limnologic analysis of gusev crater paleolake mars abstract the survey of the hydrogeologic system formed by gusev crater and ma adim vallis aeolis subquadrangle of mars points out evidence for the existence of an ice covered lake in gusev crater a first lake was formed by the drainage of the aquifer in the region surrounding gusev before the entry of ma adim vallis in the crater the existence of a former lake in gusev is deduced from the morphology of the ma adim delta its comparison with terrestrial antarctic analogs argues for the presence of an ice covered lake in gusev at the time that the southern part of the crater s rampart was breached by ma adim first release and for a subice lacustrine construction of the valley s delta our survey shows that ma adim vallis may have entered gusev crater as late as late hesperian early amazonian as part of a second lake episode the relationship between the variation of the gusev lake water level the volume of the lake and the surface of the lake bed is established by our bathymetric model the elevation of the former lake is deduced from the elevation of the mesa like structures in the delta of ma adim vallis furthermore the correlation of the crater frequency of gusev rampart with mars stratigraphic age shows that lakes may have occupied gusev crater over a period of time covering 2 gyrs from the formation of the crater to the last episode of water release from ma adim vallis though it is most likely that the lake was episodical the recurrence of abundant water in gusev crater makes this site a high priority for missions either for martian resource exploration or for the search of life

paleolakes and impact basins in southern arabia terra including meridiani planum implications for the formation of hematite deposits on mars 1 the hematite deposit in meridiani planum was selected for a mars exploration rover mer landing site because water could be involved in the formation of hematite and water is a key ingredient in the search for life our discovery of a chain of paleolake basins and channels along the southern margin of the hematite deposits in meridiani planum with the presence of the strongest hematite signature adjacent to a paleolake basin supports the possible role of water in the formation of the hematite and the deposition of other layered materials in the region the hematite may have formed by direct precipitation from lake water as coatings precipitated from groundwater or by oxidation of preexisting iron oxide minerals the paleolake basins were fed by an extensive channel system originating from an area larger than texas and located south of the schiaparelli impact basin on the basis of stratigraphic relationships the formation of channels in the region occurred over much of mars history from before the layered materials in meridiani planum were deposited until recently the location of the paleolake basins and channels is connected with the impact cratering history of the region the earliest structure identified in this study is an ancient circular multiringed basin 800 1600 km diameter that underlies the entire meridiani planum region the mer landing site is located on the buried northern rim of a later 150 km diameter crater this crater is partially filled with layered deposits that contained a paleolake in its southern portion

microprobe monazite geochronology understanding geologic processes by integrating composition and chronology abstractmonazite is a light rare earth element lree bearing phosphate mineral that is present in a wide variety of rock types has an extremely variable composition reflecting host rock conditions and is a robust geochronometer that can preserve crystallization ages through a long history of geological events monazite crystals typically contain distinct compositional domains that represent successive generations of monazite which in turn can provide a detailed record of the geologic history of its host rocks the electron microprobe can be used to characterize the geometry of compositional domains analyze the composition of each domain and when carefully configured determine the u th total pb age for domains as small as 5 m in width these data allow the monazite to be linked with and place timing constraints on silicate processes in the host rocks current applications span a broad range of geologic processes in igneous metamorphic hydrothermal and sedimentary rocks

complex evolution of paleolacustrine systems on mars an example from the holden crater 1 the 150 km wide holden crater lies in an area characterized by high density of valley networks implying conditions conducive to forming of water related environments we undertook geological mapping and a stratigraphic survey in order to probe the evolution of water related landforms and their paleoenvironmental implications our investigations lead us to propose that the holden area was subjected to a wet lacustrine phase of hesperian age and an icy phase during the amazonian deltaic coastal and lacustrine environments occurred during the wet phase some displaying a cyclic depositional pattern presumably related to autogenic processes water was delivered to the basin by the uzboi vallis and by surface runoff channels from a series of drainage basins along the crater walls fan delta geometries and coastal onlap enabled estimation of major water levels two levels of major stand of the water have been recognized possibly reflecting allogenic controls geologic units related to this wet lacustrine phase were subsequently eroded by glacial abrasion and plucking and were disconformably overlain by glacial deposits of amazonian age defining an icy phase these features are consistent with a warm based glacier entering the holden crater through the wide uzboi vallis to form a proglacial lake in the central part of the crater changes in sedimentary units reflect changes of depositional environments probably connected with climatic variation

replacement of primary monazite by apatite allanite epidote coronas in an amphibolite facies granite gneiss from the eastern alps accessory monazite crystals in granites are commonly unstable during amphibolite facies regional metamorphism and typically become mantled by newly formed apatite allanite epidote coronas this distinct textural feature of altered monazite and its growth mechanism were studied in detail using backscattered electron imaging in a sample of metagranite from the tauern window in the eastern alps it appears that the outer rims of the former monazites were replaced directly by an apatite ring with tiny thorite intergrowths in connection with ca supply through metamorphic fluid around the apatite zone a proximal allanite ring and a distal epidote ring developed this concentric corona structure with the monazite core regularly preserved in the center shows that the reaction kinetics were diffusion controlled and relatively slow quantitative electron microprobe analyses suggest that the elements released from monazite breakdown p ree y th u were diluted and redistributed in the newly formed apatite allanite and epidote overgrowth rings and were unable to leave the corona this supports the common hypothesis that these trace elements are highly immobile during metamorphism furthermore microprobe data suggest that the preserved monazite cores lost little possibly none of their radiogenic lead during metamorphism thus metastable monazite grains from orthogneisses appear to be very useful for constraining u th pb protolith ages on the basis of these findings and a review of literature data it seems that monazite stability in amphibolite facies metamorphic rocks depends strongly on lithologic composition while breaking down in granitoids monazite may grow during prograde metamorphism in other rocks such as metapelites

experimental zircon melt and zircon garnet trace element partitioning and implications for the geochronology of crustal rocks garnet is the most commonly used mineral in thermobarometry whereas zircon is the most robust chronometer to date high grade metamorphic rocks to provide a basis for correlation of zircon and garnet growth we determined experimentally the trace element partitioningbetweenzircon ahydrousgraniticmeltandgarnetat20kbarand800 1000 cforp y rareearthelements ree zr hf th andu inrespecttomelt zirconpreferentiallyincorporatesallinvestigatedelementsapartfromreewithatomicnumberlowerthansm at this pressure and in the chosen composition the distribution coefficient between zircon and melt d zrn melt for ree increases with increasingatomicnumberofthereeandwithdecreasingtemperature dyb is 20at1000 c butmorethananorderofmagnitude higher at800 c the solubilityofzrinhydrousgraniticmelts buffered by zirconisabouta factoroftwo lower at20kbar than what has been previously established for mid crustal pressures large garnet produced in the experiments allowed determination of garnet melt trace element partitioning d grt melt at temperatures of 800 1000 c conditions relevant for partial melting of crustal rocks there is a systematic increase indree with decreasing temperature zircon contains significantly more heavy ree than garnet at temperatures of 800 850 c zircon garnetpartitioncoefficientsofheavy reedecreasewithincreasingtemperaturefromdlu of12at800 cto 1 4at1000 c middle reepartitioningisclosetounityforthewholeinvestigatedtemperaturerange differentempiricallydetermined zircon garnet partition coefficients from granulites and ultra high temperature granulites can potentially be explained by the experimentallydeterminedchangeofpartitioningasafunctionoftemperature thesedatacanassistinestablishingequilibriumbetween garnetandzirconzonesinnaturalrocks andintheconstructionofdetailedpressure temperature timepathsinhigh grademetamorphic rocks

textural chemical and isotopic insights into the nature and behaviour of metamorphic monazite monazite is a mineral of choice for dating metamorphism in amphibolite and granulite grade metapelites however there exist a number of difficulties that complicate the interpretation of monazite geochronological data and prevent its application to many geological problems the two main obstacles addressed in this contribution are firstly the minor but significant e g 1 30 ma dispersal in duplicate isotope dilution thermal ionisation mass spectrometry id tims u pb age data commonly recorded from a single rock and secondly the difficulty of attaching monazite age data to pressure and temperature information through a multidisciplinary approach utilising tims and laser ablation multicollector inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry la mc icpms isotope data quantitative and qualitative emp chemical analyses of monazite and textural studies we assess the significance of pb loss older components and continuous and episodic monazite growth in the generation of dispersed age data three samples from the canadian cordillera and one sample from the himalaya of pakistan are examined each sample exhibits an age dispersion of between 1 and 12 ma for single crystal and multi grain tims u pb monazite age determinations consideration of the closure temperature for pb diffusion in monazite and the metamorphic temperatures experienced by these samples suggests diffusive pb loss did not play a significant part in generating this age dispersal the la mc icpms study indicates that an older component 100 ma older than the tims ages contributed to the age dispersal in three of the four samples in all the samples however chemical analyses identified that the majority of monazites examined exhibited significant intra crystalline zoning in y content the la mc icpms analysis of one sample that was constrained to zones of distinct y content indicates that these zones are of distinct age we suggest that monazite grown before the appearance of garnet and during garnet breakdown is relatively rich in y whereas monazite grown after garnet is relatively poor in y a combination of these chemical data with textural observations suggests that once monazite had entered the mineral assemblage it grew or recrystallised episodically throughout the prograde and retrograde paths of the metamorphic event this behaviour contributes to and in one of the samples controls the observed age dispersal this recognition allows the generation of pressure temperature time points by combining textural and chemical information of monazite with in situ age determinations and pressure temperature information from garnet thus the episodic growth of compositionally distinct monazite throughout a metamorphic event provides the geochronologist with a very valuable chronological tool

high spatial resolution dating of monazite and zircon reveals the timing of subduction exhumation of the vaimok lens in the seve nappe complex scandinavian caledonides in situ monazite th u total pb dating and zircon la icp ms depth profiling was applied to metasedimentary rocks from the vaimok lens in the seve nappe complex snc scandinavian caledonides results of monazite th u total pb dating coupled with major and trace element mapping of monazite revealed 603 16 ma neoproterozoic cores surrounded by rims that formed at 498 10 ma monazite rim formation was facilitated via dissolution reprecipitation of neoproterozoic monazite the monazite rims record garnet growth as they are depleted in y2o3 with respect to the neoproterozoic cores rims are also characterized by relatively high sro with respect to the cores results of the zircon depth profiling revealed igneous zircon cores with crystallization ages typical for snc metasediments multiple zircon grains also exhibit rims formed by dissolution reprecipitation that are defined by enrichment of light rare earth elements u th p y and sr rims also have subdued eu anomalies eu eu 0 6 1 2 with respect to the cores the age of zircon rim formation was calculated from three metasedimentary rocks 480 22 ma 475 26 ma and 479 38 ma these results show that both monazite and zircon experienced dissolution reprecipitation under high pressure conditions caledonian monazite formed coeval with garnet growth during subduction of the vaimok lens whereas zircon rim formation coincided with monazite breakdown to apatite allanite and clinozoisite during initial exhumation

