spectrophotometric properties of materials observed by pancam on the mars exploration rovers 3 sols 500 1525 abstract the panoramic camera pancam on the mars exploration rovers spirit and opportunity acquired visible near infrared 432 1009 nm multispectral observations of soils and rocks under varying viewing and illumination geometries data retrieved from these images were modeled using radiative transfer theory to study the microphysical and surface scattering nature of materials at both sites nearly 57 000 individual measurements from 1900 images were collected of rock and soil units identified by their color and morphologic properties over a wide range of phase angles 0 150 images were acquired between sols 500 and 1525 in the columbia hills and regions around home plate in gusev crater and in the plains and craters between erebus and victoria craters in meridiani planum corrections for diffuse skylight incorporated sky models based on observations of atmospheric opacity throughout the mission disparity maps created from pancam stereo images allowed estimates of local facet orientations for spirit soils at lower elevations near home plate were modeled with lower single scattering albedo w values than those on the summit of husband hill but otherwise soils exhibited similar scattering properties to previous gusev soils dark ripple sands at the el dorado dunes were among the most forward scattering materials modeled silica rich soils and nodules near home plate were analyzed for the first time and exhibited increased forward scattering behavior with increasing wavelength consistent with microporosity inferred from previous high resolution images and thermal infrared spectroscopy for opportunity the opposition effect width parameter for sandstone outcrop rocks was modeled for the first time and demonstrated average values consistent with surfaces of intermediate porosity and or grain size distribution between those modeled for spherule rich soils and darker clast poor soils soils outside a wind streak emanating from the northern rim of victoria crater exhibited w values 16 higher than soils inside the streak overall w values and scattering properties for outcrop rocks spherule rich soils and rover tracks were similar to previous meridiani planum analyses emphasizing the homogeneity of these materials across nearly 12 km of rover odometry

curiosity at gale crater mars characterization and analysis of the rocknest sand shadow the rocknest aeolian deposit is similar to aeolian features analyzed by the mars exploration rovers mers spirit and opportunity the fraction of sand 150 micrometers in size contains 55 crystalline material consistent with a basaltic heritage and 45 x ray amorphous material the amorphous component of rocknest is iron rich and silicon poor and is the host of the volatiles water oxygen sulfur dioxide carbon dioxide and chlorine detected by the sample analysis at mars instrument and of the fine grained nanophase oxide component first described from basaltic soils analyzed by mers the similarity between soils and aeolian materials analyzed at gusev crater meridiani planum and gale crater implies locally sourced globally similar basaltic materials or globally and regionally sourced basaltic components deposited locally at all three locations

visible near infrared spectral diversity from in situ observations of the bagnold dune field sands in gale crater mars as part of the bagnold dune campaign conducted by mars science laboratory rover curiosity visible near infrared reflectance spectra of dune sands were acquired using mast camera mastcam multispectral imaging 445 1013 nm and chemistry and camera chemcam passive point spectroscopy 400 840 nm by comparing spectra from pristine and rover disturbed ripple crests and troughs within the dune field and through analysis of sieved grain size fractions constraints on mineral segregation from grain sorting could be determined in general the dune areas exhibited low relative reflectance a weak 530 nm absorption band an absorption band near 620 nm and a spectral downturn after 685 nm consistent with olivine bearing sands the finest grain size fractions occurred within ripple troughs and in the subsurface and typically exhibited the strongest 530 nm bands highest relative reflectances and weakest red near infrared ratios consistent with a combination of crystalline and amorphous ferric materials coarser grained samples were the darkest and bluest and exhibited weaker 530 nm bands lower relative reflectances and stronger downturns in the near infrared consistent with greater proportions of mafic minerals such as olivine and pyroxene these grains were typically segregated along ripple crests and among the upper surfaces of grain flows in disturbed sands sieved dune sands exhibited progressive decreases in reflectance with increasing grain size as observed in laboratory spectra of olivine size separates the continuum of spectral features observed between the coarse and fine grained dune sands suggests that mafic grains ferric materials and air fall dust mix in variable proportions depending on aeolian activity and grain sorting

large wind ripples on mars a record of atmospheric evolution wind blowing over sand on earth produces decimeter wavelength ripples and hundred meter to kilometer wavelength dunes bedforms of two distinct size modes observations from the mars science laboratory curiosity rover and the mars reconnaissance orbiter reveal that mars hosts a third stable wind driven bedform with meter scale wavelengths these bedforms are spatially uniform in size and typically have asymmetric profiles with angle of repose lee slopes and sinuous crest lines making them unlike terrestrial wind ripples rather these structures resemble fluid drag ripples which on earth include water worked current ripples but on mars instead form by wind because of the higher kinematic viscosity of the low density atmosphere a reevaluation of the wind deposited strata in the burns formation about 3 7 billion years old or younger identifies potential wind drag ripple stratification formed under a thin atmosphere

mineralogy of the msl curiosity landing site in gale crater as observed by mro crism orbital data acquired by the compact reconnaissance imaging spectrometer for mars crism and high resolution imaging science experiment instruments on the mars reconnaissance orbiter mro provide a synoptic view of compositional stratigraphy on the floor of gale crater surrounding the area where the mars science laboratory msl curiosity landed fractured light toned material exhibits a 2 2 m absorption consistent with enrichment in hydroxylated silica this material may be distal sediment from the peace vallis fan with cement and fracture fill containing the silica this unit is overlain by more basaltic material which has 1 m and 2 m absorptions due to pyroxene that are typical of martian basaltic materials both materials are partially obscured by aeolian dust and basaltic sand dunes to the southeast exhibit differences in mafic mineral signatures with barchan dunes enhanced in olivine relative to pyroxene containing longitudinal dunes this compositional difference may be related to aeolian grain sorting

the chemcam remote micro imager at gale crater review of the first year of operations on mars abstract the mars science laboratory rover curiosity landed near the base of a 5 km high mound of layered material in gale crater mounted on the rover mast the chemcam instrument is designed to remotely determine the composition of soils and rocks located a few meters from the rover using a laser induced breakdown spectrometer libs coupled to a remote micro imager rmi we provide an overview of the diverse imaging investigations that were carried out by chemcam s rmi during the first year of operation on mars 1182 individual panchromatic rmi images were acquired from sol 10 to sol 360 to document the chemcam libs measurements and to characterize soils rocks and rover hardware we show several types of derived imaging products including mosaics of images taken before and after laser shots difference images to enhance the most subtle laser pits merges with color mastcam 100 images micro topography using the z stack technique and time lapse movies the very high spatial resolution of rmi is able to resolve rock textures at sub mm scales which provides clues regarding the origin igneous versus sedimentary of rocks and to reveal information about their diagenetic and weathering evolution in addition to its scientific value over the range accessible by libs 1 7 m we also show that rmi can also serve as a powerful long distance reconnaissance tool to characterize the landscape at distances up to several kilometers from the rover

sorting in grain flows at the lee side of dunes abstract sediment sorting at the lee side of ripples dunes and bars has already been recognized long ago a predictive model of the sorting is necessary but unavailable for implementation in sediment transport models for sediment mixtures relevant processes in sedimentological and physical literature are reviewed and compared to the sparse data of sediment sorting a synthesis is given of the most important variables governing the sorting processes for the benefit of future experimentation and modelling these variables are the sorting standard deviation skewness and bimodality of the sediment mixture delivered to the brink point the height of the dune or bar relative to the average grain size of the mixture the velocity of the flow above the brink point relative to the settling velocity for all grain size fractions and the frequency of the grain flows in addition the initiation mechanism and frequency of the grain flows affect the pattern and effectiveness of sorting

chemistry mineralogy and grain properties at namib and high dunes bagnold dune field gale crater mars a synthesis of curiosity rover observations the mars science laboratory curiosity rover performed coordinated measurements to examine the textures and compositions of aeolian sands in the active bagnold dune field the bagnold sands are rounded to subrounded very fine to medium sized 45 500 m with 6 distinct grain colors in contrast to sands examined by curiosity in a dust covered inactive bedform called rocknest and soils at other landing sites bagnold sands are darker less red better sorted have fewer silt sized or smaller grains and show no evidence for cohesion nevertheless bagnold mineralogy and rocknest mineralogy are similar with plagioclase olivine and pyroxenes in similar proportions comprising 90 of crystalline phases along with a substantial amorphous component 35 15 yet bagnold and rocknest bulk chemistry differ bagnold sands are si enriched relative to other soils at gale crater and h 2o s and cl are lower relative to all previously measured martian soils and most gale crater rocks mg ni fe and mn are enriched in the coarse sieved fraction of bagnold sands corroborated by visible near infrared spectra that suggest enrichment of olivine collectively patterns in major element chemistry and volatile release data indicate two distinctive volatile reservoirs in martian soils 1 amorphous components in the sand sized fraction represented by bagnold that are si enriched hydroxylated alteration products and or h 2o or oh bearing impact or volcanic glasses and 2 amorphous components in the fine fraction 40 m represented by rocknest and other bright soils that are fe s and cl enriched with low si and adsorbed and structural h 2o

