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Chemical Variations in Yellowknife Bay Formation Sedimentary Rocks Analyzed by Chemcam on Board the Curiosity Rover on Mars N

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Chemical Variations in Yellowknife Bay Formation Sedimentary Rocks Analyzed by Chemcam on Board the Curiosity Rover on Mars N Chemical variations in Yellowknife Bay formation sedimentary rocks analyzed by ChemCam on board the Curiosity rover on Mars N. Mangold, O. Forni, G. Dromart, K. Stack, R. C. Wiens, O. Gasnault, D. Y. Sumner, M. Nachon, P. -Y. Meslin, R. B. Anderson, et al. To cite this version: N. Mangold, O. Forni, G. Dromart, K. Stack, R. C. Wiens, et al.. Chemical variations in Yel- lowknife Bay formation sedimentary rocks analyzed by ChemCam on board the Curiosity rover on Mars. Journal of Geophysical Research. Planets, Wiley-Blackwell, 2015, 120 (3), pp.452-482. 10.1002/2014JE004681. hal-01281801 HAL Id: hal-01281801 https://hal.univ-lorraine.fr/hal-01281801 Submitted on 12 Apr 2021 HAL is a multi-disciplinary open access L’archive ouverte pluridisciplinaire HAL, est archive for the deposit and dissemination of sci- destinée au dépôt et à la diffusion de documents entific research documents, whether they are pub- scientifiques de niveau recherche, publiés ou non, lished or not. The documents may come from émanant des établissements d’enseignement et de teaching and research institutions in France or recherche français ou étrangers, des laboratoires abroad, or from public or private research centers. publics ou privés. PUBLICATIONS Journal of Geophysical Research: Planets RESEARCH ARTICLE Chemical variations in Yellowknife Bay formation 10.1002/2014JE004681 sedimentary rocks analyzed by ChemCam Special Section: on board the Curiosity rover on Mars Results from the first 360 Sols of the Mars Science Laboratory N. Mangold1, O. Forni2, G. Dromart3, K. Stack4, R. C. Wiens5, O. Gasnault2, D. Y. Sumner6, M. Nachon1, Mission: Bradbury Landing P.-Y. Meslin2, R. B. Anderson7, B. Barraclough4, J. F. Bell III8, G. Berger2, D. L. Blaney9, J. C. Bridges10, through Yellowknife Bay F. Calef9, B. Clark11, S. M. Clegg5, A. Cousin5, L. Edgar8, K. Edgett12, B. Ehlmann4, C. Fabre13, M. Fisk14, J. Grotzinger4, S. Gupta15, K. E. Herkenhoff7, J. Hurowitz16, J. R. Johnson17, L. C. Kah18, N. Lanza19, Key Points: 2 1 20 21 12 16 2 • J. Lasue , S. Le Mouélic , R. Léveillé , E. Lewin , M. Malin , S. McLennan , S. Maurice , Fluvial sandstones analyzed by 22 22 23 19 19 24 25 ChemCam display subtle chemical N. Melikechi , A. Mezzacappa , R. Milliken , H. Newsom , A. Ollila , S. K. Rowland , V. Sautter , variations M. Schmidt26, S. Schröder2,C.d’Uston2, D. Vaniman27, and R. Williams27 • Combined analysis of chemistry and texture highlights the role of 1Laboratoire de Planétologie et Géodynamique de Nantes, CNRS, Université de Nantes, Nantes, France, 2Institut de Recherche diagenesis en Astrophysique et Planétologie, CNRS/Université de Toulouse, UPS-OMP, Toulouse, France, 3Laboratoire de Géologie de • Distinct chemistry in upper layers 4 5 suggests distinct setting and/or Lyon, Université de Lyon, Lyon, France, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California, USA, Los Alamos National 6 source Laboratory, Los Alamos, New Mexico, USA, Earth and Planetary Sciences, University of California, Davis, California, USA, 7Astrogeology Science Center, U.S. Geological Survey, Flagstaff, Arizona, USA, 8School of Earth and Space Exploration, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona, USA, 9Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California, USA, 10Space Research Centre, Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Leicester, Leicester, UK, 11Space Science Correspondence to: Institute, Boulder, Colorado, USA, 12Malin Space Science Systems, San Diego, California, USA, 13GéoRessources, Université de N. Mangold, 14 [email protected] Lorraine, Nancy, France, Earth, Ocean and Atmospheric Science, Oragon State University, Corvallis, Oregon, USA, 15Department of Earth Science and Engineering, Imperial College London, London, UK, 16Department of Geosciences, State University of New York at Stony Brook, Stony Brook, New York, USA, 17Applied Physics Laboratory, Johns Hopkins University, Citation: Laurel, Maryland, USA, 18Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN, USA, Mangold, N., et al. (2015), Chemical 19 20 variations in Yellowknife Bay formation Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Institute of Meteoritics, Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA, Canadian Space 21 22 sedimentary rocks analyzed by ChemCam Agency, Saint-Hubert, Quebec, Canada, ISTerre, Université Joseph Fourier, Grenoble, France, Applied Optics Center, on board the Curiosity rover on Mars, Delaware State University, Dover, Delaware, USA, 23Department of Geological Sciences, Brown University, Providence, Rhode J. Geophys. Res. Planets, 120,452–482, Island, USA, 24Department of Geology and