likely at abundances equal to or lower than Mg‐sulfate in the concretions, which is consistent with bedrock Mg‐sulfate abundances determined in this study. While the ChemCam LIBS instrument does not quantify volatiles (e.g., S, H, C and P) directly, their presence can be inferred from low oxide totals that indicate “missing components” and peaks in the LIBS spectra (see Nachon et al., 2014 for an in‐depth discussion).…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 89%

X‐Ray Amorphous Sulfur‐Bearing Phases in Sedimentary Rocks of Gale Crater, Mars

et al. 2022

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The Curiosity rover in Gale crater is investigating a mineral transition observed from orbit—an older “clay unit” to a younger “sulfate unit”—hypothesized to reflect the aridification of Mars' climate. Below this transition, the rover detected crystalline Ca‐sulfates with minor Fe‐sulfates but also found that some fraction of a rock's bulk SO3 is often in the poorly constrained X‐ray amorphous component. Here, we characterize the abundances and compositions of the X‐ray amorphous sulfur‐bearing phases in 19 drilled samples using a mass balance approach, and in a subset of 5 samples using evolved SO2 gas measured using the SAM instrument. We find that ∼20–90 wt% of a sample's bulk SO3 is in the X‐ray amorphous state and that X‐ray amorphous sulfur‐bearing phase compositions are consistent with mixtures of Mg‐S, Fe‐S, and possibly Ca‐S phases, likely sulfates or sulfites. These phases reside in the bedrock, perhaps as cementing agents deposited with detrital sediments or during early diagenesis, and in diagenetic alteration halos deposited after lithification during late diagenesis. The likely presence of highly soluble Mg‐sulfates in the rocks suggests negligible fluid flow through the bedrock post‐Mg‐sulfate deposition. The X‐ray amorphous sulfur‐bearing phases probably became amorphous through dehydration in the current Martian atmosphere or inside the CheMin instrument. X‐ray amorphous sulfur‐bearing materials likely contribute to orbital spectral detections of sulfates, and so our results help form multiple hypotheses to be tested in the sulfate unit and are important for understanding the evolution of the Martian surface environment at Gale crater.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 89%

X‐Ray Amorphous Sulfur‐Bearing Phases in Sedimentary Rocks of Gale Crater, Mars

et al. 2022

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“…DU contains~15 wt. % phyllosilicate and has an d(001) of~10 Å and a d(02l) of 4.5 Å, consistent with a collapsed smectite or illite (Table 1 [125]), however, suggests collapsed smectite is present rather than illite (e.g., [11]) because the observed K 2 O in DU is accounted for by other K-bearing minerals in the sample such as sanidine. SAM EGA data indicate the presence of nontronite in DU based on the H 2 O release temperature [126] (Figure 11), which is also supported by BGMN models of CheMin data.…”

Section: Murray Formation In the Mount Sharp Groupmentioning

confidence: 86%

A Review of the Phyllosilicates in Gale Crater as Detected by the CheMin Instrument on the Mars Science Laboratory, Curiosity Rover

Rampe

Bristow

et al. 2021

Minerals

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Curiosity, the Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) rover, landed on Mars in August 2012 to investigate the ~3.5-billion-year-old (Ga) fluvio-lacustrine sedimentary deposits of Aeolis Mons (informally known as Mount Sharp) and the surrounding plains (Aeolis Palus) in Gale crater. After nearly nine years, Curiosity has traversed over 25 km, and the Chemistry and Mineralogy (CheMin) X-ray diffraction instrument on-board Curiosity has analyzed 30 drilled rock and three scooped soil samples to date. The principal strategic goal of the mission is to assess the habitability of Mars in its ancient past. Phyllosilicates are common in ancient Martian terrains dating to ~3.5–4 Ga and were detected from orbit in some of the lower strata of Mount Sharp. Phyllosilicates on Earth are important for harboring and preserving organics. On Mars, phyllosilicates are significant for exploration as they are hypothesized to be a marker for potential habitable environments. CheMin data demonstrate that ancient fluvio-lacustrine rocks in Gale crater contain up to ~35 wt. % phyllosilicates. Phyllosilicates are key indicators of past fluid–rock interactions, and variation in the structure and composition of phyllosilicates in Gale crater suggest changes in past aqueous environments that may have been habitable to microbial life with a variety of possible energy sources.