gondwanan eoarchean neoproterozoic ancient crustal material in iran and turkey zircon u pb hf isotopic evidence the sanandaj sirjan zone is a basement culmination northeast of the neo tethys suture in iran in this zone near azna granite has a magmatic zircon u pb age of 568 11 ma with 900 800 ca 2400 and ca 3600 ma inherited cores the ca 3600 ma inherited zircon is the oldest crustal component yet detected in iran near chadegan orthogneiss has a magmatic zircon u pb age of 637 15 ma and carries ca 1000 and 2000 ma inherited zircons inherited 900 1000 ma zircons have juvenile initial ehf values of ca 8 to 9 whereas the younger 630 and 568 ma magmatic zircons show lower initial ehf values however the 3600 ma core has initial ehf 0 0 a neoproterozoic rim on the inherited 3600 ma core has the most extreme initial ehf value of 18 the hf isotopic data indicates generation of the magmatic protoliths from a mixture of juvenile neoproterozoic and archean sources previous studies showed that in turkey the central anatolian crystalline complex is underlain by neo eoarchean rocks the menderes mas

geochemistry of the bagnold dune field as observed by chemcam and comparison with other aeolian deposits at gale crater the curiosity rover conducted the first field investigation of an active extraterrestrial dune this study of the bagnold dunes focuses on the chemcam chemical results and also presents findings on the grain size distributions based on the chemcam remote micro imager and mars hand lens imager images these active dunes are composed of grains that are mostly 150 m grain size dump piles have shown that coarser grains 150 250 m are enriched in the mafic elements fe and mn suggesting a larger content in olivine compared to smaller grains 150 m of the bagnold dunes moreover the chemistry of soils analyzed in the vicinity of the dunes indicates that they are similar to the dune material all these observations suggest that the olivine content determined by x ray diffraction of the 150 m grain size sample should be considered as a lower limit for the bagnold dunes

a global mars dust composition refined by the alpha particle x ray spectrometer in gale crater modern martian dust is similar in composition to the global soil unit and bulk basaltic mars crust but it is enriched in s and cl the alpha particle x ray spectrometer apxs on the mars science laboratory curiosity rover analyzed air fall dust on the science observation tray o tray in gale crater to determine dust oxide compositions the o tray dust has the highest concentrations of so3 and cl measured in mars dust so3 8 3 cl 1 1 wt the molar s cl in the dust 3 35 0 34 is consistent with previous studies of martian dust and soils s cl 3 7 0 7 fe is also elevated 25 over average mars soils and the bulk crust these enrichments link air fall dust with the s cl and fe rich x ray amorphous component of gale crater soil dust and soil have the same s cl constraining the surface concentrations of s and cl on a global scale

observations of an aeolian landscape from surface to orbit in gale crater abstract landscapes derived solely from aeolian processes are rare on earth because of the dominance of subaqueous processes in contrast aeolian derived landscapes should typify mars because of the absence of liquid water the long exposure times of surfaces and the presence of wind as the default geomorphic agent using the full range of available orbital and mars science laboratory rover curiosity images wind formed features in gale crater were cataloged and analyzed in order to characterize the aeolian landscape and to derive the evolution of the crater wind regime over time inferred wind directions show a dominance of regional northerly winds over geologic time scales but a dominance of topography driven katabatic winds in modern times landscapes in gale crater show a preponderance of aeolian features at all spatial scales interpreted processes forming these features include first cycle aeolian abrasion of bedrock pervasive deflation organization of available sand into bedforms abundant cratering and gravity driven wasting all of which occur over a background of slow physical weathering the observed landscapes are proposed to represent a spectrum of progressive surface denudation from fractured bedrock to retreating bedrock capped mesas to remnant hills capped by bedrock rubble to desert pavement plains this model of landscape evolution provides the mechanism by which northerly winds acting over 3 ga excavated tens of thousands of cubic kilometers of material from the once sediment filled crater thus carving the intra crater moat and exhuming mount sharp aeolis mons the current crater surface is relatively sand starved indicating that potential sediment deflation from the crater is greater than sediment production and that most exhumation of mount sharp occurred in the ancient geologic past

global distribution composition and abundance of olivine on the surface of mars from thermal infrared data 1 we used spectral indexing and linear deconvolution to compare thermal infrared emission spectra of fo91 fo68 fo53 fo39 fo18 and fo1 olivine samples to mars global surveyor thermal emission spectrometer tes data over low albedo regions of mars the fo91 fo68 fo53 and fo39 spectral end members were confidently identified on mars a range of compositions wider than inferred from martian meteorites small less than hundreds of square kilometers occurrences of the fo91 spectral end member are present in the rims of the argyre and hellas impact basins and may represent martian mantle materials the fo68 spectral end member is common throughout the highlands chasmata outflow channels and nili fossae region the fo53 spectral end member occurs in eastern syrtis major the nili fossae region and smooth floored craters of the highlands although less abundant than fo68 and fo53 the distribution of the fo39 spectral end member suggests that some olivine on mars is more fe rich than olivine in martian meteorites global maps of olivine show that 1 materials containing 10 20 of olivine are common in the southern highlands of mars 2 olivine is most common near the topographic dichotomy boundary and 3 olivine becomes uncommon near the poles suggesting that it may be influenced by topography and or latitude climate olivine is found in early noachian to amazonian terrains some of which may be coeval with phyllosilicate and sulfate deposits detected by omega implying that any early noachian wet period of mars climate history may have been globally inhomogeneous or insufficient to weather the olivine that remains today

aeolian processes and dune morphology in gale crater abstract datasets at resolutions many times greater than previously available were used to study aeolian features within gale crater high resolution thermal inertia data allowed for detailed particle size estimation with the data sufficient to resolve dunefields a wide range of grain sizes have now been identified in the gale crater dunefields ranging from medium to very coarse sand high resolution imaging science experiment hirise and themis vis data allowed for detailed analysis of the dune morphology and slip faces which shows that the dunes have responded to topographic influences on prevailing wind directions under a present day wind regime this result was corroborated by a regional mesoscale model for the crater under dust storm conditions the central mound and smaller scale crater floor topography has altered the prevailing wind regime and dune patterns aeolian activity has thus played and continues to play an important role in shaping many of the present surface features of gale crater the arrival of a future lander mission such as the mars science laboratory would be able to sample these surface features directly and add a wealth of data to the understanding of gale crater

mineralogy of an active eolian sediment from the namib dune gale crater mars the mars science laboratory rover curiosity is using a comprehensive scientific payload to explore rocks and soils in gale crater mars recent investigations of the bagnold dune field provided the first in situ assessment of an active dune on mars the chemistry and mineralogy chemin x ray diffraction instrument on curiosity performed quantitative mineralogical analyses of the 150 m size fraction of the namib dune at a location called gobabeb gobabeb is dominated by basaltic minerals plagioclase fo56 olivine and two ca mg fe pyroxenes account for the majority of crystalline phases along with minor magnetite quartz hematite and anhydrite in addition to the crystalline phases a minimum 42 wt of the gobabeb sample is x ray amorphous mineralogical analysis of the gobabeb data set provides insights into the origin s and geologic history of the dune material and offers an important opportunity for ground truth of orbital observations chemin s analysis of the mineralogy and phase chemistry of modern and ancient gale crater dune fields together with other measurements by curiosity s science payload provides new insights into present and past eolian processes on mars

mars aeolian sand regional variations among dark hued crater floor features different regions on mars appear to have low albedo intracrater deposits that have distinct regional thermophysical and or aeolian dune characteristics thermal inertia derived from a carefully selected set of viking infrared thermal mapper observations of the dark features obtained in 1977 1978 supports this conclusion the observed similarities and differences among dark intracrater features on mars is probably a function of the combined influences of sand availability and regional wind conditions

occurrence and scale of compositional heterogeneity in martian dune fields toward understanding the effects of aeolian sorting on martian sediment compositions abstract aeolian transport and hydrodynamic sorting have been proposed to be a significant influence on martian sediment bulk compositions through laboratory experiments modeling and terrestrial analogies but to date few studies have directly examined compositional grain size relationships within sediment fields on mars thus the prevalence of hydrodynamic sorting as well as the scales at which sorting is important remain poorly understood to that end we assessed the degree and occurrence of thermophysical and compositional heterogeneity for 25 dune fields within a 42 000 000 km2 area on mars among these only four exhibit spatial heterogeneity in spectral properties and composition two of these four sites show a strong positive relationship between particle size and olivine abundance the rarity of compositional heterogeneity within dune fields in our study region 5 185 e 45 n 20 s may indicate phenocryst poor source rocks alternatively sorting within individual bedforms may be present but not at the scale of the full dune field 10 20 km compositional segregation correlated with grain size due to hydrodynamic sorting has been observed by rovers at scales much smaller than themis ground resolution 100 m pixel thus these small scales might be the operable relevant ones of hydrodynamic compositional sorting prevailing most commonly in martian dune fields