Geophysics, University of Hawaii at Manoa, Honolulu, Hawaii, USA, 25Museum doi:10.1002/2014JE004681. National d’Histoire Naturelle de Paris, Paris, France, 26Department of Earth Sciences, Brock University, St. Catharines, Ontario, Canada, 27Planetary Science Institute, Tucson, Arizona, USA Received 20 JUN 2014 Accepted 3 FEB 2015 Accepted article online 6 FEB 2015 fi fl Published online 19 MAR 2015 Abstract The Yellowknife Bay formation represents a ~5 m thick stratigraphic section of lithi ed uvial and lacustrine sediments analyzed by the Curiosity rover in Gale crater, Mars. Previous works have mainly focused on the mudstones that were drilled by the rover at two locations. The present study focuses on the sedimentary rocks stratigraphically above the mudstones by studying their chemical variations in parallel with rock textures. Results show that differences in composition correlate with textures and both manifest subtle but significant variations through the stratigraphic column. Though the chemistry of the sediments does not vary much in the lower part of the stratigraphy, the variations in alkali elements indicate variations in the source material and/or physical sorting, as shown by the identification of alkali feldspars. The sandstones contain similar relative proportions of hydrogen to the mudstones below, suggesting the presence of hydrous minerals that may have contributed to their cementation. Slight variations in magnesium correlate with changes in textures suggesting that diagenesis through cementation and dissolution modified the initial rock composition and texture simultaneously. The upper part of the stratigraphy (~1 m thick) displays rocks with different compositions suggesting a strong change in the depositional system. The presence of float rocks with similar compositions found along the rover traverse suggests that some of these outcrops extend further away in the nearby hummocky plains. 1. Introduction The Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) rover, Curiosity, arrived at Gale crater in August 2012. The landing ellipse was chosen because of its proximity to Aeolis Mons (known informally as Mount Sharp), the central, 5 km high-layered mound within Gale crater. The layers comprising the mound are the prime target of the Curiosity mission. The area within the ellipse is also of interest because it is downslope from Peace Vallis MANGOLD ET AL. ©2015. American Geophysical Union. All Rights Reserved. 452 Journal of Geophysical Research: Planets 10.1002/2014JE004681 [Anderson and Bell, 2010, Palucis et al., 2014], a prominent gully cutting the inner wall of Gale crater. From the time of its landing at the Bradbury site until sol 53, the Curiosity rover traversed a clast-strewn terrain with local exposures of conglomerates [Williams et al., 2013]. On sol 53 Curiosity encountered a change in terrain to one with more in-place rock outcrops. The latter corresponds to a ~5 m thick assemblage of sedimentary rocks informally named Yellowknife Bay formation [Grotzinger et al., 2014]. Based on orbital mapping of High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) images and in situ observations, the Yellowknife Bay formation was split from base to top into the Sheepbed, Gillespie Lake, and Glenelg members [Grotzinger et al., 2014]. At Sheepbed, two locations (John Klein and Cumberland) were drilled into a mudstone. The mineralogy of this mudstone was determined by the Chemistry and Mineralogy instrument (CheMin) instrument using X-ray diffraction [Vaniman et al., 2014] The crystalline part of both samples is dominated by igneous minerals and two main secondary phases: calcium sulfates and smectite clays [Vaniman et al., 2014]. A large number of diagenetic features, including concretions, veins, sedimentary dikes and vugs, indicate a complex postdepositional evolution [Grotzinger et al., 2014]. Chemical analyses suggested that postdepositional aqueous alteration took place at combined water/rock ratios and pH levels that were modest enough such as mineralogical changes occurred under nearly isochemical conditions [McLennan et al., 2014]. The detailed analysis of the lacustrine mudstone indicated that this environment would have been readily habitable, with the potential for preserving biological markers, if life had existed in it [Grotzinger et al., 2014]. These fluvio-lacustrine sediments are likely connected with the Peace Vallis alluvial fan that formed after Gale crater formed (3.6 Gy ago) [Le Deit et al., 2013] in the Hesperian or Early Amazonian periods [Grant et al., 2014]. Many lakes have been proposed to have existed on Mars, including several that have been inferred to date from the Hesperian period, e.g., in Melas Chasma, Claritas Fossae, Eberswalde crater, Ismenius Cavus, and Xanthe Terra craters [e.g., Quantin et al., 2005; Mangold and Ansan, 2006; Mangold et al., 2012c; Dromart et al., 2007; Dehouck et al., 2010; Hauber et al., 2013].
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