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“…The phosphorus on Mars is five to ten times more than on Earth (Adcock et al., 2013). This result was supported by the content of phosphate or phosphorus identified from Martian meteorites and some rock analyses by Mars Exploration Rovers (MER) and Mars Science Laboratory (MSL; Adcock et al., 2013; Berger et al., 2020). High concentration of phosphorus has been identified at different sites, for example, Wishstone‐Watchtower class rocks in Gusev Crater (Ming et al., 2006), Rocks Pinnacle Island and Stuart Island on Murray Ridge of Endeavor crater in Meridiani Planum (Arvidson et al., 2016), in the Stimson fracture haloes and in localized features in Murry formation in Gale Crater (e.g., float targets Nova, Ruker, and Waternish, dark gray nodules and patches bedrock of Timber Point, Maple Spring, Berry Cove, and Jones Marsh, Garden City vein complex target Kern peak, and so on, Berger et al., 2020) associated with different minerals, and P‐enrichment in airfall dust was also observed on the MER magnets (Goetz et al., 2005).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 82%

Gamma‐CaSO₄ With Abnormally High Stability From a Hyperarid Region on Earth and From Mars

Shi

Wang

et al. 2022

JGR Planets

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Ordinary γ‐CaSO4 is a metastable calcium sulfate, while γ‐CaSO4 from the hyperarid region on Earth and from Mars has been found with abnormally high stability. In this study, we used multiple microanalyses to characterize the chemical and structural properties of two such γ‐CaSO4: one from Atacama soil (#10‐d30) and the other from Martian meteorite MIL03346,168. Silicon was determined to be quasi‐homogeneously distributed in Atacama γ‐CaSO4, while both silicon and phosphorus were detected in Martian γ‐CaSO4. We found the abnormally high stability of those γ‐CaSO4 from hyperarid environments was due to the chemical impurities which filled their structural tunnels and blocked the entrance of atmospheric H2O, with non‐detectable structural distortion. We propose that the γ‐CaSO4 with Si or Si and P impurities could have igneous origin or evaporative origin. Due to the extreme similarity in the structures of bassanite and γ‐CaSO4, their XRD patterns are almost non‐distinguishable; thus some martian “bassanite” minerals identified by Curiosity's CheMin instrument at Gale crater can actually be γ‐CaSO4. The structural tunnels in γ‐CaSO4 would allow ions and ionic groups to fill, thus providing meaningful insights about the geological and geochemical processes experienced by it during the formation and transformation. The Raman spectrometer carried by the Perseverance and by ExoMars rovers will help the selection of samples enriched in γ‐CaSO4 at Jezero Crater and Oxia Planum, which should be sampled for in‐depth analysis on Mars and back to Earth.

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Elemental Composition and Chemical Evolution of Geologic Materials in Gale Crater, Mars: APXS Results From Bradbury Landing to the Vera Rubin Ridge

Cited by 48 publications

References 118 publications

X‐Ray Amorphous Sulfur‐Bearing Phases in Sedimentary Rocks of Gale Crater, Mars

X‐Ray Amorphous Sulfur‐Bearing Phases in Sedimentary Rocks of Gale Crater, Mars

A Review of the Phyllosilicates in Gale Crater as Detected by the CheMin Instrument on the Mars Science Laboratory, Curiosity Rover

Gamma‐CaSO₄ With Abnormally High Stability From a Hyperarid Region on Earth and From Mars

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Elemental Composition and Chemical Evolution of Geologic Materials in Gale Crater, Mars: APXS Results From Bradbury Landing to the Vera Rubin Ridge

Cited by 48 publications

References 118 publications

X‐Ray Amorphous Sulfur‐Bearing Phases in Sedimentary Rocks of Gale Crater, Mars

X‐Ray Amorphous Sulfur‐Bearing Phases in Sedimentary Rocks of Gale Crater, Mars

A Review of the Phyllosilicates in Gale Crater as Detected by the CheMin Instrument on the Mars Science Laboratory, Curiosity Rover

Gamma‐CaSO4 With Abnormally High Stability From a Hyperarid Region on Earth and From Mars

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Gamma‐CaSO₄ With Abnormally High Stability From a Hyperarid Region on Earth and From Mars