the mars science laboratory msl bagnold dunes campaign phase i overview and introduction to the special issue the bagnold dunes in gale crater mars are the first active aeolian dune field explored in situ on another planet the curiosity rover visited the bagnold dune field to understand modern winds aeolian processes rates and structures to determine dune material composition provenance and the extent and type of compositional sorting and to collect knowledge that informs the interpretation of past aeolian processes that are preserved in the martian sedimentary rock record the curiosity rover conducted a coordinated campaign of activities lasting 4 months interspersed with other rover activities and employing all of the rover s science instruments and several engineering capabilities described in 13 manuscripts and summarized here the major findings of the bagnold dunes campaign phase i include the following the characterization of and explanation for a distinctive meter scale size of sinuous aeolian bedform formed in the high kinetic viscosity regime of mars thin atmosphere articulation and evaluation of a grain splash model that successfully explains the occurrence of saltation even at wind speeds below the fluid threshold determination of the dune sands basaltic mineralogy and crystal chemistry in comparison with other soils and sedimentary rocks and characterization of chemically distinctive volatile reservoirs in sand sized versus dust sized fractions of mars soil including two volatile bearing types of amorphous phases

iron mineralogy and aqueous alteration from husband hill through home plate at gusev crater mars results from the mossbauer instrument on the spirit mars exploration rover 1 spirit s mossbauer mb instrument determined the fe mineralogy and oxidation state of 71 rocks and 43 soils during its exploration of the gusev plains and the columbia hills west spur husband hill haskin ridge northern inner basin and home plate on mars the plains are predominantly float rocks and soil derived from olivine basalts outcrops at west spur and on husband hill have experienced pervasive aqueous alteration as indicated by the presence of goethite olivine rich outcrops in a possible mafic ultramafic horizon are present on haskin ridge relatively unaltered basalt and olivine basalt float rocks occur at isolated locations throughout the columbia hills basalt and olivine basalt outcrops are found at and near home plate a putative hydrovolcanic structure at least three pyroxene compositions are indicated by mb data mb spectra of outcrops barnhill and torquas resemble palagonitic material and thus possible supergene aqueous alteration deposits of fe3 sulfate soil located at paso robles arad and tyrone are likely products of acid sulfate fumarolic and or hydrothermal activity possibly in connection with home plate volcanism hematite rich outcrops between home plate and tyrone e g montalva may also be products of this aqueous activity low water to rock ratios isochemical alteration are implied during palagonite goethite and hematite formation because bulk chemical compositions are basaltic so3 free basis high water to rock ratios leaching under acid sulfate conditions are implied for the high sio2 rock and soil in eastern valley and the float rock fuzzysmith which has possible pyrite marcasite as a hydrothermal alteration product

low temperature reflectivity spectra of red hematite and the color of mars reflectivity spectra visible and near ir were measured near 141 210 and 300 k for four red and well crystalline powders of hematite red hematite used as commercial pigments two samples of volcanic tephra from mauna kea volcano that contain red hematite as their dominant pigment three samples of palagonitic tephra from the same location that contain nanophase ferric oxide as their dominant pigment and two mixtures of the two types of pigmenting phases relative proportions of red hematite and nanophase ferric oxide were determined by mossbauer spectroscopy for samples containing red hematite as the dominant pigment the positions of the ferric electronic transitions near 430 500 630 and 860 nm are essentially independent of temperature but their widths decrease with decreasing temperature this decrease results in a well defined minimum for the band at 630 nm at low temperatures and in significant increases in reflectivity in spectral regions near 1050 and 600 nm for example the reflectivity ratios r 600 r 530 and r 600 r 860 both increase by a factor as large as l 4 between 300 and 140 k the spectral features from nanophase ferric oxide in samples of palagonitic tephra are nearly independent of temperature spectral data of martian bright regions that are characterized by a shallow band minimum near 860 nm a reflectivity maximum near 740 nm a distinct bend near 600 nm and a shallow absorption edge from 400 to 740 nm are attributed to the presence of nanophase ferric oxide plus subordinate amounts of red hematite the 600 740 and 860 nm features are associated with red hematite because the reflectivity of red hematite at 600 nm is strongly dependent on temperature and because this wavelength is in the red part of the visible spectrum the color of the martian surface may vary as a function of its temperature a conservative upper limit for the red hematite content of the optical surface of mars is 5

mahli at the rocknest sand shadow science and science enabling activities 1 during martian solar days 57 100 the mars science laboratory curiosity rover acquired and processed a solid sediment sample and analyzed its mineralogy and geochemistry with the chemistry and mineralogy and sample analysis at mars instruments an aeolian deposit herein referred to as the rocknest sand shadow was inferred to represent a global average soil composition and selected for study to facilitate integration of analytical results with observations from earlier missions during first time activities the mars hand lens imager mahli was used to support both science and engineering activities related to sample assessment collection and delivery here we report on mahli activities that directly supported sample analysis and provide mahli observations regarding the grain scale characteristics of the rocknest sand shadow mahli imaging confirms that the rocknest sand shadow is one of a family of bimodal aeolian accumulations on mars similar to the coarse grained ripples interrogated by the mars exploration rovers spirit and opportunity in which a surface veneer of coarse grained sediment stabilizes predominantly fine grained sediment of the deposit interior the similarity in grain size distribution of these geographically disparate deposits support the widespread occurrence of bimodal aeolian transport on mars we suggest that preservation of bimodal aeolian deposits may be characteristic of regions of active deflation where winnowing of the fine sediment fraction results in a relatively low sediment load and a preferential increase in the coarse grained fraction of the sediment load the compositional similarity of martian aeolian deposits supports the potential for global redistribution of fine grained components combined with potential local contributions

visible near infrared spectra and two layer modeling of palagonite coated basalts fine grained dust coatings on martian rocks and soils obscure underlying surfaces and hinder mineralogic interpretations of both remote sensing and in situ observations we investigate laboratory visible near infrared spectra of various thicknesses of palagonite coatings on basalt substrates we develop a two layer hapke scattering model incorporating porosity grain size and derived absorption coefficients of palagonite and basalt that reproduces the observed spectra only when the single scattering particle phase function is varied with wavelength

self stratification of tropical cyclone outflow part i implications for storm structure extant theoretical work on the steady state structure and intensity of idealized axisymmetric tropical cyclones relies on the assumption that isentropic surfaces in the storm outflow match those of the unperturbed environment at large distances from the storm s core these isentropic surfaces generally lie just above the tropopause wheretheverticaltemperaturestructureisapproximatelyisothermal soithas beenassumedthat the absolute temperature of the outflow is nearly constant here it is shown that this assumption is not justified at least when applied to storms simulated by a convection resolving axisymmetric numerical model in whichmuchofthe outflowoccursbelowtheambienttropopauseanddevelopsits ownstratification unrelated to that of the unperturbed environment the authors propose that this stratification is set in the storm s core by the requirement that the richardson number remain near its critical value for the onset of small scale turbulence this ansatz is tested by calculating the richardson number in numerically simulated storms and then showing that the assumption of constant richardson number determines the variation of the outflow temperature with angular momentum or entropy and thereby sets the low level radial structure of the storm outside its radius of maximum surface winds part ii will show that allowing the outflow temperature to vary also allows one to discard an empirical factor that was introduced in previous work on the intensification of tropical cyclones

the origin and implications of clay minerals from yellowknife bay gale crater mars the mars science laboratory msl rover curiosity has documented a section of fluvio lacustrine strata at yellowknife bay ykb an embayment on the floor of gale crater approximately 500 m east of the bradbury landing site x ray diffraction xrd data and evolved gas analysis ega data from the chemin and sam instruments show that two powdered mudstone samples named john klein and cumberland drilled from the sheepbed member of this succession contain up to 20 wt clay minerals a trioctahedral smectite likely a ferrian saponite is the only clay mineral phase detected in these samples smectites of the two samples exhibit different 001 spacing under the low partial pressures of h2o inside the chemin instrument relative humidity 1 smectite interlayers in john klein collapsed sometime between clay mineral formation and the time of analysis to a basal spacing of 10 a but largely remain open in the cumberland sample with a basal spacing of 13 2 a partial intercalation of cumberland smectites by metal hydroxyl groups a common process in certain pedogenic and lacustrine settings on earth is our favored explanation for these differences the relatively low abundances of olivine and enriched levels of magnetite in the sheepbed mudstone when compared with regional basalt compositions derived from orbital data suggest that clay minerals formed with magnetite in situ via aqueous alteration of olivine mass balance calculations are permissive of such a reaction moreover the sheepbed mudstone mineral assemblage is consistent with minimal inputs of detrital clay minerals from the crater walls and rim early diagenetic fabrics suggest clay mineral formation prior to lithification thermodynamic modeling indicates that the production of authigenic magnetite and saponite at surficial temperatures requires a moderate supply of oxidants allowing circum neutral ph the kinetics of olivine alteration suggest the presence of fluids for thousands to hundreds of thousands of years mineralogical evidence of the persistence of benign aqueous conditions at ykb for extended periods indicates a potentially habitable environment where life could establish itself mediated oxidation of fe 2 in olivine to fe 3 in mag