volcanic processes as alternative mechanisms of landform development at a candidate crater lake site near tyrrhena patera mars 1 palos crater a prominent candidate crater lake site in the hesperia region of mars is located at the mouth of a sinuous inlet channel that extends from the northern flanks of tyrrhena patera previous studies of this site have concluded that channels and basin infill units likely formed through aqueous processes that partly involved karst like removal of materials in the subsurface by the flow of groundwater as with many locales on mars the aqueous processes hypothesized to have been involved in the formation and evolution of terrain features are compelling however the characteristics of this site suggest that an alternative set of mechanisms for landform development should be considered alongside aqueous hypotheses the main attributes of channels and infill of the central crater include 1 an association with a very large volcanic rise to the south 2 the existence of roofed segments of the main inlet channel and 3 infill of the central crater and outlet channel by materials that have characteristics consistent with those expected of volcanic plains these general attributes are consistent with formation through or in association with processes that involved the flow of lava although a volcanic model may account for the presence and basic nature of landforms previously considered supportive of a paleolake interpretation of the site an overprint of dendritic valley networks on parts of the inlet system suggests that aqueous processes may have also acted in the evolution of the site a complex interrelation between past igneous and aqueous processes at this site is possible

impact induced overland fluid flow and channelized erosion at lyot crater mars 1 lyot crater is one of the youngest impact basins 200 km in diameter on mars although published hydrological models suggest that impact related groundwater release might have occurred at lyot no geomorphic evidence for such activity has been previously identified here we use images acquired predominantly by the mars reconnaissance orbiter mro context camera ctx and mars odyssey thermal emission imaging spectrometer themis visible and infrared subsystems to document an extensive channeled scabland extending to the north west and east of lyot covering an area of 300 000 km2 the configuration and morphology suggests that the channel forming fluid was water derived from the target substrate and or the surrounding terrain possible formation mechanisms are groundwater mobilization by seismic energy from the impact event and dewatering of the ejecta blanket

an assessment of the fluvial geomorphology of subcatchments in parana valles mars this paper uses a multifaceted remote sensing and morphometric approach to investigate if the surface of subcatchments in the parana valles area of mars 20 30 s 0 20 w is reflective of hydrology and sediment transport by water using digital elevation model dem data obtained from the mars orbiter laser altimeter mola three nested subcatchments were examined using a suite of terrestrial geomorphic and hydrologic statistics to determine if their shape and form lies within the known range of fluvial catchment properties on earth further an examination of statistical accuracy via an innovative pixel by pixel solution of two statistics established that despite mineralogical homogeneity confirmed by the compact reconnaissance imaging spectrometer for mars crism spectral survey erosion processes were likely to be variable across the study site the dem based methods outlined here can be employed at other sites to investigate geomorphic properties and attributes of the martian surface

detrital and newly formed metamorphic monazite in amphibolite facies metapelites from the motajica massif bosnia abstract the motajica massif in bosnia situated in the sava zone between the tisza unit and the dinarides hosts a late cretaceous flysch series which is partly preserved in an anchimetamorphic state partly affected by amphibolite facies overprint samples from both parts contain abundant accessory monazite which was investigated by means of the electron microprobe with reference to age and composition in the amphibolite facies samples new metamorphic monazite has formed chemical th u pb monazite ages indicate that the regional metamorphic event happened in the late cretaceous or the early palaeogene in addition inherited detrital monazite of permian age has been identified based on various observations it is argued that the detrital monazite was not the direct precursor to the metamorphic monazite the latter may rather have grown from other more reactive ree carrier minerals either detrital ones e g detrital allanite or such that formed during diagenesis and low grade metamorphism a later greenschist facies event that occurred in connection with a ca 27 ma old granodiorite intrusion led in some samples to the formation of late fluorapatite allanite coronas around both detrital and newly formed monazites the anchimetamorphic samples contain exclusively detrital monazite these are partly of permian as well as jurassic to early cretaceous age based on their compositional and textural features the jurassic to early cretaceous monazite relics are considered to be mainly derived from metamorphic rocks the permian monazite displays high yttrium content up to ca 3 5 wt y 2 o 3 indicating a high formation temperature 650 c and therefore probably a magmatic origin apart from almost ubiquitous permian high y monazite the motajica flysch also contains large permian xenotime with magmatic zoning patterns fluorapatite with parasitic monazite inclusions formerly ree rich fluorapatite and zircon with a type granite morphology this accessory mineral spectrum implies that among others rift related ree rich permian a type granites or rhyolites should be considered as a source for the sava zone flysch

resetting monazite ages during fluid related alteration abstract fluid related coupled dissolution reprecipitation processes can modify the composition of monazite and other orthophosphate minerals at temperatures well below diffusional closure temperatures it is critical to evaluate the effects of alteration processes on th u pb dates especially because incomplete removal of pb during alteration could lead to spurious dates either older or younger than the actual age of the monazite formation experimental alteration of monazite at 450 mpa and 450 c has resulted in the production of altered domains in the vicinity of the grain rim as well as in the vicinity of inclusions and microfractures without any obvious structural control within grains the composition of the altered domains is relatively constant from domain to domain and from grain to grain thorium was reduced from ca 7 wt tho 2 to ca 2 wt uranium and pb were almost entirely removed from the altered domains while unaltered areas of the monazite grains as well as the original monazite grains before the experiment yield very consistent dates of ca 350 ma dates from the altered domains are consistently near zero the implication is that fluid aided alteration of monazite for the conditions of this experiment has resulted in a near complete resetting of the monazite age at temperatures well below the closure temperature because alteration textures in monazite are relatively common in nature careful analysis of such textures offers a means of recognizing and potentially dating fluid rock interactions

bugbuster survivability of living bacteria upon shock compression shock recovery experiments were conducted on suspensions of 10 6 ml e coli bacteria contained in a water based medium that is emplaced within stainless steel containers the water is shocked and recovered these experiments simulate the environment of bacteria residing either in surface bodies of water or in subsurface water filled cracks in rocks early earth life is likely to have existed in such environments however the e coli are not believed to be representative of early life and are merely used here for initial experiments some 10 2 to 10 4 of the bacteria population survived initial 800 ns duration shock pressures in water of 220 and 260 mpa tem images of shock recovered bacteria indicate cell wall rupture and delamination this appears to be the mortality mechanism the tem images indicate cell wall indentations may be occurring as would be consistent with rayleigh taylor or richtmyer meshkov fluid instabilities in the present case we consider the experiments as representing three layers of fluids 1 the water based medium a stronger and possibly denser cell wall medium and the interior of the cell cytoplasm variations of only 10 15 are expected in density 2 a second mechanism that may cause cell wall failure is the multiple shock nearly isentropic compression freezing of liquid water medium into ice vi or ice vii high pressure phase that are 20 to 25 denser than the liquid the decrease in volume associated with the transformation is expected to induce overpressures in the still liquid cell cytoplasm cell dynamic tensile wall strength thus appears to be a critical parameter from either of the above failure modes because the strain rate dependence of cell wall tensile strength is unstudied we utilize the grady and lipkin d e grady l lipkin criteria for impulsive rock fracture geophys res lett 7 1980 255 258 model of tensile failure versus time scale strain rate our single datum is fit to this law and we assume that at low strain rates overpressures exceeding the cell turgor pressure require on the order of 10 3 s this model which has been applied to brittle media and metals for describing failure may permit application of short duration laboratory experiments as in the present ones to infer responses of organisms to much lower shock pressures but for longer time scales 10 0 to 10 3 s of planetary impacts using the present data for e coli and applying the grady and lipkin model we find that a 1 5 km diameter impactor will cause mortality of bacteria within a radius of 10 2 km but upon stress related attenuation the subsurface bacteria outside of this radius should survive

antarctic paleolake sediments and the search for extinct life on mars evidence of lakes in mars history is substantial the proposed similarities between the ancient martian environment and certain modern environments on earth have led exobiologists to study antarctic lakes as analogs to those purported to have existed on mars we have investigated modern sedimentation processes especially with respect to 13c of carbonate and organic matter in lakes in the mcmurdo dry valleys region of east antarctica and assessed various paleolake deposits with respect to their utility as martian analogs and targets for future mars exobiology missions three main types of paleolake deposit were identified and assessed strand lines perched deltas and lacustrine sand mounds deltas are usually identified as good targets but our research shows that authigenic carbonates are not readily identifiable in the sediments large deltas although most likely to attract attention through remote sensing generally are difficult sites for discovery of paleobiological matter and 13c signals follow no coherent pattern lacustrine sand mounds on the other hand contain abundant authigenic carbonate and freeze dried organic matter and appear to be excellent records of paleolimnological conditions the advantage of studying lake bottom deposits versus lake edge deposits is retrieval of a stable lake wide signal deltas are therefore most useful in that they are generally large scale features capable of drawing attention to a region of potential for the discovery of smaller lacustrine sand mounds

noble gases in iddingsite from the lafayette meteorite evidence for liquid water on mars in the last few hundred million years we analyzed noble gases from 18 samples of weathering products iddingsite from the lafayette meteorite potassium argon ages of 12 samples range from near zero to 670 91 ma these ages confirm the martian origin of the iddingsite but it is not clear whether any or all of the ages represent iddingsite formation as opposed to later alteration or incorporation of martian atmospheric 40ar in any case because iddingsite formation requires liquid water this data requires the presence of liquid water near the surface of mars at least as recently as 1300 ma ago and probably as recently as 650 ma ago krypton and xe analysis of a single 34 g sample indicates the presence of fractionated martian atmosphere within the iddingsite this also confirms the martian origin of the iddingsite the mechanism of incorporation could either be through interaction with liquid water during iddingsite formation or a result of shock implantation of adsorbed atmospheric gas our strongest conclusion is that the iddingsite in lafayette formed on mars in agreement with the microstratigraphic arguments of gooding et al 1991 and treiman et al 1993 a preterrestrial origin of the iddingsite is required both by the many non zero k ar ages and by the presence of xe that is isotopically distinct from any terrestrial xe the xe is accompanied by kr but the kr and xe have been fractionated if they are derived from the present martian atmosphere this is presumably the result of either incorporation via interaction with liquid water drake et al 1994 bogard and garrison 1998 or by adsorption from the martian atmosphere perhaps accompanied by shock see also gilmour et al 1998 1999 although the iddingsite is enriched in kr and xe compared to whole rock analyses it is not clear whether iddingsite is the dominant carrier of the atmospheric derived gas drake et al 1994 or merely a minor carrier gilmour et al 1999 our 40ar 39ar experiment was disappointing in that it mostly served to confirm that the iddingsite which contains fine grained clays is susceptible to recoil loss of 39ar during irradiation only one sample of five gave a clear signal of radiogenic or extraterrestrial 40ar and that was only by 3 potassium argon ages of the second set of samples were more successful ranging from near 0 to 670 91 ma it is not clear whether any or all of the ages represent iddingsite formation as opposed to later alteration the fact that a rb sr experiment shih et al 1998 gave an apparent age for iddingsite of 679 66 ma 2a suggests that perhaps formation of iddingsite occurred or began 650 ma ago and that some samples either formed or were thermally altered later the ages could be even younger than 650 ma if the samples have incorporated martian atmospheric 40ar this means that liquid water was certainly present on mars in the last 1300 ma the formation age of lafayette and probably within the last 650 ma

