47th Lunar and Planetary Science Conference (2016) 2493.pdf SIGNS OF TRANSPORT OF CHEMICAL ELEMENTS AND SOIL-FORMING PROCESSES IN SURFACE SOILS AT GALE CRATER, MARS E.M. Hausrath1, W. Goetz2, A. Cousin3, R.C. Wiens4, P.-Y. Mes- lin3, W. Rapin3 1UNLV, Las Vegas, NV
[email protected] 2MPS, Göttingen, Germany 3IRAP, CNRS/UPS, Toulouse, France 4LANL, Los Alamos, NM Introduction: Soils provide an integrated record of martian surface processes. Recorded in soils is in- formation about parent material, the effect of impacts, aeolian and fluvial transport, chemical weathering from both ancient and modern Mars, and addition and loss of material. Analysis of soils can therefore provide important information about the history of Mars. Soil-forming processes in desert soils on Earth are preserved in the chemistry and morphology of those soils. Desert soils often contain desert pavement, an interlocking layer of rocks on the surface of the soil, and a dust-rich layer termed the Av horizon beneath the desert pavement [1]. Desert pavement can indicate age, with a more interlocking pavement indicating greater age [2]. Increasing age also results in a thicker dust-rich layer (Av horizon) beneath the desert pave- ment [2]. This dust-rich layer preserves not only the composition of the deposited aeolian dust, but also evidence of any interactions with liquid water. The Figure 1. NavCam image of the target Soda (indicated dust-rich layer also strongly affects how liquid water with a circle) Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech interacts with soils. Soils on Earth, including desert soils, can be stud- ied by analyzing depth profiles such as in soil pits or augered samples.