mineralogy of an ancient lacustrine mudstone succession from the murray formation gale crater mars the mars science laboratory curiosity rover has been traversing strata at the base of aeolis mons informally known as mount sharp since september 2014 the murray formation makes up the lowest exposed strata of the mount sharp group and is composed primarily of finely laminated lacustrine mudstone intercalated with rare crossbedded sandstone that is prodeltaic or fluvial in origin we report on the first three drilled samples from the murray formation measured in the pahrump hills section rietveld refinements and fullpat full pattern fitting analyses of x ray diffraction patterns measured by the msl chemin instrument provide mineral abundances refined unit cell parameters for major phases giving crystal chemistry and abundances of x ray amorphous materials our results from the samples measured at the pahrump hills and previously published results on the buckskin sample measured from the marias pass section stratigraphically above pahrump hills show stratigraphic variations in the mineralogy phyllosilicates hematite jarosite and pyroxene are most abundant at the base of the pahrump hills and crystalline and amorphous silica and magnetite become prevalent higher in the succession some trace element abundances measured by apxs also show stratigraphic trends zn and ni are highly enriched with respect to average mars crust at the base of the pahrump hills by 7 7 and 3 7 times respectively and gradually decrease in abundance in stratigraphically higher regions near marias pass where they are depleted with respect to average mars crust by more than an order of magnitude in some targets the mn stratigraphic trend is analogous to zn and ni however mn abundances are close to those of average mars crust at the base of pahrump hills rather than being enriched and mn becomes increasingly depleted moving upsection minerals at the base of the pahrump hills in particular jarosite and hematite as well as enrichments in zn ni and mn are products of acid sulfate alteration on earth we hypothesize that multiple influxes of mildly to moderately acidic pore fluids resulted in diagenesis of the murray formation and the observed mineralogical and geochemical variations the preservation of some minerals that are highly susceptible to dissolution at low ph e g mafic minerals and fluorapatite suggests that acidic events were not long lived and that fluids may not have been extremely acidic ph 2ph 2 alternatively the observed mineralogical variations within the succession may be explained by deposition in lake waters with variable eh and or ph where the lowermost sediments were deposited in an oxidizing perhaps acidic lake setting and sediments deposited in the upper pahrump hills and marias pass were deposited lake waters with lower eh and higher ph

chemcam passive reflectance spectroscopy of surface materials at the curiosity landing site mars the spectrometers on the mars science laboratory msl chemcam instrument were used in passive mode to record visible near infrared 400 840 nm radiance from the martian surface using the onboard chemcam calibration targets housing as a reflectance standard we developed methods to collect calibrate and reduce radiance observations to relative reflectance such measurements accurately reproduce the known reflectance spectra of other calibration targets on the rover and represent the highest spatial resolution 0 65 mrad and spectral sampling 1 nm visible near infrared reflectance spectra from a landed platform on mars relative reflectance spectra of surface rocks and soils match those from orbital observations and multispectral data from the msl mastcam camera preliminary analyses of the band depths spectral slopes and reflectance ratios of the more than 2000 spectra taken during the first year of msl operations demonstrate at least six spectral classes of materials distinguished by variations in ferrous and ferric components initial comparisons of chemcam spectra to laboratory spectra of minerals and mars analog materials demonstrate similarities with palagonitic soils and indications of orthopyroxene in some dark rocks magnesium rich raised ridges tend to exhibit distinct near infrared slopes the ferric absorption downturn typically found for martian materials at 600 nm is greatly subdued in brushed rocks and drill tailings consistent with their more ferrous nature calcium sulfate veins exhibit the highest relative reflectances observed but are still relatively red owing to the effects of residual dust such dust is overall less prominent on rocks sampled within the blast zone immediately surrounding the landing site these samples were likely affected by the landing thrusters which partially removed the ubiquitous dust coatings increased dust coatings on the calibration targets during the first year of the mission were documented by the chemcam passive measurements as well ongoing efforts to model and correct for this dust component should improve calibration of the relative reflectance spectra this will be useful as additional measurements are acquired during the rover s future examinations of hematite sulfate and phyllosilicate bearing materials near the base of mt sharp that are spectrally active in the 400 840 nm region

mineralogical characterization of mars science laboratory candidate landing sites from themis and tes data abstract data from the mars global surveyor thermal emission spectrometer tes and the mars odyssey thermal emission imaging system themis instruments are used to assess the mineralogic and dust cover characteristics of landing regions proposed for the mars science laboratory msl mission candidate regions examined in this study are eberswalde crater gale crater holden crater mawrth vallis miyamoto crater nili fossae trough and south meridiani planum compositional units identified in each region from tes and themis data are distinguished by variations in hematite olivine pyroxene and high silica phase abundance whereas no units are distinguished by elevated phyllosilicate or sulfate abundance though phyllosilicate minerals have been identified in all sites using near infrared observations these minerals are not unambiguously detected using either tes spectral index or deconvolution analysis methods for some of the sites small phyllosilicate outcrop sizes relative to the tes field of view likely hinder phyllosilicate mineral detection porous texture and or small particle size 15 possibly up to 40 of a high silica phase such as amorphous silica or zeolite high silica phase abundance over phyllosilicate bearing surfaces in mawrth vallis is higher than that of surrounding surfaces by 10 15 with the exception of these high silica surfaces in mawrth vallis regions examined in this study exhibit similar bulk mineralogical compositions to that of most low albedo regions on mars the msl scientific payload will thus be able to provide important information on surface materials typical of low albedo regions in addition to investigating the origin of phyllosilicate and or sulfate deposits with the exception of gale crater all of the landing sites have relatively low dust cover compared to classic high albedo regions tharsis arabia and elysium and to previous landing sites in gusev crater utopia planitia and chryse planitia

downslope coarsening in aeolian grainflows of the navajo sandstone abstract downslope coarsening in grainflows has been observed on present day dunes and generated in labs but few previous studies have examined vertical sorting in ancient aeolian grainflows we studied the grainflow strata of the jurassic navajo sandstone in the southern utah portion of its outcrop belt from zion national park west to coyote buttes and the dive east at each study site thick sets of grainflow dominated cross strata that were deposited by large transverse dunes comprise the bulk of the navajo sandstone we studied three stratigraphic columns one per site composed almost exclusively of aeolian cross strata for each column samples were obtained from one grainflow stratum in each consecutive set of the column for a total of 139 samples from thirty two sets of cross strata to investigate grading perpendicular to bedding within individual grainflows we collected fourteen samples from four superimposed grainflow strata at the dive samples were analyzed with a malvern mastersizer 2000 laser diffraction particle analyser the median grain size of grainflow samples ranges from fine sand 164 m to coarse sand 617 m using folk and ward criteria samples are well sorted to moderately well sorted all but one of the twenty eight sets showed at least slight downslope coarsening but in general downslope coarsening was not as well developed or as consistent as that reported in laboratory subaqueous grainflows because coarse sand should be quickly sequestered within preserved cross strata when bedforms climb grain size studies may help to test hypotheses for the stacking of sets of cross strata

compositional variations in sands of the bagnold dunes gale crater mars from visible shortwave infrared spectroscopy and comparison with ground truth from the curiosity rover during its ascent up mount sharp the mars science laboratory curiosity rover traversed the bagnold dune field we model sand modal mineralogy and grain size at four locations near the rover traverse using orbital shortwave infrared single scattering albedo spectra and a markov chain monte carlo implementation of hapke s radiative transfer theory to fully constrain uncertainties and permitted solutions these predictions evaluated against in situ measurements at one site from the curiosity rover show that x ray diffraction measured mineralogy of the basaltic sands is within the 95 confidence interval of model predictions however predictions are relatively insensitive to grain size and are nonunique especially when modeling the composition of minerals with solid solutions we find an overall basaltic mineralogy and show subtle spatial variations in composition in and around the bagnold dunes consistent with a mafic enrichment of sands with cumulative aeolian transport distance by sorting of olivine pyroxene and plagioclase grains furthermore the large variations in fe and mg abundances 20 wt at the bagnold dunes suggest that compositional variability may be enhanced by local mixing of well sorted sand with proximal sand sources our estimates demonstrate a method for orbital quantification of composition with rigorous uncertainty determination and provide key constraints for interpreting in situ measurements of compositional variability within martian aeolian sandstones

apxs derived chemistry of the bagnold dune sands comparisons with gale crater soils and the global martian average we present apxs data for the active bagnold dune field within the gale impact crater msl mission we derive an apxs based average basaltic soil abs composition for mars based on past and recent data from the msl and mer missions this represents an update to the taylor and mclennan 2009 average martian soil and facilitates comparison across martian datasets the active bagnold dune field is compositionally distinct from the abs with elevated mg ni and fe suggesting mafic mineral enrichment and uniformly low levels of s cl and zn indicating only a minimal dust component a relationship between decreasing grain size and increasing felsic content is revealed the bagnold sands possess the lowest s cl of all martian unconsolidated materials gale soils exhibit relatively uniform major element compositions similar to meridiani planum and gusev crater basaltic soils mer missions however they show minor enrichments in k cr mn and fe which may signify a local contribution the lithified eolian stimson formation within the gale impact crater is compositionally similar to the abs and bagnold sands which provide a modern analogue for these ancient eolian deposits compilation of apxs derived soil data reveals a generally homogenous global composition for martian soils but one that can be locally modified due to past or extant geologic processes that are limited in both space and time