investigating gully flow emplacement mechanisms using apex slopes abstract the origin of the martian gullies has been much debated since their discovery by the mars orbiter camera moc malin m c edgett k s 2000 science 288 2330 2335 several previous studies have looked at slope gradients in and around gullies but none have used digital elevation models dems from the high resolution imaging science experiment hirise mcewen a s and 14 colleagues 2007 j geophys res 112 e05 e0505s02 which has a pixel scale down to 25 cm pixel we use five 1 m post hirise dems to measure gully apex slopes the local channel gradient at the upslope extent of the gully debris apron which marks a shift from erosion to deposition the apex slope provides information about whether a flow was likely a typical dry granular flow begins depositing on slopes 21 or fluidized by some extra mechanism depositing on shallower slopes we find that 72 of the 75 gully fans studied were likely emplaced by fluidized flows relatively old gullies appear more likely to have hosted fluidized flows than relatively fresh gullies this suggests a time and location dependent fluidizing agent possibly liquid water produced in a different climate as previously proposed our results do not provide evidence for water rich flows in gullies today

monazite and xenotime petrogenesis in the contact aureole of the makhavinekh lake pluton northern labrador high temperature 700 900 c metamorphism in the contact aureole of the makhavinekh lake pluton mlp northern labrador led to the growth of monazite and xenotime during progressive replacement of regional garnet bearing assemblages m1 by lower pressure symplectitic coronas of orthopyroxene cordierite m2 in the inner aureole 500 m from the contact where m1 garnet is strongly resorbed high y hree monazite xy hree 0 14 0 18 occurs as small isolated grains and as discontinuous rims on partially resorbed pre m2 monazites that were liberated from garnet xenotime also occurs as small isolated grains within m2 coronas ion microprobe dating of thin high y rims indicates that new monazite growth occurred during m2 monazite xenotime miscibility gap temperatures are consistent with al solubility in orthopyroxene thermometry estimates indicating that peak temperatures in the inner aureole are accurately recorded and preserved by monazite m2 monazite records therefore the temperature and timing of m2 metamorphism two net transfer reactions modelled using singular value decomposition in the system p y hree lree are proposed to account for the growth of m2 phosphates 1 38 grt1 1 mnz1 1 13 mnz2 and 2 737 grt1 1 ap 1 mnz2 3 4 xno2 reaction 1 conserves p and gave rise to locally coronitic high y overgrowths on partially resorbed pre m2 monazite whereas reaction 2 accounts for the growth of small new monazite and xenotime grains both reactions were highly localized within individual m2 coronas due to slow intergranular diffusion accompanying fluid undersaturated metamorphism in the mlp aureole similar monazite forming reactions are expected in other polymetamorphosed granulites

exploring for a record of ancient martian life the immediate task facing exopaleontology is to define a strategy to explore mars for a fossil record during the decade long exploration program that lies ahead consideration of the quality of paleontological information preserved under different geological conditions is important if we are to develop a strategy with broad applicability the preservation of microbial fossils is strongly influenced by the physical chemical and biological factors of the environment which acting together determine the types of information that will be captured and retained in the rock record in detrital sedimentary systems preservation is favored by rapid burial in fine grained clay rich sediments in chemical sedimentary systems preservation is enhanced by rapid entombment in fine grained chemical precipitates for long term preservation host rocks must be composed of stable minerals that are resistant to chemical weathering and that form an impermeable matrix and closed chemical system to protect biosignatures from alteration during subsequent diagenesis or metamorphism in this context host rocks composed of highly ordered chemically stable mineral phases like silica e g cherts or phosphate e g phosphorites are especially favored such lithologies tend to have very long crustal residence times and along with carbonates and shales are the most common host rocks for the precambrian microfossil record on earth although we make the defensible assumption that mars was more like the earth early in its history clearly the geological and historical differences between the two planets are many such differences must be carefully considered when adapting an earth based strategy to mars

thermophiles early biosphere evolution and the origin of life on earth implications for the exobiological exploration of mars mars holds great interest for exobiology and presently stands center stage in our plans to explore the inner solar system for signs of past or present life with the spectacular success of the pathfinder mission golombek 1997 and upcoming mapping efforts by the mars global surveyor orbiter albee et al 1998 it is an especially appropriate time to revisit some important issues in mars exobiology the papers making up this journal of geophysical research planets special issue on mars were the outgrowth of an american geophysical union special session entitled exploring for a martian biosphere which was presented at the fall meeting in san francisco in 1995 farmer 1995a together these papers provide a context for evaluating some fundamental issues in the exobiological exploration of mars topics covered fall into the following broad categories 1 environments and conditions required for the origin of life hydrothermal environments as sites for prebiotic chemical synthesis shock and schulte this issue 2 early martian environments as a context for the evolution and diversification of life on mars early impact hazards sleep and zahnle this issue early volatile and climate history of mars haberle this issue and ice covered lakes as habitats for early life doran et al this issue 3 exploring for extant martian life results of the viking missions klein this issue environmental extremes for martian life clark this issue and planetary protection and mars sample return devincenzi et al this issue and 4 exploration strategies phosphate minerals as targets for chemofossils mojzsis and arrhenius this issue and the role of robotic surface missions stoker this issue

does crater saturation equilibrium occur in the solar system abstract similarity is found in crater densities on the most heavily cratered surfaces throughout the solar system this is hypothesized to result from a steady state saturation equilibrium being approached or achieved by cratering processes this hypothesis conflicts with some recent interpretations however it accounts for 1 a similarity in maximum relative crater density below certain theoretically predicted values on all heavily cratered surfaces 2 a leveling off at this same relative density among 100 m scale secondary craters in populations on lunar maria and other sparsely cratered lunar surfaces 3 the approximate uniformity of maximum relative densities on saturn satellites in spite of dramatic variations predicted from nonsaturation models assuming heliocentric impactors the lunar frontside upland crater population sometimes described as a well preserved production function useful for interpreting other planetary surfaces is found not to be a production function it was modified by intercrater plains formed at least partly by early upland basaltic lava flooding recently confirmed spectrophotometrically consistent with this counts in pure uplands those lacking intercrater plains match the proposed saturation equilibrium density variations among large d 64 km crater populations are found but these may involve several hypothesized mechanisms that rapidly obliterate large craters especially on icy surfaces recent models in which different populations of interplanetary bodies hit different planets need further appraisal

duration of the ma adim vallis gusev crater hydrogeologic system mars abstract ma adim vallis and gusev crater aeolis subquadrangle of mars formed a complex hydrogeologic system through time crater statistics over five geologic units coupled with morphologic and geologic observations show that this system was active over a period ranging from 0 7 to about 2 billion years these results make the floor of gusev crater one of the most prominent martian depositional features the last aqueous sedimentary deposition could have occurred during early amazonian

a case for ancient evaporite basins on mars observations indicate that a martian analog to the earth s salt pans and saline lakes of arid regions may have existed in crater basins during mars early noachian epoch terraced and channelized crater basins point to ponding of surface water as well as possible prolonged and evolving base levels in addition supportive evaporite basin analogs are offered for three other morphologic features of martian crater basins an evaporite basin model for crater basins on mars has major implications for the mechanical chemical and even biological processes that potentially have operated in mars past and represent a spectrum of potential mineral resources

monazite behaviour and age significance in poly metamorphic high grade terrains a case study from the western musgrave block central australia abstract integrated in situ textural chemical and electron microprobe age analysis of monazite grains in a migmatitic metapelitic gneiss from the western musgrave block central australia has identified evidence for multiple events of growth and recrystallisation during poly metamorphism in the mesoproterozoic garnet sillimanite bearing metapelite underwent partial melting and segregation to palaeosome and leucosome during metamorphism between 1330 and 1296 ma with monazite grains in leucosome recording crystallisation at 1300 ma monazite breakdown during melting is inferred to have occurred in the palaeosome during a subsequent granulite facies event at 1200 ma deformation and metamorphism of leucosome and palaeosome resulted in partial disturbance of ages and potential minor growth on 1300 ma monazite in leucosome growth of new high y hree monazite in palaeosome domains occurred during garnet breakdown in the presence of sillimanite to cordierite and spinel as a result of post peak isothermal decompression diffusive enrichment of resorbed garnet rims in y hree suggests garnet breakdown occurred slower than volume diffusion of ree monazite in both palaeosome and leucosome were subsequently partially to penetratively recrystallised during a retrogression event that is suggested to have occurred at 1150 1130 ma the intensity of recrystallisation and disturbance of ages appears linked to proximity to retrogressed garnet porphyroblasts and their occurrence in the relatively reactive or fertile local environments provided by the palaeosome mesosome volumes which caused localised changes in retrogressive fluids towards compositions more aggressive to monazite like reaction textures it is apparent that domainal equilibrium and reaction may control or at least strongly influence monazite ree and u th pb chemistry and hence ages

alteration and breakdown of xenotime y and monazite ce in granitic rocks of the western carpathians slovakia abstract in the granitic rocks of the western carpathians xenotime y occurs both as a late stage magmatic mineral and as a secondary post magmatic phase magmatic xenotime occurs with monazite and displays minor compositional zonation involving si th and u the source of elements for the formation of secondary xenotime y in the granitic rocks results from leaching of p and y ree mainly from zircon and apatite both xenotime y and monazite ce are unstable during fluid activated overprinting low temperature alteration of monazite in s type granites leads to the formation of apatite enriched in the britholite component but low to medium grades of metamorphism result in the formation of apatite and lree enriched epidote partly allanite as a corona enclosing the monazite ce core xenotime y shows a similar alteration pattern but with different ree distributions within the products at greenschist amphibolite facies rims of secondary y rich apatite and y rich epidote form around xenotime y in low ca granites however apatite is missing from this alteration assemblage as xenotime y breaks down directly to y enriched epidote the relative mobilities of the heavy and light ree are different during breakdown of monazite and xenotime the fluid responsible for the breakdown of monazite and xenotime contains elements released from alteration of anorthite ca and biotite si al and f

late alluvial fan formation in southern margaritifer terra mars 1 crater statistics indicate alluvial fans crater floor and fill mantling deposits within impact craters 50 km in diameter in southern margaritifer terra were likely emplaced during multiple epochs fans formed during the amazonian or near the amazonian hesperian boundary crater floor deposits are likely hesperian in age and most fill mantling deposits are amazonian the regional distribution of fans points to a late period of widespread water driven degradation two of the final candidate landing sites for the 2011 mars science laboratory mission would land on or near some of these fans which appear younger than previously considered

an igneous origin for features of a candidate crater lake system in western memnonia mars the association of channels inner terraces and delta like features with martian impact craters has previously been interpreted as evidence in favor of the past existence of crater lakes on mars however examination of a candidate crater lake system in western memnonia suggests instead that its features may have formed through igneous processes involving the flow and ponding of lava accumulations of material in craters and other topographic lows throughout much of the study region have characteristics consistent with those of volcanic deposits and terraces found along the inner flanks of some of these craters are interpreted as having formed through drainage or subsidence of volcanic materials channels previously identified as inlets and outlets of the crater lake system are interpreted instead as volcanic rilles these results challenge previous interpretations of terrace and channel features in the study region and suggest that candidate crater lakes located elsewhere should be reexamined

