51st Lunar and Planetary Science Conference (2020) 2226.pdf POTENTIAL CORRELATION BETWEEN COMPOSITION AND CRUSTAL MAGNETISM IN TERRA SIRENUM, MARS. J. Buz,1 A. Alhantoobi2, J.G. O’Rourke3, C.S. Edwards1, B. Langlais4,1Northern Arizona Uni- versity, Department of Astronomy and Planetary Science, Flagstaff, AZ 86001 (
[email protected]), 2Khalifa Uni- versity, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, 3Arizona State University, School of Earth and Space Exploration, Tempe, AZ, 4Lab Planetologie Geodynamique, Nantes, France Introduction: Mars has no dynamo and thus no made on the Martian surface (e.g.,[7]), and the compo- global magnetic field today. However, scientists learned sition of some (albeit few) Martian meteorites [8]. that a significant magnetic field once existed, at least lo- While the basic existence of magnetic anomalies has cally, from the remanent magnetization in Martian me- been explained in theory through modeling and litho- teorite ALH84001 [1]. Evidence for an ancient global logic observations, the relationship between the mag- magnetic field came when Mars Global Surveyor netization and the composition on the surface of Mars (MGS) discovered large regions of magnetized crust in has not previously been explored. This study compares Magnetic field experiment/Electron Reflectometer various compositional datasets for the Martian crust in- (Mag/ER) data [2]. An internally generated magnetic cluding elemental abundance, mineralogical indicators, field, which is now extinct, is required to explain how a and thermophysical properties with magnetic field steady ambient field persisted for a few hundred million measurements to quantify any potential relationships. years to produce the observed large-scale distribution of Methods and datasets: The Langlais et al.