mineralogy provenance and diagenesis of a potassic basaltic sandstone on mars chemin x ray diffraction of the windjana sample kimberley area gale crater the windjana drill sample a sandstone of the dillinger member kimberley formation gale crater mars was analyzed by chemin x ray diffraction xrd in the msl curiosity rover from rietveld refinements of its xrd pattern windjana contains the following sanidine 21 weight or95 augite 20 magnetite 12 pigeonite olivine plagioclase amorphous and smectitic material 25 and percent levels of others including ilmenite fluorapatite and bassanite from mass balance on the alpha proton x ray spectrometer apxs chemical analysis the amorphous material is fe rich with nearly no other cations like ferrihydrite the windjana sample shows little alteration and was likely cemented by its magnetite and ferrihydrite from chemcam laser induced breakdown spectrometer libs chemical analyses windjana is representative of the dillinger and mount remarkable members of the kimberley formation libs data suggest that the kimberley sediments include at least three chemical components the most k rich targets have 5 6 k2o 1 8 times that of windjana implying a sediment component with 40 sanidine e g a trachyte a second component is rich in mafic minerals with little feldspar like a shergottite a third component is richer in plagioclase and in na2o and is likely to be basaltic the k rich sediment component is consistent with apxs and chemcam observations of k rich rocks elsewhere in gale crater the source of this sediment component was likely volcanic the presence of sediment from many igneous sources in concert with curiosity s identifications of other igneous materials e g mugearite implies that the northern rim of gale crater exposes a diverse igneous complex at least as diverse as that found in similar age terranes on earth

determining the modal mineralogy of martian soils 1 a method for identifying the major and minor minerals and quantifying their proportions by weight in soils at the mars exploration rovers landing sites is presented the procedure utilizes modeled mossbauer data for iron bearing minerals chemical calculations of alpha particle x ray spectrometer data for iron absent minerals and modeling of minites thermal infrared spectra for silica and clays two models are formulated using different assumptions about the mineralogy of sulfur and chlorine sulfate chloride or incorporated in or adsorbed onto schwertmannite akaganeite the actual soil mineralogy may be bracketed by these results using either model average dark soils on the gusev crater plains and on meridiani planum are shown to be composed of a mixture of igneous olivine pyroxene plagioclase fe ti cr spinels phosphate and alteration amorphous silica hematite nanophase oxides clays plus sulfate chloride or oxysulfate oxychloride minerals this assemblage suggests that soil alteration did not occur in situ and that the igneous and alteration components were likely derived from different sources the model dependent mixing ratio of igneous and alteration components is identical at the two sites on opposite sides of the planet implying that martian soils may provide a representative mineralogical sampling of the exposed crust

constraints on iron sulfate and iron oxide mineralogy from chemcam visible near infrared reflectance spectroscopy of mt sharp basal units gale crater mars relative reflectace point spectra 400 840 nm were acquired by the chemistry and camera chemcam instrument on the mars science laboratory msl rover curiosity in passive mode no laser of drill tailings and broken rock fragments near the rover as it entered the lower reaches of mt sharp and of landforms at distances of 2 8 km freshly disturbed surfaces are less subject to the spectral masking effects of dust and revealed spectral features consistent with the presence of iron oxides and ferric sulfates we present the first detection on mars of a 433 nm absorption band consistent with small abundances of ferric sulfates corroborated by jarosite detections by the chemistry and mineralogy chemin x ray diffraction instrument in the mojave telegraph peak and confidence hills drilled samples disturbed materials near the bonanza king region also exhibited strong 433 nm bands and negative near infrared spectral slopes consistent with jarosite chemcam passive spectra of the confidence hills and mojave drill tailings showed features suggestive of the crystalline hematite identified by chemin analyses the windjana drill sample tailings exhibited flat low relative reflectance spectra explained by the occurrence of magnetite detected by chemin passive spectra of bonanza king were similar suggesting the presence of spectrally dark and neutral minerals such as magnetite long distance spectra of the hematite ridge feature 3 5 km from the rover exhibited features consistent with crystalline hematite the bagnold dune field north of the hematite ridge area exhibited low relative reflectance and near infrared features indicative of basaltic materials olivine pyroxene light toned layers south of hematite ridge lacked distinct spectral features in the 400 840 nm region and may represent portions of nearby clay minerals and sulfates mapped with orbital near infrared observations the presence of ferric sulfates such as jarosite in the drill tailings suggests a relatively acidic environment likely associated with flow of iron bearing fluids associated oxidation and or hydrothermal leaching of sedimentary rocks combined with other remote sensing data sets mineralogical constraints from chemcam passive spectra will continue to play an important role in interpreting the mineralogy and composition of materials encountered as curiosity traverses further south within the basal layers of the mt sharp complex

visible to near infrared msl mastcam multispectral imaging initial results from select high interest science targets within gale crater mars the mastcam ccd cameras on the mars science laboratory curiosity rover each use an 8 position filter wheel in acquiring up to 1600 1200 pixel images the filter set includes a broadband near infrared cutoff filter for rgb bayer imaging on each camera and 12 narrow band geology filters distributed between the two cameras spanning the wavelength range 445 1013 nm this wavelength region includes the relatively broad charge transfer and crystal field absorption bands that are most commonly due to the presence of iron bearing minerals to identify such spectral features sequences of images taken with identical pointings through different filters have been calibrated to relative reflectance using pre flight calibration coefficients and in flight measurements of an onboard calibration target within the first 1000 sols of the mission mastcam observed a spectrally diverse set of materials displaying absorption features consistent with the presence of iron bearing silicate iron oxide and iron sulfate minerals dust coated surfaces as well as soils possess a strong positive reflectance slope in the visible consistent with the presence of nanophase iron oxides which have long been considered the dominant visible wavelength pigmenting agent in weathered martian surface materials fresh surfaces such as tailings produced by the drill tool and the interiors of rocks broken by the rover wheels are grayer in visible wavelengths than their reddish dust coated surfaces but possess reflectance spectra that vary considerably between sites to understand the mineralogical basis of observed mastcam reflectance spectra we focus on a subset of the multispectral data set for which additional constraints on the composition of surface materials are available from other rover instruments with an emphasis on sample sites for which detailed mineralogy is provided by the results of chemin x ray diffraction analyses we also discuss the results of coordinated observations with the chemcam instrument whose passive mode of operation is capable of acquiring reflectance spectra over wavelengths that considerably overlap the range spanned by the mastcam filter set johnson et al 2016 materials that show a distinct 430 nm band in chemcam data also are observed to have a strong near infrared absorption band in mastcam spectral data consistent with the presence of a ferric sulfate mineral long distance mastcam observations targeted toward the flanks of the gale crater central mound are in agreement with both chemcam spectra and orbital results and in particular exhibit the spectral features of a crystalline hematite layer identified in mro crism data variations observed in mastcam multi filter images acquired to date have shown that multispectral observations can discriminate between compositionally different materials within gale crater and are in qualitative agreement with mineralogies from measured samples and orbital data

magmatic complexity on early mars as seen through a combination of orbital in situ and meteorite data abstract until recently mars was considered a basalt covered world but this vision is evolving thanks to new orbital in situ and meteorite observations in particular of rocks of the ancient noachian period in this contribution we summarise newly recognised compositional and mineralogical differences between older and more recent rocks and explore the geodynamic implications of these new findings for example the msl rover has discovered abundant felsic rocks close to the landing site coming from the wall of gale crater ranging from alkali basalt to trachyte in addition the recently discovered martian regolith breccia nwa 7034 and paired samples contain many coarse grained noritic monzonitic clasts demonstrably noachian in age and even some clasts that plot in the mugearite field olivine is also conspicuously lacking in these ancient samples in contrast to later hesperian rocks the alkali suite requires low degree melting of the martian mantle at low pressure whereas the later hesperian magmatism would appear to be produced by higher mantle temperatures various scenarios are proposed to explain these observations including different styles of magmatic activity i e passive upwelling vs hotspots a second petrological suite of increasing interest involves quartzo feldspathic materials that were first inferred from orbit in local patches in the southern highlands and in the lower units of valles marineris however identification of felsic rocks from orbit is limited by the low detectability of feldspar in the near infrared on the other hand the msl rover has described the texture mineralogy and composition of felsic rocks in gale crater that are granodiorite like samples akin to terrestrial ttg tonalite trondhjemite granodiorite suites these observations and the low average density of the highlands crust suggest the early formation of continental crust on mars although the details of the geodynamic scenario and the importance of volatiles in their generation are aspects that require further work

regularization of mars reconnaissance orbiter crism along track oversampled hyperspectral imaging observations of mars mars reconnaissance orbiter compact reconnaissance imaging spectrometer for mars crism hyperspectral image data have been acquired in an along track oversampled ato mode with the intent of processing the data to better than the nominal 18 m pixel ground resolution we have implemented an iterative maximum log likelihood method mlm that utilizes the instrument spectral and spatial transfer functions and includes a penalty function to regularize the data products are produced both in sensor space and as projected hyperspectral image cubes at 12 m pixel preprocessing steps include retrieval of surface single scattering albedos ssa using the hapke function and disort based radiative modeling of atmospheric gases and aerosols resultant ssa cubes are despiked to remove extrema and tested to ensure that the remaining data are poisson distributed an underlying assumption for the mlm algorithm implementation two examples of processed ato data sets are presented ato0002ec79 covers the route taken by the curiosity rover during its initial ascent of mount sharp in gale crater ssa data are used to model mineral abundances and grain sizes predicted to be present in the namib barchan sand dune sampled and analyzed by curiosity crism based results compare favorably to in situ results derived from curiosity s measurement campaign ato0002ddf9 covers marathon valley on the cape tribulation rim segment of endeavour crater ssa spectra indicate the presence of a minor component of fe 3 and mg 2 smectites on the valley floor and walls localization to 12 m pixel provided the detailed spatial information needed for the opportunity rover to traverse to and characterize those outcrops that have the deepest absorptions the combination of orbital and rover based data show that the smectite bearing outcrops in marathon valley are impact breccias that are basaltic in composition and that have been isochemically altered in a low water to rock environment