marine target craters on mars an assessment study observations of impact craters on earth show that a water column at the target strongly influences lithology and morphology of the resultant crater the degree of influence varies with the target water depth and impactor diameter morphological features detectable in satellite imagery include a concentric shape with an inner crater inset within a shallower outer crater which is cut by gullies excavated by the resurge of water in this study we show that if oceans large seas and lakes existed on mars for periods of time marine target craters must have formed we make an assessment of the minimum and maximum amounts of such craters based on published data on water depths extent and duration of putative oceans within contacts 1 and 2 cratering rate during the different oceanic phases and computer modeling of minimum impactor diameters required to form longlasting craters in the seafloor of the oceans we also discuss the influence of erosion and sedimentation on the preservation and exposure of the craters for an ocean within the smaller contact 2 with a duration of 100 000 yr and the low present crater formation rate only 12 detectable marine target craters would have formed in a maximum estimate with a duration of 0 8 gyr as many as 1400 craters may have formed an ocean within the larger contact 1 meridiani with a duration of 100 000 yr would not have received any seafloor craters despite the higher crater formation rate estimated before 3 5 gyr on the other hand with a maximum duration of 0 8 gyr about 160 seafloor craters may have formed however terrestrial examples show that most marinetarget craters may be covered by thick sediments ground penetrating radar surveys planned for the esa mars express and nasa 2005 missions may reveal buried craters though it is uncertain if the resolution will allow the detection of diagnostic features of marine target craters the implications regarding the discovery of marine target craters on mars is not without significance as such discoveries would help address the ongoing debate of whether large water bodies occupied the northern plains of mars and would help constrain future paleoclimatic reconstructions

three metamorphic monazite generations in a high pressure rock from the bohemian massif and the potentially important role of apatite in stimulating polyphase monazite growth along a pt loop abstract based on microstructural and compositional criteria three generations of monazite can be identified in a peraluminous garnet rich high pressure metamorphic rock from the bohemian massif the first monazite generation m1 formed probably on the prograde part of the clockwise pt loop a second m2 during the high pressure stage 26 3 kbar and 830 30 c and a third generation m3 during subsequent near isothermal decompression of the rock to 8 2 kbar the high pressure m2 monazites are volumetrically dominant and form 100 300 m grains they are characterised by an unusual sr brabantite component sro up to 2 wt and grew together with accessory sr rich fluorapatites sro up to 33 wt the sr contents of both minerals are indicative of high pressure conditions and result from the breakdown of plagioclase and the release of sr that occurred during this process m3 monazites occur exclusively as small grains 10 100 m within and at the rims of apatite microstructures show that they grew at the expense of the apatite extracting lrees from the latter under retrograde conditions these parasite monazites in apatite are characterised by very low th contents which is consistent with having been derived primarily from an apatite source m1 monazites are represented by resorbed irregular shaped cores which are occasionally preserved within the sr brabantite rich high pressure monazites m2 these m1 cores are generally sr poor indicating that they should have formed prior to the high pressure stage in the presence of plagioclase the dissolution of m1 monazite and the reprecipitation of a th u enriched m2 monazite during the high pressure stage implies that lrees were taken up by the high pressure sr rich fluorapatite to some extent and not completely processed for the formation of the m2 monazite this would also explain the widespread retrograde growth of m3 monazite within the apatite the ability of apatite to act as an interim host for lrees at peak pt conditions could be one of the reasons why monazite growth during regional metamorphism is often periodic

electron microprobe dating of monazite because monazite is extremely rich in u and th radiogenic pb pb accumulates very quickly and reaches in about 100 ma a level where it is possible to analyse it with the electron probe assuming that common pb is negligible and that partial loss of pb has not occurred the simultaneous measurement of u th and pb allows to obtain a geologically meaningful age from a single electron probe analysis here we present the results of two years of systematical investigations aiming to define both the limits and potential of this method a specific statistical method to deal with the large number of data which can be obtained on a single sample is described and several guidelines illustrated by examples are suggested to optimize the method electron probe measurements carried out on samples of known age from 200 ma to 3 1 ga yield ages that always fall inside the confidence interval of the isotopically determined age demonstrating that this method is reliable the younger age limit is approximately 100 ma although it can be younger in some favourable cases in old monazites extremely high pb contents have been found up to 5 wt indicating that monazite can tolerate high radiation doses without experiencing lead loss the final precision on the age for a normal monazite is 30 50 ma for a total counting time of 600 s a complete dating procedure can be completed in less than 1 h first results indicate that old ages can be preserved in monazite either in small relict cores in crystals or by the coexistence of several generations of monazites in a sample this method has all the advantages of the electron probe it is non destructive has an excellent spatial resolution monazites as small as 5 i m can be dated and because it is possible to work on normal polished thin sections the petrographical position of the dated crystal is known this method offers a large number of geologists access to an in situ dating technique at moderate cost

ma adim vallis evolution geometry and models of discharge rate abstract episodes of confined flows in ma adim vallis are reconstructed by surveying the terraces in the valley three major levels and their associated tributary systems are identified and mapped this study points out the evidence of the cessation of the valley activity between the formation of levels 1 and 2 characterized by degraded and large perched valleys which floor are not adjusted to the following flow episode level a strong asymmetry in the tributary distribution points toward a groundwater supplied water origin of the valley potential source areas are demonstrated to be in volcano tectonic regions implying a hydrothermal origin of the water that may include melted permafrost calculation of hydraulic radii valley sections and models of discharge rates associated with the morphologic and geologic survey shows that ma adim vallis was an episodic channel the lifetime of which spanned between the noachian and amazonian

earth analogs for martian life microbes in evaporites a new model system for life on mars abstract the prospect of life on mars today is daunting especially problematic for a potential life form is the lack of water particularly in a liquid state extremely cold temperatures ultraviolet and ionizing radiation and soil oxidants yet oases where life might persist have been suggested to occur in rocks in analogy with endolithic microorganisms described from deserts around the world in polar ice caps in analogy with snow and ice algae and in possible volcanic regions in analogy with chemoautotrophs living in deep sea hydrothermal vents all are critically examined microorganisms are known to be able to survive in salt crystals and recently it has been shown that organisms can metabolize while encrusted in evaporites because evaporites are thought to occur on mars and can attenuate light in the uv range while being far more transparent to radiation useful for photosynthesis 400 700 nm and because of the properties of these endoevaporitic organisms i propose that such communities provide a new model system for studying potential life on mars on the basis of this model i suggest possibilities for site selection for future exobiological experiments on mars

monazite u pb dating of staurolite grade metamorphism in pelitic schists a study of the occurrence of and relations between rare earth element ree minerals in pelitic schists indicates that monazite forms at or near the p and t of the staurolite isograd samples at staurolite grade from the silurian perry mountain formation in the rumford quadrangle of maine yield monazite in sufficient quantities to permit accurate dating of the metamorphic events forming the monazites the bulk chemistry of the metapelites as seen in the major element abundances and ree patterns does not vary significantly across the study area thus the appearance and disappearance of ree phases is assumed to reflect changes in metamorphic grade in a sample from the biotite zone scanning electron microscope and microprobe studies show allanite and monazite intimately associated on a 10 m scale the texture suggest that metastable detrital monazite breaks down distributing its ree components to allanite from samples below staurolite grade in which monazite is not present our observations suggest that rees are partitioned into allanite at or near the staurolite isograd monazite forms as a metamorphic mineral initiating its role as a geochronometer garnet biotite geothermometry on samples at this grade from this and other studies places constraints on the minimum temperature necessary to form monazite 525 c 25 c at 3 1 0 25 kbar a total of 15 separates from nine schist samples ranging up to sillimanite grade have been dated each date is remarkably concordant even though petrologic and textural studies by previous workers have shown that the rocks in the area have been affected by at least three metamorphic episodes calculations indicate insignificant th disequilibrium in these monazites the conditions associated with the metamorphic events suggest that monazite remains closed to lead loss provided that subsequent metamorphisms are at or below sillimanite grade two distinct metamorphic events are resolved one at around 400 ma and one at about 370 ma the latter was due to thermal effects of a nearby pluton that yields concordant monazite ages of 363 ma this work suggests that in addition to dating plutonism and high grade metamorphism monazite should be viewed as a reliable geochronometer for moderate metamorphism of pelitic schists

five generations of monazite in langtang gneisses implications for chronology of the himalayan metamorphic core monazite grains from greater himalayan sequence gneisses langtang valley nepal were chemically mapped and then dated in situ via th pb ion microprobe analysis correlation of ages and chemistry reveals at least five different generations of monazite ranging from c 9 to 300 ma petrological models of monazite chemistry provide a link between these generations and the thermal evolution of these rocks yielding an age for the melting of greater himalayan rocks within the main central thrust sheet c 16 ma and for the timing of thrust sheet emplacement that are younger than commonly viewed chemical characterization of monazite is vital prior to chronological microanalysis and many ages previously reported for monazite from the greater himalayan sequence are interpretationally ambiguous

a large sedimentary basin in the terra sirenum region of the southern highlands of mars abstract different lines of evidence point to hydrological cycling in the martian past the extent duration and magnitude of this cycling remains unclear as well as the magnitude of aqueous processes on the surface here we provide geomorphic and mineralogic evidence of a large inter crater sedimentary basin located in the terra sirenum region which was once covered by a body of liquid water with an areal extent of at least 30 000 km 2 and a depth of approximately 200 m the topographic basin which is modified by a number of large impact craters is partly controlled by ancient impact and tectonic structures as a result of evaporation of the large body of water salt flats formed in the lowest topographic reaches of the basin hydrated phyllosilicates occur in close proximity to the salt flats and in the ejecta and rim materials of small impact craters with stratigraphic relations that suggest that they underlie the evaporite deposits crater statistics place the maximum age of aqueous activity during the late noachian epoch the relatively pristine mineral deposits in the basin have a high potential to yield information of the geochemistry and water activity during the ancient noachian period when conditions were seemingly more conducive to life

metasomatic replacement of inherited metamorphic monazite in a biotite garnet granite from the nizke tatry mountains western carpathians slovakia chemical dating and evidence for disequilibrium melting granitoid monazite is a potential candidate for restitic origin because of its very low dissolution rates a biotite garnet granite nizke tatry mountains slovakia contains monazite characterized by older bse bright domains irregularly replaced by bse dark domains they are interpreted as the result of late magmatic replacement by a dissolution reprecipitation mechanism garnet is mostly magmatic with peritectic cores and the granite is thought to have formed by biotite fluid absent melting xenotime monazite and garnet biotite thermometry yield 600 650 c at 400 mpa for y rich monazite suggesting that equilibration took place in the presence of fluid chemical and textural relations enable the distinction of four types of monazite which have been dated type i monazite forming grain interiors is th rich and overgrown by a lower th type ii variety type iii monazite has the lowest u and also overgrows the type i whereas type iv monazite has the highest u and y contents u pb th pb isochrons reveal that whereas monazite types i and iii are older 355 7 ma the age corresponding to the variscan metamorphic peak types ii and iv are ca 10 million years younger 346 3 ma type iv monazite types i iii are considered to be inherited from a metamorphic protolith whereas type iv is interpreted to be the age of the latest magmatism application of lree and zr diffusion coefficients to monazite and zircon indicates that the accessory restite assemblage observed is consistent with a short magma residence time 500 years during which monazite remained mostly intact whereas zircon was partly dissolved

the role of arcuate ridges and gullies in the degradation of craters in the newton basin region of mars abstract a survey of craters in the vicinity of newton basin using high resolution images from mars global surveyor and mars odyssey was conducted to find and analyze examples of gullies and arcuate ridges and assess their implications for impact crater degradation processes in the phaethontis quadrangle mc 24 we identified 225 craters that contain these features of these 188 had gullies on some portion of their walls 118 had arcuate ridges at the bases of the crater walls and 104 contained both features typically on the same crater wall a major result is that the pole facing or equator facing orientation of these features is latitude dependent at latitudes 44 s equator facing orientations for both ridges and gullies are prevalent but at latitudes

thermochemistry of monazite la and dissakisite la implications for monazite and allanite stability in metapelites thermochemical properties have been either measured or estimated for synthetic monazite lapo4 and dissakisite calamgal2 sio4 3oh the mg equivalent of allanite a dissakisite formation enthalpy of 6 976 5 10 0 kj mol 1 was derived from high temperature drop solution measurements in lead borate at 975 k a third law entropy value of 104 9 1 6 j mol 1 k 1 was retrieved from low temperature heat capacity c p measured on synthetic lapo4 with an adiabatic calorimeter in the 30 300 k range the c p values of lanthanum phases were measured in the 143 723 k range by differential scanning calorimetry in this study la oh 3 appeared as suitable for drop solution in lead borate and represents an attractive alternative to la2o3 pseudo sections were calculated with the theriak domino software using the thermochemical data retrieved here for a simplified metapelitic composition la ree y and considering monazite and fe free epidotes along the dissakisite clinozoisite join as the only ree bearing minerals calculation shows a stability window for dissakisite clinozoisite epidotes t between 250 and 550 c and p between 1 and 16 kbar included in a wide monazite field the p t extension of this stability window depends on the bulk rock ca content assuming that synthetic lapo4 and dissakisite la are good analogues of natural monazite and allanite these results are consistent with the ree mineralogy sequence observed in metapelites where 1 monazite is found to be stable below 250 c 2 around 250 450 c depending on the pressure allanite forms at the expense of monazite and 3 towards amphibolite conditions monazite reappears at the expense of allanite

possible ancient oceans on mars evidence from mars orbiter laser altimeter data high resolution altimetric data define the detailed topography of the northern lowlands of mars and a range of data is consistent with the hypothesis that a lowland encircling geologic contact represents the ancient shoreline of a large standing body of water present in middle mars history the contact altitude is close to an equipotential line the topography is smoother at all scales below the contact than above it the volume enclosed by this contact is within the range of estimates of available water on mars and a series of extensive terraces parallel the contact in many places

role of aquicludes in formation of martian gullies liquid water is not currently stable on the surface of mars but images provided by the mars orbiter camera aboard the mars global surveyor spacecraft reveal erosional landforms previously interpreted to be geologically young gullies formed by groundwater seepage we test the basic hypothesis that as on earth the location of these gullies is controlled in part by the presence of an impermeable rock layer aquiclude and that the depths of the gully heads below the surface should thus be correlated to subsurface geology we show that 1 gullies emanate from a specific cliff forming layer even if the layer is faulted and 2 the depth of gullies below the local surface ranges from 70 to 800 m and 3 is positively correlated to mapped geologic units gully formation is therefore dependent upon both favorable climatic conditions to produce and sustain liquid water and the presence of impermeable subsurface layers to collect the groundwater gullies may mark the distribution of subsurface impermeable layers globally and are prime targets for the search for present water and life on mars

limitations of chemical dating of monazite abstract instrumental and spectral characteristics germane to chemical dating of monazite have been tested using the cameca sx 100 at rensselaer polytechnic institute statistical analysis demonstrates that for trace element analysis equal counting time on peak and background is required for optimal statistical precision thus rendering impractical the procedure of fitting the entire spectrum to obtain background values energy shifts require shifting the detector voltage window between peak and background positions and it is concluded that the differential auto pha mode works optimally for this analyses of pb free phosphates silicates and oxides are used to measure spectral interferences with the pbm peak and background positions backgrounds were modeled using both linear and exponential fits it was found that the difference in background counts using the two fits varies with each of the five spectrometers examined and that the high pressure 3 bar detectors show larger differences in exponential vs linear peak minus background p b values than the low pressure 1 bar detectors in addition every spectrometer requires a unique correction for every major element in monazite an analytical protocol is presented that incorporates these results this protocol was applied to several monazite standards to determine inter spectrometer variability and spectrometer reproducibility from session to session it was found that the difference in composition and age between spectrometers on identical spots exceeds the 2 sigma standard error of the mean of composition or age on either spectrometer this means that a additional sources of error beyond the counting statistics exist between spectrometers b the precision of microprobe ages cannot be continuously improved by additional counting and c the minimum realistic precision is on the order of 2 3 for monazites with around 1500 2000 ppm total pb or an additional absolute uncertainty of 20 50 ppm pb

recent aqueous environments in martian impact craters an astrobiological perspective the discovery of gullies and debris aprons raises the question of the existence of aqueous environments on mars in recent geological times and its astrobiological implications three cases of such environments are surveyed at moc high resolution in the e gorgonum chaos and newton and hale craters the regional setting of these craters suggests that the mechanisms of aquifer destabilization flow discharge and gully formation in these three cases result from local geological triggers that can include impact cratering and tectonic processes rather than climate or insolation factor we take as a working hypothesis that microbial life appeared on mars in ancient geological times probably in a geothermal environment but potentially evolving via infrared detection systems to give photosynthetic communities under the selective pressure of energetic solar radiation we hypothesize that some microbial communities could have survived underground in either dormant or active state or that their biomolecules could be preserved either frozen or desiccated in the subsurface beneath the upper oxidized zone we assess the known environmental constraints for life and what type of potential habitats are provided in these three craters by aquifer discharges using comparison with terrestrial analogues and their associated microbial communities these environments include 1 the release of water on a dry crater floor in e gorgonum and the possibility for microorganisms and preserved biomolecules to be flushed out and mixed in with the sediment exposed at the surface 2 the evidence of a recent lacustrine episode in the newton crater with analogy to antarctic dry valley lakes 3 the exposure on the floor of hale crater of material from a regional subsurface that is likely to have retained traces of one of the oldest martian bodies of water recognized to date parker et al 2000 in the argyre basin we show how the water in argyre 3 8 billion years ago gya was likely to have been alterated by hydrothermal processes and how the subsequent formation of the 150 km hale crater on the northern ring of argyre generated hydrothermal pumping this accounts for the anomalously high location of the springs on the crater crests today with respect to the rest of the regional subsurface distribution finally we envision current impact cratering as a factor for destabilizing aquifers on mars today thus creating new environments we analyze the implications of impacts for two geological types of rock units that could harbor traces of life as a result we compare the potential of astrobiological exploration of crater floors rims and ejecta on future missions to mars

zircon u pb and trace element zoning characteristics in an anatectic granulite domain insights from lass icp ms depth profiling abstract understanding the geochemical characteristics of metamorphic zircon and how they may be modified by recrystallization processes is fundamental to defining the timescales of tectonic processes affecting continental lithosphere we utilize laser ablation split stream lass icp ms depth profiling analysis to obtain a continuous rim to core record of the u pb ages and trace element composition preserved within variably recrystallized zircon from different rock types within a well studied granulite domain in the western grenville province canada detailed analysis of the depth resolved signal enables definition of chemically distinct homogeneous internal domains and heterogeneous intervening zones that can generally be correlated with textural features observed in cl three age populations have been distinguished within the 35 m deep profiles that correlate well with the established timing of protolith formation granulite facies metamorphism and amphibolite facies shearing respectively the u pb isotopic system and th u ratios in much of the crystal interiors have undergone considerable modification as evidenced by a linear correlation between 207pb 206pb age and th u ratio interior and rim domains commonly contain blurred or faded oscillatory zoning patterns suggesting that solid state recrystallization is at least partially responsible for the modified u th pb composition a number of systematic trends in trace element composition are also observed between interior domains and recrystallized rims including 1 decreased th u to 0 1 2 tighter clustering of hf concentrations 3 decreased total ree 4 unchanged eu anomalies and 5 a widened spread of hree enrichment values ybn gdn both ybn gdn vs th u and u ce vs th plots show increasing degree of compositional differentiation from protolith zircon as a function of metamorphic reworking processes i e sample type the transition zones between interior and rim domains exhibit textural features consistent with solid state recrystallization and migration of a transgressive recrystallization front the main compositional characteristics of the transition zones are 1 spikes in u and ta 2 steady to abrupt increases in hf toward maximum values in the rims 3 steady to abrupt decreases in th toward minimum values in the rims and 4 variable ree patterns that include spikes troughs and montonic decreases most of these characteristics are consistent with the purging of larger ions from the crystal lattice during recrystallization with local bands of high concentration associated with recrystallization fronts

sm nd dating of seve eclogites norrbotten sweden evidence for early caledonian 505 ma subduction the seve nappes consist of long transported thrust sheets belonging to the upper allochthon within the scandinavian caledonides eclogites from two different megalenses within the seve nappe complex in norrbotten northern sweden have been dated with the sm nd method the two eclogite bearing megalenses have been subjected to different pressure and temperature conditions during the high pressure metamorphism garnet omphacite whole rock from ts2 within the tsakkok lens give an age of 505 18 ma 2 i 0 512231 0 000024 mswd 0 10 garnet and whole rock from ts5 and whole rock ts3 also fall on the above isochron the composite isochron gives an age of 503 18 ma 2 these results are interpreted to date the peak of the high pressure metamorphism 500 630 c and 12 15 kbars for the tsakkok lens the eclogites in the vaimok lens at grapesvarre were subjected to higher pressure and temperature conditions and more extensive reequilibration during the early cooling stages retrograde breakdown reactions accompanied by retrograde zoning of relict garnet seems to be associated with disturbance of the sm nd isotopic systems in contrast a sample with unzoned garnet and well preserved high pressure mineralogy from grapesvarre gives a sm nd garnet omphacite age of 503 14 ma 2 i 0 512010 0 000038 2 the ages for the seve eclogites are significantly older than the sm nd eclogite dates from the western gneiss region of norway wgr suggesting the existence of at least two eclogite forming events in the caledonide orogen the younger event has been related to the main continent continent collision stage of the caledonian orogeny while the older event that led to the production of the norrbotten eclogites must have taken place several hundred kilometres to the north and in a different tectonic setting more oceanward to the wgr it appears that the older event ca 505 ma was restricted to the subduction of dyke intruded sedimentary cover rocks which are thought to represent the rifted edge of the baltic continent