chemical composition of martian fines of the 21 samples acquired for the viking x ray fluorescence spectrometer 17 were analyzed to high precision compared to typical terrestrial continental soils and lunar mare fines the martian fines are lower in al higher in fe and much higher in s and cl concentrations protected fines at the two lander sites are almost indistinguishable but concentration of the element s is somewhat higher at utopia duricrust fragments successfully acquired only at the chryse site invariably contained about 50 higher s than fines no elements correlate positively with s except cl and possibly mg a sympathetic variation is found among the triad si al ca positive correlation occurs between ti and fe sample variabilities are as great within a few meters as between lander locations 4500 km apart implying the existence of a universal martian regolith component of constant average composition the nature of the source materials for the regolith fines must be mafic to ultramafic

paleoclimate of mars as captured by the stratigraphic record in gale crater a kilometers thick sedimentary sequence in gale crater exhibits stratigraphic changes in lithology that are consistent with transitions in aqueous and climatic conditions purported to be global in scale the sequence is divided into two formations where the lower formation exhibits a net transition in mineralogy from clay sulfate to sulfate oxide assemblages and is separated from the overlying upper formation by an erosional unconformity superposition and crater counts suggest strata in the lower formation lie along the noachian hesperian time stratigraphic boundary whereas beds in the upper formation which lack signatures indicative of clay minerals or sulfates are thinner more regularly spaced and clearly younger the observed stratigraphic trends are consistent with the rocks at gale crater recording a global transition from a climate favorable to clay mineral formation to one more favorable to forming sulfates and other salts

near infrared spectral reflectance of mineral mixtures systematic combinations of pyroxenes olivine and iron oxides near infrared spectral reflectance data are presented for systematic variations in weight percent of two component mixtures of ferromagnesian and iron oxide minerals mixtures were chosen for application to the study of the dark materials on mars but the results are equally applicable to mafic and ultramafic assemblages elsewhere in the solar system olivine spectral features are greatly reduced in contrast by admixture of other phases but remain distinctive even for low olivine contents clinopyroxene and orthopyroxene mixtures show resolved pyroxene absorptions near 2 m the addition of limonite greatly modifies pyroxene and olivine reflectance but does not fully eliminate distinctive spectral characteristics using only spectral data in the 1 m region it is difficult to differentiate orthopyroxene and limonite goethite in a mixture additional spectral coverage or other evidence may be required for a unique interpretation all composite mineral absorptions observed in this study are either weaker than or intermediate in strength to the end member absorptions and have bandwidths greater than or equal to those for the end members in general spectral properties in an intimate mixture combine in a complex nonadditive manner with features demonstrating a regular but usually nonlinear variation as a function of end member phase proportions

relation of the spectroscopic reflectance of olivine to mineral chemistry and some remote sensing implications using high resolution visible and near infrared diffuse spectral reflectance we have systematically investigated apparent wavelength shifts as a function of mineral chemistry in the fe mg olivine series from fo11 to fo91 the study also shows that trace amounts of nickel can be spectrally detected in the olivine structure we show that significant compositional information can only be extracted at relatively high resolution because the overall spectral characteristics of the olivines change only subtly as a function of the fe mg ratio significant spectral variation as a function of grain size is also demonstrated adding a further complication to the interpretation of remotely sensed data from olivine rich surfaces this laboratory study is expected to aid in the interpretation of remotely sensed data from both terrestrial and extraterrestrial bodies terrestrial applications may include the recognition of ultramafic ultrabasic and basaltic terrains which in themselves may have mineral potential among extraterrestrial applications the asteroids are obvious candidates for further examination if instrumentation can provide the necessary wavelength coverage resolution and signal to noise ratio so that spectra can be compared to those laboratory data discussed here some permutations of fe mg ni relations in olivines are discussed as they apply to the interpretation of asteroid surfaces and other extraterrestrial bodies

mossbauer mineralogy of rock soil and dust at meridiani planum mars opportunity s journey across sulfate rich outcrop basaltic sand and dust and hematite lag deposits additonal co authors p gutlich e kankeleit t mccoy dw mittlefehldt f renz me schmidt b zubkov sw squyres re arvidson

wind driven particle mobility on mars insights from mars exploration rover observations at el dorado and surroundings at gusev crater 1 the ripple field known as el dorado was a unique stop on spirit s traverse where dust raising active mafic sand ripples and larger inactive coarse grained ripples interact illuminating several long standing issues of martian dust mobility sand mobility and the origin of transverse aeolian ridges strong regional wind events endured by spirit caused perceptible migration of ripple crests in deposits sse of el dorado erasure of tracks in sandy areas and changes to dust mantling the site localized thermal vortices swept across el dorado leaving paths of reduced dust but without perceptibly damaging nearly cohesionless sandy ripple crests from orbit winds responsible for frequently raising clay sized dust into the atmosphere do not seem to significantly affect dunes composed of more easily entrained sand sized particles a long standing paradox this disparity between dust mobilization and sand mobilization on mars is due largely to two factors 1 dust occurs on the surface as fragile low density sand sized aggregates that are easily entrained and disrupted compared with clay sized air fall particles and 2 induration of regolith is pervasive light toned bed forms investigated at gusev are coarse grained ripples an interpretation we propose for many of the smallest linear light toned bed forms of uncertain origin seen in high resolution orbital images across mars on earth wind can organize bimodal or poorly sorted loose sediment into coarse grained ripples coarse grained ripples could be relatively common on mars because development of durable well sorted sediments analogous to terrestrial aeolian quartz sand deposits is restricted by the lack of free quartz and limited hydraulic sediment processing

planet wide sand motion on mars prior to mars reconnaissance orbiter data images of mars showed no direct evidence for dune and ripple motion this was consistent with climate models and lander measurements indicating that winds of sufficient intensity to mobilize sand were rare in the low density atmosphere we show that many sand ripples and dunes across mars exhibit movement of as much as a few meters per year demonstrating that martian sand migrates under current conditions in diverse areas of the planet most motion is probably driven by wind gusts that are not resolved in global circulation models a past climate with a thicker atmosphere is only required to move large ripples that contain coarse grains

sedimentary processes of the bagnold dunes implications for the eolian rock record of mars the mars science laboratory rover curiosity visited two active wind blown sand dunes within gale crater mars which provided the first ground based opportunity to compare martian and terrestrial eolian dune sedimentary processes and study a modern analog for the martian eolian rock record orbital and rover images of these dunes reveal terrestrial like and uniquely martian processes the presence of grainfall grainflow and impact ripples resembled terrestrial dunes impact ripples were present on all dune slopes and had a size and shape similar to their terrestrial counterpart grainfall and grainflow occurred on dune and large ripple lee slopes lee slopes were 29 where grainflows were present and 33 where grainfall was present these slopes are interpreted as the dynamic and static angles of repose respectively grain size measured on an undisturbed impact ripple ranges between 50 m and 350 m with an intermediate axis mean size of 113 m median 103 m dissimilar to dune eolian processes on earth large meter scale ripples were present on all dune slopes large ripples had nearly symmetric to strongly asymmetric topographic profiles and heights ranging between 12 cm and 28 cm the composite observations of the modern sedimentary processes highlight that the martian eolian rock record is likely different from its terrestrial counterpart because of the large ripples which are expected to engender a unique scale of cross stratification more broadly however in the bagnold dune field as on earth dune field pattern dynamics and basin scale boundary conditions will dictate the style and distribution of sedimentary processes

mineralogical composition of sands in meridiani planum determined from mars exploration rover data and comparison to orbital measurements constraints on the mineralogical composition of low albedo low sulfur sands at meridiani planum are determined from mars exploration rover mer opportunity miniature thermal emission spectrometer mini tes mossbauer and alpha proton x ray spectrometer measurements results of this work show that the sand is olivine basaltic in composition with minor amounts of sulfate and a high silica phase glass or secondary amorphous silica measurements from all three instruments indicate that pyroxene is twice as abundant as olivine and that the pyroxene composition is dominated by the low calcium variety the volume abundance of olivine is constrained to be 10 15 results from detailed analyses of mer data are used to ground truth the spectral emissivity and mineral abundances derived from orbit with mars global surveyor tes data tes derived mineral abundances are within 5 of those derived from mer data which is generally within the statistical errors associated with tes derived phase abundances the agreement lends support to global and regional scale variations in mineralogical composition determined from tes data in previous studies an alternative method of least squares minimization is used for modeling the tes and mini tes data the benefits of this method are demonstrated by comparison with conventional least squares techniques previously used by tes data users