the thermal stability of near surface ground ice on mars the existence of subsurface water ice on mars has been predicted in several theoretical studies1 5 but there are no definitive observations of its present distribution geomorphic features on the surface of mars have been widely interpreted as evidence for the presence of ground ice6 12 but many of these features are found at near equatorial latitudes where thermal models have predicted that near surface water ice should not be stable under present climate conditions3 13 14 here i present the results of thermal calculations which show that observed geographic variations in the thermal and reflectance properties of martian soils significantly affect subsurface temperatures my results indicate that in certain regions ground ice deposits could exist much closer to the surface and much closer to the equator than previously thought in the future these deposits could be a valuable resource for human exploration15

monazite allanite phase relations in metapelites abstract calculations of the transition from allanite to monazite bearing assemblages in typical pelitic bulk compositions have been made using thermodynamic data estimated from oxide sums and inferred from natural parageneses calculations in the cfashpce and mnnckfmashpce systems place the allanite to monazite transition in the middle amphibolite facies 525 600 c for a bulk composition similar to shaw s average pelite the temperature of the transition is pressure dependent and strongly dependent on the bulk rock cao content consistent with inferences from natural parageneses the transition is also a function of the bulk al 2 o 3 content although the calculated result is opposite to that inferred from natural samples comparison with published results in the la mg system suggest that the nature of the ree phosphate does not greatly influence the conditions of the transition

episodic flood inundations of the northern plains of mars throughout the recorded history of mars liquid water has distinctly shaped its landscape including the prominent circum chryse and the northwestern slope valleys outflow channel systems and the extremely flat northern plains topography at the distal reaches of these outflow channel systems paleotopographic reconstructions of the tharsis magmatic complex reveal the existence of an europe sized noachian drainage basin and subsequent aquifer system in eastern tharsis this basin is proposed to have sourced outburst floodwaters that sculpted the outflow channels and ponded to form various hypothesized oceans seas and lakes episodically through time these floodwaters decreased in volume with time due to inadequate groundwater recharge of the tharsis aquifer system martian topography as observed from the mars orbiter laser altimeter corresponds well to these ancient flood inundations including the approximated shorelines that have been proposed for the northern plains stratigraphy geomorphology and topography record at least one great noachian early hesperian northern plains ocean a late hesperian sea inset within the margin of the high water marks of the previous ocean and a number of widely distributed minor lakes that may represent a reduced late hesperian sea or ponded waters in the deepest reaches of the northern plains related to minor tharsis and elysium induced amazonian flooding

experimental delta formation in crater lakes and implications for interpretation of martian deltas 1 the morphology of delta deposits in crater lakes on mars is indicative of upstream e g flow discharge and sediment properties and downstream e g basin characteristics parameters from which the hydrological conditions at the time of formation can be inferred to investigate the influences of these parameters on delta morphology we experimentally created deltas in crater shaped basins by feeding a range of constant flow discharges over a feeder channel of various sand textures we reproduced three categorically different types of deltas including most of the types that have been identified on mars our most striking observation is that water level behavior itself a unique function of flow discharge basin size and hypsometry and basin floor permeability can explain most delta morphologies observed on mars stepped retrograding deltas formed during water level rise prograding deltas formed during water level still stand and during water level fall deltas were partially destroyed by erosion on mars numerous retrograding and prograding deltas were preserved most of them without indications of channel incisions or other fluvial modification we conclude that the main difference between a single foreset prograding delta and a multiple foreset retrograding delta is the behavior of the water level in the basin these simple delta morphologies cannot be reconciled with long duration hydrological activity because that would imply crater lake fluctuations due to inherent complex water level histories along with complex sediment delivery histories our experiments and numerical verifications demonstrate that such deltas preferentially form during one aqueous event which parsimoniously argues for short duration hydrological activity

monazite ages in the chesham pond nappe sw new hampshire u s a implications for assembly of central new england thrust sheets four distinct generations of monazite growth have been identified in samples from the chesham pond nappe and three monazite compositional domains 2 3 and 4 have been correlated with both temperature and mineral assemblage domain 1 cores were interpreted previously to be detrital relics or vestiges of an earlier acadian metamorphism the four monazite domains have been dated by in situ isotope and chemical methods the following are chemical ages of each domain weighted average 2 standard errors of the mean 400 10 ma domain 1 381 8 ma domain 2 372 6 ma domain 3 352 14 ma domain 4 heating and cooling rates derived from combining monazite ages monazite thermometry and 40ar 39ar closure temperatures are approximately 10 15 c m y for heating from 470 to 740 c approximately 8 c m y for cooling from 740 to 375 c and approximately 1 2 c m y for cooling from 375 to 150 c temperature time paths calculated with monazite ages and monazite thermometry indicate that 1 plutonism at ca 400 ma was the likely heat source for the formation of monazite domain 1 and 2 monazite domains 2 4 were produced during a regional low pressure high temperature metamorphism active between 380 350 ma the regional metamorphism is ascribed to lithospheric mantle delamination followed by asthenospheric mantle upwelling which heated a wide area of the merrimack basin southwestern new hampshire central massachusetts central connecticut to temperatures in excess of 725 c monazite ages in the chesham pond nappe and adjacent structural units to the west constrain the commencement of nappe overthrusting to roughly 355 ma

ejection of rock fragments from planetary bodies the recent discovery of alha81005 a small meteorite that undoubtedly came from the moon has raised questions about how an intact rock fragment could survive acceleration to planetary escape velocities this acceleration could only have been produced by a large impact on the lunar surface a small amount of material 0 005 to 0 02 projectile volume may be ejected from an impact crater at speeds exceeding lunar escape velocity without suffering petrographically detectable shock damage the ejected material is protected by stress wave interference close to the free surface the existence and size of this zone depend upon parameters such as the rise time of the stress pulse produced by an impact the fragment size is a function of ejection velocity the lunar meteorite was ejected during an impact event that produced a crater at least 3 6 km in diameter other meteorites may have originated in a similar way

eocene tectonometamorphism on serifos western cyclades deduced from zircon depth profiling geochronology and mica thermochronology abstract phengite bearing metasedimentary sequences preserving relict glaucophane from serifos western aegean are indicative of high pressure conditions during cycladic blueschist metamorphism depth profiling and conventional sims u pb geochronology and o isotope analysis on zircon from highly strained orthogneisses at the base of the sequence reveal xenocrystic zircon with varying degrees of recrystallization one end member population has needle like or prismatic morphologies is internally oscillatory zoned with little to no rim material created during recrystallization these zircons yield triassic to carboniferous ages elevated th u and 18 o mostly ranging between 4 and 11 in marked contrast a separate zircon population has a spongy structure created by complete recrystallization of the pre existing crystal these zircons possess low th u and flat hree patterns and yield eocene ages with 18 o 7 chondrite normalized ree profiles are extremely depleted within this spectrum other zircons show variable states of recrystallization and mixed ages regression of u pb data from three mylonitic orthogneiss samples that exhibit near complete recrystallization and similar age depth profiles yields c 40 ma ages these new data are the first geochronological constraints that successfully demonstrate an eocene metamorphic event in the western cyclades and new 40 ar 39 ar phengitic mica ages of 38 32 ma presented here suggest the metamorphic wedge was exhumed into the shallow crust shortly thereafter

a geomorphic analysis of hale crater mars the effects of impact into ice rich crust abstract hale crater a 125 150 km impact crater located near the intersection of uzboi vallis and the northern rim of argyre basin at 35 7 s 323 6 e is surrounded by channels that radiate from incise and transport material within hale s ejecta the spatial and temporal relationship between the channels and hale s ejecta strongly suggests the impact event created or modified the channels and emplaced fluidized debris flow lobes over an extensive area 200 000 km2 we estimate 1010 m3 of liquid water was required to form some of hale s smaller channels a volume we propose was supplied by subsurface ice melted and mobilized by the hale forming impact if 10 of the subsurface volume was ice based on a conservative porosity estimate for the upper martian crust 1012 m3 of liquid water could have been present in the ejecta we determine a crater retention age of 1 ga inside the primary cavity providing a minimum age for hale and a time at which we propose the subsurface was volatile rich hale crater demonstrates the important role impacts may play in supplying liquid water to the martian surface they are capable of producing fluvially modified terrains that may be analogous to some landforms of noachian mars

origin and evolution of valleys on martian volcanoes morphological analyses of six martian volcanoes ceraunius tholus hecates tholus alba patera hadriaca patera apollinaris patera and tyrrhena patera indicate that fluvial processes were the dominant influence in the initiation and subsequent development of many dissecting valleys lava processes and possibly volcanic density flows were also important as valley forming processes fluvial valleys are especially well developed on alba patera ceraunius tholus and hecates tholus these valleys are inset into the surrounding landscape they formed in regions of subdued lava flow morphology contain tributaries and tend to widen slightly in the downstream direction lava channels on alba patera are located on the crest of lava flows and have a discontinuous irregular surface morphology and distributary patterns these channels sometimes narrow toward their termini possible volcanic density flow channels are located on the northern flank of ceraunius tholus valleys dissecting apollinaris patera hadriaca patera and tyrrhena patera appear to have a complex evolution probably a mixed fluvial and lava origin they are inset into a subdued possibly mantled surface lack tributaries and either have fairly constant widths or widen slightly downvalley valleys surrounding the caldera of apollinaris appear to have formed by fluvial and possibly by volcanic density flow processes while those on the apollinaris fan structure may have a mixed lava and fluvial origin valleys on tyrrhena have broad flat floors and theater heads which have been extensively enlarged probably by sapping hadriaca valleys have a trough shaped form like those on the fan structure on apollinaris but are more enlarged and have theater heads fluvial valleys on the martian volcanoes generally followed a two stage evolutionary sequence similar to that of the hawaiian volcano valleys including 1 initial formation by surface runoff and 2 subsequent enlargement by groundwater sapping because basalt is highly permeable valleys on hawaii island formed only in regions where lava flows were mantled by less permeable volcanic ash similarly fluvial valleys on the martian volcanoes particularly those on alba patera formed in regions where lava flow morphology is subdued probably by ash mantling thus the presence or absence of this mantling may explain why fluvial valleys are present on some martian volcanoes but not on others of the same age the formation of fluvial or fluvial modified valleys on the older volcanoes ceraunius hecates tyrrhena apollinaris and hadriaca implies that surface and near surface water activity was widespread during late noachian to early hesperian period of heavy bombardment however the presence of anomalously young fluvial valleys on alba patera indicates that fluvial valley activity did not entirely cease near the end of late heavy bombardment but rather persisted in isolated regions until mid to late amazonian

low temperature alteration of monazite fluid mediated coupled dissolution precipitation irradiation damage and disturbance of the u pb and th pb chronometers abstract low temperature alteration of monazite is documented in three centimeter sized monazite crystals from norway arendal madagascar ambato and sri lanka the three crystals have different chemical compositions especially in their u th y and pb contents and have 208 pb 232 th ages ranging from 491 to 900 ma optical microscope om scanning electron microscope sem and transmission electron microscope tem images and electron microprobe analyses epma show that all three preserve a similar patchy texture this texture is interpreted as resulting from an alteration reaction in which unaltered monazite mnz1 reacts to form a secondary th u y depleted high th u monazite mnz2 accompanied by thorite huttonite thsio 4 thorianite tho 2 and xenotime ypo 4 the proportions of which are dependent upon the initial composition of the monazite mnz1 images reveal variably intense internal fracturing with cracks filled with th rich fe rich phases monazite xenotime thermometry demonstrates that the pristine monazites mnz1 interacted with a low temperature fluid the alteration process is interpreted to follow a mechanism of fluid mediated coupled dissolution precipitation chemical dating with the electron microprobe shows no th u pb age differences between primary and secondary monazites except in the case of the ambato monazite in which altered domains yield older 750 ma apparent ages than the pristine mnz1 domains u pb and th pb isotope dating using la icp ms yields ages consistent with electron probe dates for pristine mnz1 zones however disturbance of these systems in the altered monazite domains leads to variable age results for these depending on sample in the case of sri lanka and arendal only 208 pb 232 th dates provide a reasonable estimate of the age of alteration which are constrained to be 450 and 864 ma respectively u pb systems are disturbed due to common pb contamination up to 40 and u fractionation relative to th during alteration responsible for depletion of u in altered monazites and increase of th u in contrast for the ambato monazite both the u pb and th pb systems were affected and yield inconsistent older dates for altered zones this is attributed to significant common pb contamination up to 80 which affects all pb isotopes and explains why electron probe ages are erroneous th u silicate contamination during measurement resulting from the presence of a numerous nano phases and nano fractures filled with th u silicates that are visible only under tem also contributes to the anomalously old ages for these disturbed mnz2 domains these results demonstrate the important role of radiation damage effects in particular swelling induced fracturing and the essential role of porosity and cracks which allow fluid charged with elements migration through monazite during low temperature alteration

surviving the limits to life at the surface of mars the harshness of the environment at its surface severely limits the survival of unprotected terrestrial organisms on mars however the martian geologic record is consistent with an earlier history with much different climatic conditions more conducive to life followed by an extended climate change which led to the currently inhospitable state such a transition is ideal for evolutionary adaptation to new conditions because it provides both the forcing function and the extensive time for progressive specializations it is shown that against each of the current limits to life organics deprivation restricted amounts and physical forms of h2o limited availability of other key nutrients ionizing radiation insult and strongly oxidizing chemical species there are plausible countermeasure solutions most but not all of these mechanisms already exist as known examples in terrestrial biota a combination of these adaptations could conceivably allow highly tailored organisms either active or dormant to survive at or very near the surface of mars even in carefully preserved regolith samples returned to earth microorganisms could be difficult to detect without specific biochemical probes and or purposeful biological amplification by selective enhancement of the supply of nutrients optimized incubation parameters and highly sensitive detection of metabolic activity

impact crater lakes on mars the robotic search for life on mars centers on identifying accessible environments where the biological catalyst water has existed the formation of large impact craters on mars 65 km diameter may have resulted in the creation of ice covered impact crater lakes which would not freeze for thousands of years even under present climatic conditions water could be supplied from deep confined aquifers penetrated by the impact craters without the need for surface melt water freezing of the lakes is postponed owing to heat from impact generated melt bearing deposits from impact related uplift of hotter rocks from depth and from the latent heat of freezing of a deep crater lake abundant morphologic evidence for ancient crater lakes has not been found in viking images except for craters associated with outflow channels however ice covered crater lakes could have formed and further searches for evidence of these lakes are warranted the lake deposits from dissected impact craters may represent one of the best targets for future surface exobiology investigations or sample return missions from mars

fluid mediated partial alteration in monazite the role of coupled dissolution reprecipitation in element redistribution and mass transfer monazite ce lree th u ca p si o4 with complex zoning in th and other elements is commonly observed in metamorphic and igneous rocks the hypothesis that this alteration is a product of fluid mediated element mass transfer has been tested in the piston cylinder press caf2 assembly cylindrical graphite oven at 1 000 mpa and 900 c and in cold seal autoclaves on a hydrothermal line at 500 mpa and 600 c experiments included a relatively homogeneous monazite ce 7 8 wt tho2 from a heavy mineral sand plus a series of alkali bearing fluids including 2n naoh 2n koh and na2si2o5 h2o experiments were conducted using bse imaging emp analysis and both tem and hrtem a subset of monazite grains from each experiment show evidence of partial alteration in the form of areas enriched in th si with sharp curvilinear compositional boundaries extending from the grain rim into the monazite interior these thsio4 enriched textures are similar to those commonly seen in natural examples of metasomatised monazite in both magmatic and metamorphic rocks in the na2si2o5 h2o experiments scarce inclusions of britholite formed in the altered monazite the altered monazite is also characterised by strong depletion in pb ca and y thorium and si mobility coupled with the formation of britholite inclusions during partial alteration in the monazite grain is considered to be the product of fluid aided coupled dissolution reprecipitation as opposed to solid state diffusion since other fluids including nacl and kcl brines do not result in the formation of these textures the experimental replication of thsio4 enriched areas in the monazite strongly suggests that similar textures in monazite observed in nature are fluid induced specifically by alkali bearing fluids if true complex metasomatically induced textures in monazite could yield information concerning the nature of the fluid responsible for their formation as well as allow for the dating of the metasomatic event presuming that all the original radiogenic pb has been removed

air blast produced by the meteor crater impact event and a reconstruction of the affected environment using scaling relationships determined from nuclear explosions the radial extent of the air blast produced by the meteor crater impact event is estimated the wind velocity at a distance of 5 crater radii 3 km from the point of impact should have exceeded 2000 km h hurricane force winds would have existed as far away as 20 to 40 km depending on the exact explosive energy of the impact event to determine how this event may have affected the environment surrounding the crater the topography vegetation and animal life that existed at the time of the impact are reconstructed for example if the coniferous woodlands were 100 m lower than they are presently and they had moved farther out onto the plains then the air blast would have flattened trees within a 16 to 22 km radius of the point of impact and damaged them over an area of 4100 to 8500 km2 the distance over which the damage occurred may have been up to 2 larger in some directions around the crater because of additional effects produced by the ballistic shock wave unfortunately since the trajectory of the projectile is not well known the direction of the ballistic shock wave effects cannot yet be determined

the evolution of lacustrine environments on mars is mars only hydrologically dormant abstract this study surveys the evolution of martian impact crater paleolakes through time by establishing their age comparing their locations and describing the formation of lacustrine sedimentary structures and features over time we explore their meaning in terms of global climate changes but also on local and regional scales we observe a co location between recent impact crater paleolakes and regions where gcm modeling shows that mars is currently experiencing days above triple point and below boiling point of water some source areas show morphologies that could be consistent with ancient glacier features in the argyre basin darwin crater region in locations that are also consistent with gcm models of past snow precipitation on mars we propose that at least for some paleolakes our results are best explained by recent and abundant aqueous activity on mars with some meteorological contribution these results are supported by other recent findings on martian meteorite ages by the analysis of new mgs data showing recent volcanic and fluvial activity and by climate modeling they point toward the possibility that mars currently is only hydrologically dormant and that there is a potential for hydrological activity to be generated again in the future following changes in the planet s orbital parameters

hydrothermal alteration in basalts from vargeao impact structure south brazil and implications for recognition of impact induced hydrothermalism on mars abstract the 12 km wide vargeao impact structure was formed 123 myr ago in the parana basaltic province southern brazil at this time the province region had a dry climate although a large brackish aquifer had been formed in the underlying sandstones it is therefore one of the best terrestrial analogs for studying impact related products on a dry martian surface environment with preserved ice rich ground the basalts within the impact structure display cm sized breccia veins filled with lithic clasts glassy remnants newly formed fe oxyhydroxides and secondary phases such as calcite phyllosilicates and subordinately quartz and zeolite the textural and mineralogical study of these phases demonstrate their hydrothermal origin although the very center of the structure has experienced the highest pressures and temperatures the most developed hydrothermal changes are recognized in an inner collar surrounding the central depression this inner collar is also the location of major modifications of the rock magnetic properties these magnetic signatures are related to the distribution of impact related faults and to the formation of new iron oxides geochemical modeling indicate that hydrothermal phases formation required low water rock ratios our observations therefore suggest that hydrothermal alteration took place following the perturbation of the aquifer by the impact but evidence for hydrothermal circulation is limited in comparison with other impact related hydrothermal systems this situation may be explained by the presence of the aquifer below the heat source such a setting being exceptional for the earth but common on mars however the spectroscopic signatures in visible near infrared images suggest that this kind of impact related hydrothermal alteration may be still indentified in large impact craters on mars by orbital instruments these results does not exclude the possibility that more developed alteration took place in breccias that are today eroded

modeling the formation of bright slope deposits associated with gullies in hale crater mars implications for recent liquid water abstract our study investigates possible formation mechanisms of the very recent bright gully deposits bgds observed on mars in order to assess if liquid water was required we use two models in our assessment a one dimensional 1d kinematic model to model dry granular flows and a two dimensional 2d fluid dynamic model flo 2d o brien et al 1993 flo engineering to model water rich and wet sediment rich flows our modeling utilizes a high resolution topographic model generated from a pair of images acquired by the high resolution imaging science experiment hirise aboard the mars reconnaissance orbiter for the 1d kinematic modeling of dry granular flows we examine a range of particle sizes flow thicknesses initial velocities flow densities and upslope initiation points to examine how these parameters affect the flow run out distances of the center of mass of a flow our 1d modeling results show that multiple combinations of realistic parameters could produce dry granular flows that travel to within the observed deposits boundaries we run the 2d fluid dynamic model flo 2d to model both water rich and wet sediment rich flows we vary the inflow volume inflow location discharge rate water loss rate water rich models only and simulation time and examine the resulting maximum flow depths and velocities our 2d modeling results suggest that both wet sediment rich and water rich flows could produce the observed bright deposits our modeling shows that the bgds are not definitive evidence of recent liquid water on the surface of mars

trace element signature and u pb geochronology of eclogite facies zircon bergen arcs caledonides of w norway secondary ion mass spectrometry sims u pb and trace element data are reported for zircon to address the controversial geochronology of eclogite facies metamorphism in the lindas nappe bergen arcs caledonides of w norway caledonian eclogite facies overprint in the nappe was controlled by fracturing and introduction of fluid in the proterozoic sveconorwegian granulite facies meta anorthosite norite protolith zircon grains in one massive eclogite display a core rim structure sveconorwegian cores have trace element signatures identical with those of zircon in the granulite protolith i e 0 31 th u 0 89 heavy rare earth element hree enrichment and negative eu anomaly weakly zoned to euhedral oscillatory zoned caledonian rims are characterized by th u 0 13 low lree content minimum normalized abundance for pr or nd variable enrichment in hree and no eu anomaly a decrease of ree towards the outermost rim especially hree is documented this signature reflects co precipitation of zircon with garnet and clinozoisite in a feldspar absent assemblage and consequently links zircon to the eclogite facies overprint the rims provide a mean 206pb 238u crystallization age of 423 4 ma this age reflects eclogite forming reactions and fluid rock interaction this age indicates that eclogite facies overprint in the lindas nappe took place at the onset of the scandian silurian collision between laurentia and baltica