winds measured by the rover environmental monitoring station rems during the mars science laboratory msl rover s bagnold dunes campaign and comparison with numerical modeling using marswrf abstract a high density of rems wind measurements were collected in three science investigations during msl s bagnold dunes campaign which took place over 80 sols around southern winter solstice ls 90 and constituted the first in situ analysis of the environmental conditions morphology structure and composition of an active dune field on mars the wind characterization investigation was designed to fully characterize the near surface wind field just outside the dunes and confirmed the primarily upslope downslope flow expected from theory and modeling of the circulation on the slopes of aeolis mons in this season the basic pattern of winds is upslope from the northwest heading up aeolis mons during the daytime 09 00 17 00 or 18 00 and downslope from the southeast heading down aeolis mons at night 20 00 to some time before 08 00 between these times the wind rotates largely clockwise giving generally westerly winds mid morning and easterly winds in the early evening the timings of these direction changes are relatively consistent from sol to sol however the wind direction and speed at any given time shows considerable intersol variability this pattern and timing is similar to predictions from the marswrf numerical model run at a resolution of 490 m in this region although the model predicts the upslope winds to have a stronger component from the e than the w misses a wind speed peak at 09 00 and under predicts the strength of daytime wind speeds by 2 4 m s the namib dune lee investigation reveals blocking of northerly winds by the dune leaving primarily a westerly component to the daytime winds and also shows a broadening of the 1 hz wind speed distribution likely associated with lee turbulence the namib dune side investigation measured primarily daytime winds at the side of the same dune in support of aeolian change detection experiments designed to put limits on the saltation threshold and also appears to show the influence of the dune body on the local flow though less clearly than in the lee using a vertical grid with lower resolution near the surface reduces the relative strength of nighttime winds predicted by marswrf and produces a peak in wind speed at 09 00 improving the match to the observed diurnal variation of wind speed albeit with an offset in magnitude the annual wind field predicted using this grid also provides a far better match to observations of aeolian dune morphology and motion in the bagnold dunes however the lower overall wind speeds than observed and disagreement with the observed wind direction at 09 00 suggest that the problem has not been solved and that alternative boundary layer mixing schemes should be explored which may result in more mixing of momentum down to the near surface from higher layers these results demonstrate a strong need for in situ wind data to constrain the setup and assumptions used in numerical models so that they may be used with more confidence to predict the circulation at other times and locations on mars

photometric properties of mars soils analogs we have measured the bidirectional reflectance of analogs of dry wet and frozen martian soils over a wide range of phase angles in the visible spectral range all samples were produced from two geologic samples the standard jsc mars 1 soil simulant and hawaiian basaltic sand in a first step experiments were conducted with the dry samples to investigate the effects of surface texture comparisons with results independently obtained by different teams with similar samples showed a satisfying reproducibility of the photometric measurements as well as a noticeable influence of surface textures resulting from different sample preparation procedures in a second step water was introduced to produce wet and frozen samples and their photometry investigated optical microscope images of the samples provided information about their microtexture liquid water even in relatively low amount resulted in the disappearance of the backscattering peak and the appearance of a forward scattering peak whose intensity increases with the amount of water specular reflections only appeared when water was present in an amount large enough to allow water to form a film at the surface of the sample icy samples showed a wide variability of photometric properties depending on the physical properties of the water ice we discuss the implications of these measurements in terms of the expected photometric behavior of the martian surface from equatorial to circum polar regions in particular we propose some simple photometric criteria to improve the identification of wet and or icy soils from multiple observations under different geometries

mars exploration rover athena panoramic camera pancam investigation 1 the panoramic camera pancam investigation is part of the athena science payload launched to mars in 2003 on nasa s twin mars exploration rover mer missions the scientific goals of the pancam investigation are to assess the high resolution morphology topography and geologic context of each mer landing site to obtain color images to constrain the mineralogic photometric and physical properties of surface materials and to determine dust and aerosol opacity and physical properties from direct imaging of the sun and sky pancam also provides mission support measurements for the rovers including sun finding for rover navigation hazard identification and digital terrain modeling to help guide long term rover traverse decisions high resolution imaging to help guide the selection of in situ sampling targets and acquisition of education and public outreach products the pancam optical mechanical and electronics design were optimized to achieve these science and mission support goals pancam is a multispectral stereoscopic panoramic imaging system consisting of two digital cameras mounted on a mast 1 5 m above the martian surface the mast allows pancam to image the full 360 in azimuth and 90 in elevation each pancam camera utilizes a 1024 1024 active imaging area frame transfer ccd detector array the pancam optics have an effective focal length of 43 mm and a focal ratio of f 20 yielding an instantaneous field of view of 0 27 mrad pixel and a field of view of 16 16 each rover s two pancam eyes are separated by 30 cm and have a 1 toe in to provide adequate stereo parallax each eye also includes a small eight position filter wheel to allow surface mineralogic studies multispectral sky imaging and direct sun imaging in the 400 1100 nm wavelength region pancam was designed and calibrated to operate within specifications on mars at temperatures from 55 to 5 c an onboard calibration target and fiducial marks provide the capability to validate the radiometric and geometric calibration on mars

pervasive aeolian activity along rover curiosity s traverse in gale crater mars the nasa mars science laboratory msl rover curiosity has safely landed near a 35 km long dark dune field in gale crater on mars this dune field crosses the landing site from the northeast to the southwest and lies along curiosity s traverse to aeolis mons here we present the first evidence of recent aeolian activity in the form of ripple and dune migration and further estimate wind directions within the dune field through analysis of ripple and dune morphologies and the mars regional atmospheric modeling system mrams we measured a minimum ripple migration rate of 0 66 m per earth year and dune migration rate of 0 4 m per earth year in the southwest portion of the field a strongly bidirectional ripple crestline orientation nearly orthogonal dune slipfaces and linear seif or oblique dunes indicate a bidirectional wind regime with winds mainly coming from the ene and from the northwest however mrams results indicate primary winds from the ene our constraints on the wind regime provide the unique opportunity to use ground measurements from msl to test the accuracy of winds predicted from orbital data

evolved gas analyses of sedimentary rocks and eolian sediment in gale crater mars results of the curiosity rover s sample analysis at mars instrument from yellowknife bay to the namib dune the sample analysis at mars instrument evolved gas analyzer sam ega has detected evolved water h2 so2 h2s no co2 co o2 and hcl from two eolian sediments and nine sedimentary rocks from gale crater mars these evolved gas detections indicate nitrates organics oxychlorine phase and sulfates are widespread with phyllosilicates and carbonates occurring in select gale crater materials coevolved co2 160 248 2373 820 gc co2 g and co 11 3 320 130 gc co g suggest organic c is present in gale crater materials five samples evolved co2 at temperatures consistent with carbonate 0 32 0 05 0 70 0 1 wt co3 evolved no amounts to 0 002 0 007 0 06 0 03 wt no3 evolution of o2 suggests oxychlorine phases chlorate perchlorate 0 05 0 025 1 05 0 44wt clo4 are present while so2 evolution indicates the presence of crystalline and or poorly crystalline fe and mg sulfate and possibly sulfide evolved h2o 0 9 0 3 2 5 1 6 wt h2o is consistent with the presence of adsorbed water hydrated salts interlayer structural water from phyllosilicates and possible inclusion water in mineral amorphous phases evolved h2 and h2s suggest reduced phases occur despite the presence of oxidized phases nitrate oxychlorine sulfate carbonate sam results coupled with chemin mineralogical and apxs elemental analyses indicate that gale crater sedimentary rocks have experienced a complex authigenetic diagenetic history involving fluids with varying ph redox and salt composition the inferred geochemical conditions were favorable for microbial habitability and if life ever existed there was likely sufficient organic c to support a small microbial population

mineralogy composition and alteration of mars pathfinder rocks and soils evidence from multispectral elemental and magnetic data on terrestrial analogue snc meteorite and pathfinder samples major element multispectral and magnetic properties data were obtained at ares vallis during the mars pathfinder mission to understand the compositional mineralogical and process implications of these data we obtained major element mineralogical and magnetic data for well crystalline and nanophase ferric minerals terrestrial analogue samples with known geologic context and snc meteorites analogue samples include unaltered palagonitic and sulfatetic tephra from mauna kea volcano hydrolytic and acid sulfate alteration steam vent material from kilauea volcano hydrolytic alteration and impactites from meteor crater relithification salient results for mars pathfinder include 1 band depths bd530b and bd600 and the reflectivity ratio r800 r750 are consistent with the dominant ferric mineral being nanophase ferric oxide associated with an unknown amount of h2o and occurring in composite particles along with subordinate amounts of other ferric minerals hematite and hematite plus nanophase goethite are most consistent with the data but maghemite akaganeite schwertmannite and nanophase lepidocrocite are also possible interpretations ferric oxides that are consistently not favored by the data as sole alteration products are jarosites and well crystalline goethite and lepidocrocite 2 the strength of the ferric adsorption edge r750 r445 implies the fe3 fe2 values for pathfinder rock and soil are within the ranges 0 7 3 and 3 20 respectively 3 ferrous silicates are indicated for subsets of pathfinder rocks and soils one subset has a band minimum near 930 nm that can attributed to low ca pyroxene alternatively the band could be a second manifestation of certain ferric oxides including nanophase goethite maghemite akaganeite and schwertmannite another subset has a negative spectral slope from 800 to 1005 nm which could result from the high energy wing of a high ca pyroxene and or olivine band a mixture of bright and dark materials and for rocks thin coatings of bright dust on dark rocks 4 chemical data on pathfinder rocks and soils are consistent with two component mixtures between an andesitic rock with low mgo and so3 concentrations soil free rock and a global basaltic soil with high mgo and so3 concentrations rock free soil pathfinder rock free soil can be modeled as a chemical mixture of snc meteorites and the pathfinder soil free rock 5 pathfinder soil cannot be obtained by chemical alteration of pathfinder rocks by any of the hydrolytic and acid sulfate alteration processes we studied presumably global mixing has obscured and possibly erased the elemental signatures of chemical alteration 6 the strongly magnetic phase in palagonitic and sulfatetic tephra is titanomagnetite and possibly its oxidation product titanomaghemite fe ti spinels the saturation magnetization of the tephra samples 0 5 2 0 am2 kg is at or below the low end of the range inferred for martian dust 4 2 am2 kg implying that lithogenic fe ti spinels are a possible candidate for the martian strongly magnetic phase 7 the predominantly palagonitic spectral signature and magnetic nature of martian soil and dust are consistent with glassy precursors with imbedded fe ti spinel particles comparison with lunar glass production rates suggests that production of sufficient quantities of glassy materials on mars by volcanic and impact processes is sufficient to account for these observations