crater size frequency distributions and a revised martian relative chronology a revised martian relative chronology is determined which dates geologic units with respect to the end of the period of heavy bombardment this analysis differs from previous studies by using viking 1 2m photomosaics to map all 25 826 craters 8km diameter which postdate the lithologic units making up the martian surface the relative plotting technique is used because it shows changes in the shape and density of the crater size frequency distribution curves more clearly than cumulative plots the changes in shapes of the distribution curves are interpreted to be due to two different impacting populations one dominating during the heavy bombardment period and the other emplaced during the post heavy bombardment period the 8 km diameter limit was chosen to exclude the majority of secondary craters and to minimize obliteration effects acting over the age of the planet the results obtained are average ages valid for units with typical thicknesses between about 1 and 3 km and extending over an area of about 105 km2 the shapes and densities of the crater distribution curves indicate that approximately 60 of the martian lithologic units in which these craters occur formed during the period of heavy bombardment many of the small volcanoes those generally less than 200 km diameter including most in the tharsis and elysium regions date from this period the hellas and argyre impacts bracket the average age of the intercrater plains in the highlands the ridged plains distribution curves indicate formation during the period of heavy bombardment but their lower crater density indicates that they are the last geologic unit to retain the scars from this population of impactors they therefore likely formed near the end of heavy bombardment the remaining 40 of martian terrain units show distribution curves indicative of emplacement since the end of heavy bombardment the wide range in crater densities among different regions of plains indicate a range in formation ages although the general view of martian geologic evolution does not differ significantly from previous studies the present analysis explicitly states the relationship of numerous geologic units to the period of heavy bombardment and has revised the relative ages of localized regions across mars

intra crater sedimentary deposits at the haughton impact structure devon island canadian high arctic detailed field mapping has revealed the presence of a series of intra crater sedimentary deposits within the interior of the haughton impact structure devon island canadian high arctic coarse grained well sorted pale gray lithic sandstones reworked impact melt breccias unconformably overlie pristine impact melt breccias and attest to an episode of erosion during which time significant quantities of impact melt breccias were removed the reworked impact melt breccias are in turn unconformably overlain by paleolacustrine sediments of the miocene haughton formation sediments of the haughton formation were clearly derived from pre impact lower paleozoic target rocks of the allen bay formation which form the crater rim in the northern western and southern regions of the haughton structure collectively these field relationships indicate that the haughton formation was deposited up to several million years after the formation of the haughton crater and that they do not therefore represent an immediate post impact crater lake deposit this is consistent with new isotopic dating of impactites from haughton that indicate an eocene age for the impact event sherlock et al 2005 in addition isolated deposits of post miocene intra crater glacigenic and fluvioglacial sediments were found lying unconformably over remnants of the haughton formation impact melt breccias and other pre impact target rock formations these deposits provide clear evidence for glaciation at the haughton crater the wealth and complexity of geological and climatological information preserved as intra crater deposits at haughton suggests that craters on mars with intra crater sedimentary records might present us with similar opportunities but also possibly significant challenges

pillow lavas as protoliths for eclogites evidence from a late precambrian cambrian continental margin seve nappes scandinavian caledonides pillow lavas containing an eclogitic mineral assemblage locally with glaucophane crossite are described from the tsakkok lens within the seve nappes north central scandinavian caledonides critical primary relationships to the host metasedimentary rocks which are dominated by marble and quartz garnet phengite schist are preserved it is argued that these clastic rocks and the ongoing igneous activity in the tsakkok lens are late precambrian to cambrian in age and that these rocks were deposited emplaced along the outermost part of a continental margin related to the continent baltica

porphyrins in upper jurassic source rocks and correlations with other source rock descriptors the porphyrin content and composition in the extractable organic matter has been analysed in 13 kimmeridge clay source rocks spread from the north to the south of the norwegian continental shelf the samples are predominantly immature early mature the distribution of nickel and vanadyl porphyrins within the samples is markedly different effects of the thermal maturity on the composition of porphyrins is evaluated and compared with biomarker parameters based on sterane and hopane ratios maturity is modelled using partial least squares pls multivariate analysis with t max as a maturity indicator porphyrin parameters based on the total carbon number distribution of dpep and etio series from the mass spectral data of the nickel and vanadyl porphyrin fractions effectively describe the t max of the samples with a better correlation than aliphatic biomarker ratios selected porphyrin and biomarker ratios were used for principal component analysis pca modelling and found to describe two types of variation that may be indicative of the prevailing depositional redox conditions

a mossbauer investigation of iron rich terrestrial hydrothermal vent systems lessons for mars exploration hydrothermal spring systems may well have been present on early mars and could have served as a habitat for primitive life the integrated instrument suite of the athena rover has as a component on the robotic arm a mossbauer spectrometer in the context of future mars exploration we present results of mossbauer analysis of a suite of samples from an iron rich thermal spring in the chocolate pots area of yellowstone national park ynp and from obsidian pool ynp and manitou springs colorado we have found that mossbauer spectroscopy can discriminate among the iron bearing minerals in our samples those near the vent and on the surface are identified as ferrihydrite an amorphous ferric mineraloid subsurface samples collected from cores which are likely to have undergone inorganic and or biologically mediated alteration diagenesis exhibit spectral signatures that include nontronite a smectite clay hematite alpha fe2o3 small particle nanophase goethite alpha feooh and siderite feco3 we find for iron minerals that mossbauer spectroscopy is at least as efficient in identification as x ray diffraction this observation is important from an exploration standpoint as a planetary surface instrument mossbauer spectroscopy can yield high quality spectral data without sample preparation backscatter mode we have also used field emission scanning electron microscopy fesem in conjunction with energy dispersive x ray edx fluorescence spectroscopy to characterize the microbiological component of surface sinters and the relation between the microbiological and the mineralogical framework evidence is presented that the minerals found in these deposits can have multi billion year residence times and thus may have survived their possible production in a putative early martian hot spring up to the present day examples include the nanophase property and the mossbauer signature for siderite which has been identified in a 2 09 billion year old hematite rich chert stromatolite our research demonstrates that in situ mossbauer spectroscopy can help determine whether hydrothermal mineral deposits exist on mars which is significant for exobiology because of the issue of whether that world ever had conditions conductive to the origin of life as a useful tool for selection of samples suitable for transport to earth mossbauer spectroscopy will not only serve geological interests but will also have potential for exopaleontology

early ordovician u pb metamorphic ages of the eclogite bearing seve nappes northern scandinavian caledonides eclogite grade metamorphism of the seve nappe complex snc in norrbotten sweden records the attempted subduction of the baltic continental margin during the early palaeozoic evolution of the iapetus ocean metamorphic titanite sampled from several calcsilicate gneisses of the snc in norrbotten occurs as part of a prograde eclogite facies metamorphic mineral assemblage and yields concordant to nearly concordant u pb ages of 500 475 ma later structural disruption of these rocks occurred during the siluro devonian scandian phase of the caledonide orogeny but the u pb systematics show no evidence of a second generation metamorphic or recrystallized of titanite or of post early ordovician disturbance through pb loss hence the u pb ages are believed to record the time of prograde mineral growth during eclogite facies metamorphism of the snc these results support earlier sm nd and 40ar 39ar studies indicating an early ordovician metamorphic age for the eclogitic norrbotten snc and confirm the early ordovician destruction of at least this segment of the palaeozoic passive margin of baltica these results indicate that the snc in the northern scandinavian caledonides was subducted and metamorphosed to high grade some 50 70 myr prior to the high grade metamorphism of the snc in the central scandinavian caledonides this result requires significantly different early palaeozoic tectonic histories for rocks mapped as snc in the northern caledonides and those in the central caledonides despite a seemingly similar tectonostratigraphic position and broadly similar high grade metamorphism

microdiamond discovered in the seve nappe scandinavian caledonides and its exhumation by the vacuum cleaner mechanism when a continent collides with an island arc or other continent continental crust of the subducted continent may be buried to depths exceeding 100 km and exposed to pressures that can cause formation of coesite and diamond this process leads to substantial density increase in sio2 rich rocks and in turn to a reduction of the buoyancy of the subducted material which should inhibit exhumation nevertheless coesite and diamond bearing continental crustal rocks are known from several occurrences worldwide we report on the discovery of microdiamond in kyanite garnet gneiss from allochthonous metasediments of the seve nappe complex in the scandinavian caledonides our discovery calls for general reconsideration of existing exhumation models of deeply subducted continental crust we propose that the diamond bearing rocks were subducted in an arc continent collision setting and their exhumation was facilitated by local pressure reduction resulting from extraction of the forearc lithospheric block

onset of seafloor spreading in the iapetus ocean at 608 ma precise age of the sarek dyke swarm northern swedish caledonides abstract the sarek dyke swarm sds crops out in the sarektjakka nappe sn of the seve kalak superterrane in the northern swedish caledonides the sn has two main components 1 a 4 5 km thick succession of rift related sedimentary rocks which is intruded by 2 a suite of tholeiitic dykes the sds constituting 70 80 of the nappe the nappe was deformed during caledonian thrusting but dykes and sedimentary rocks in the interior of the eastern parts of the sn are preserved in a pristine state the tholeiitic dykes of the sds commonly occur in sheeted dyke complexes and up to 11 successive generations can be identified from crosscutting relations the sn represents the fossil continent ocean transition between the baltic craton and the iapetus ocean marking the initiation of seafloor spreading bubble shaped pods and veinlets of diorite are present in the sds sheeted dyke complexes the pods are absent in the oldest dykes but the younger a dyke the more frequent the pods the diorite pods are the equivalent of gabbro pegmatites and both cogenetic and coeval with the dykes the rapid successive emplacement of tholeiitic magma raised the ambient temperature in the dyke complex so that crystallization in the youngest dykes mimicked similar processes in gabbro plutons six zircon fractions from the diorite pods including two single grains were analysed geochronologically by the u pb thermal ionization mass spectrometry method the data yield a linear array of points that are 0 4 0 8 normally discordant indicating a crystallization age of 608 1 ma 207pb 206pb 607 9 0 7 ma mswd 0 33 this age is inferred to date the onset of seafloor spreading in the iapetus ocean along the baltoscandian margin

distribution classification and ages of martian impact crater lakes paleolakes in impact craters on mars are characterized at global scale using the viking orbiter data we identified 179 paleolakes in impact structures formed by the influx of water and sediment derived from valley networks and channels that can be classified into three different fluviolacustrine systems closed open and lake chain systems we show the hydrogeologic implications for each of the three systems and their significance in terms of duration of fluviolacustrine activity this study provides a catalog of areographic physical and physiographic data for each of the studied impact crater lakes associated with the description of the sedimentary structures observed it also identifies environments where life and or precursors to life could have found favorable conditions to evolve