mineralogy of a mudstone at yellowknife bay gale crater mars sedimentary rocks at yellowknife bay gale crater on mars include mudstone sampled by the curiosity rover the samples john klein and cumberland contain detrital basaltic minerals calcium sulfates iron oxide or hydroxides iron sulfides amorphous material and trioctahedral smectites the john klein smectite has basal spacing of similar to 10 angstroms indicating little interlayer hydration the cumberland smectite has basal spacing at both similar to 13 2 and similar to 10 angstroms the larger spacing suggests a partially chloritized interlayer or interlayer magnesium or calcium facilitating h2o retention basaltic minerals in the mudstone are similar to those in nearby eolian deposits however the mudstone has far less fe forsterite possibly lost with formation of smectite plus magnetite late noachian early hesperian or younger age indicates that clay mineral formation on mars extended beyond noachian time

spectrophotometric properties of materials observed by pancam on the mars exploration rovers 2 opportunity 1 the panoramic camera pancam on the mars exploration rover opportunity acquired visible near infrared multispectral observations of soils and rocks under varying viewing and illumination geometries that were modeled using radiative transfer theory to improve interpretations of the microphysical and surface scattering nature of materials in meridiani planum nearly 25 000 individual measurements were collected of rock and soil units identified by their color and morphologic properties over a wide range of phase angles 0 150 at eagle crater in the surrounding plains in endurance crater and in the plains between endurance and erebus craters through sol 492 corrections for diffuse skylight incorporated sky models based on observations of atmospheric opacity throughout the mission disparity maps created from pancam stereo images allowed inclusion of local facet orientation estimates outcrop rocks overall exhibited the highest single scattering albedos 0 9 at 753 nm and most spherule rich soils exhibited the lowest 0 6 at 753 nm macroscopic roughness among outcrop rocks varied but was typically larger than spherule rich soils data sets with sufficient phase angle coverage resulting in well constrained hapke parameters suggested that models using single term and two term henyey greenstein phase functions exhibit a dominantly broad backscattering trend for most undisturbed spherule rich soils rover tracks and other compressed soils exhibited forward scattering while outcrop rocks were intermediate in their scattering behaviors some phase functions exhibited wavelength dependent trends that may result from variations in thin deposits of airfall dust that occurred during the mission

mineralogic and compositional properties of martian soil and dust results from mars pathfinder mars pathfinder obtained multispectral elemental magnetic and physical measurements of soil and dust at the sagan memorial station during the course of its 83 sol mission we describe initial results from these measurements concentrating on multispectral and elemental data and use these data along with previous viking snc meteorite and telescopic results to help constrain the origin and evolution of martian soil and dust we find that soils and dust can be divided into at least eight distinct spectral units based on parameterization of imager for mars pathfinder imp 400 to 1000 nm multispectral images the most distinctive spectral parameters for soils and dust are the reflectivity in the red the red blue reflectivity ratio the near ir spectral slope and the strength of the 800 to 1000 nm absorption feature most of the pathfinder spectra are consistent with the presence of poorly crystalline or nanophase ferric oxide s sometimes mixed with small but varying degrees of well crystalline ferric and ferrous phases darker soil units appear to be coarser grained compacted and or mixed with a larger amount of dark ferrous materials relative to bright soils nanophase goethite akaganeite schwertmannite and maghemite are leading candidates for the origin of the absorption centered near 900 nm in imp spectra the ferrous component in the soil cannot be well constrained based on imp data alpha proton x ray spectrometer apxs measurements of six soil units show little variability within the landing site and show remarkable overall similarity to the average viking derived soil elemental composition differences exist between viking and pathfinder soils however including significantly higher s and cl abundances and lower si abundances in viking soils and the lack of a correlation between ti and fe in pathfinder soils no significant linear correlations were observed between imp spectral properties and apxs elemental chemistry attempts at constraining the mineralogy of soils and dust using normative calculations involving mixtures of smectites and silicate and oxide minerals did not yield physically acceptable solutions we attempted to use the pathfinder results to constrain a number of putative soil and dust formation scenarios including palagonitization and acid fog weathering while the pathfinder soils cannot be chemically linked to the pathfinder rocks by palagonitization this study and mcsween et al 1999 suggest that palagonitic alteration of a martian basaltic rock plus mixture with a minor component of locally derived andesitic rock fragments could be consistent with the observed soil apxs and imp properties

determining olivine composition of basaltic dunes in gale crater mars from orbit awaiting ground truth from curiosity 1 the successful landing of the mars science laboratory curiosity rover in gale crater mars presents a rare opportunity for validation of a spectral index developed for determining olivine chemistry from orbital midinfrared remote sensing data here a spectral index is developed using laboratory emissivity data of 13 synthetic mg fe olivines utilizing this spectral index a prediction of olivine composition fo55 5 is made from orbital data for a ne sw trending dune field near the curiosity rover this dune field will be crossed during the mission as the rover travels toward a 5 km high sediment stack mount sharp that contains orbitally detected clays and sulfates curiosity can use its instrument suite chemmin alpha particle x ray spectrometer chemcam when it reaches the dunes to verify or refute the olivine chemistry prediction presented here the ability to validate the developed spectral index using the rover s ground truth instruments will strengthen olivine chemistry mapping across the martian surface using this spectral index

earth like sand fluxes on mars strong and sustained winds on mars have been considered rare on the basis of surface meteorology measurements and global circulation models raising the question of whether the abundant dunes and evidence for wind erosion seen on the planet are a current process recent studies showed sand activity but could not determine whether entire dunes were moving implying large sand fluxes or whether more localized and surficial changes had occurred here we present measurements of the migration rate of sand ripples and dune lee fronts at the nili patera dune field we show that the dunes are near steady state with their entire volumes composed of mobile sand the dunes have unexpectedly high sand fluxes similar for example to those in victoria valley antarctica implying that rates of landscape modification on mars and earth are similar

spatial grain size sorting in eolian ripples and estimation of wind conditions on planetary surfaces application to meridiani planum mars the landscape seen by the mars exploration rover mer opportunity at meridiani planum is dominated by eolian wind blown ripples with concentrated surface lags of hematitic spherules and fragments these ripples exhibit profound spatial grain size sorting with well sorted coarse grained crests and poorly sorted generally finer grained troughs these ripples were the most common bed form encountered by opportunity in its traverse from eagle crater to endurance crater field measurements from white sands national monument new mexico show that such coarse grained ripples form by the different transport modes of coarse and fine grain fractions on the basis of our field study and simple theoretical and experimental considerations we show how surface deposits of coarse grained ripples can be used to place tight constraints on formative wind conditions on planetary surfaces activation of meridiani planum coarse grained ripples requires a wind velocity of 70 m s at a reference elevation of 1 m above the bed from images by the mars orbiter camera moc of reversing dust streaks we estimate that modern surface winds reach a velocity of at least 40 m s and hence may occasionally activate these ripples the presence of hematite at meridiani planum is ultimately related to formation of concretions during aqueous diagenesis in groundwater environments however the eolian concentration of these durable particles may have led to the recognition from orbit of this environmentally significant landing site

mineralogy and fluvial history of the watersheds of gale knobel and sharp craters a regional context for the mars science laboratory curiosity s exploration a 500 km long network of valleys extends from herschel crater to gale knobel and sharp craters the mineralogy and timing of fluvial activity in these watersheds provide a regional framework for deciphering the origin of sediments of gale crater s mount sharp an exploration target for the curiosity rover olivine bearing bedrock is exposed throughout the region and its erosion contributed to widespread olivine bearing sand dunes fe mg phyllosilicates are found in both bedrock and sediments implying that materials deposited in gale crater may have inherited clay minerals transported from the watershed while some topographic lows of the sharp knobel watershed host chloride salts the only salts detected in the gale watershed are sulfates within mount sharp implying regional or temporal differences in water chemistry crater counts indicate progressively more spatially localized aqueous activity large scale valley network activity ceased by the early hesperian though later hesperian amazonian fluvial activity continued near gale and sharp craters