DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.15692236
title: A burial history of the sedimentary succession preserved in Aeolis Mons, as recorded by fracture networks at Maria Gordon notch, Gale crater, Mars

description: About

This dataset accompanies the paper "A burial history of the sedimentary succession preserved in Aeolis Mons, as recorded by fracture networks at Maria Gordon notch, Gale crater, Mars", published in JGR-Planets in 2025.

https://doi.org/10.1029/2024JE008843

Data included in this dataset is subject to CC licence: CC BY-SA.

Please feel free to use images and slides in lectures, or education materials.

The abstract, plane language summary, data availability statement, and acknowledgements are as published in JGR-P.

Abstract

Fractures in sedimentary rocks preserved within Gale crater record the deformational and burial history of the sediment infill. Fracture geometries and morphology can be used to time other geologic events, such as: compaction, diagenesis, fluid migration, geochemistry, and broader tectonic stresses within a basin. The rover, Curiosity, acquired images to construct 3D digital outcrop models, used for characterisation of fracture sets exposed in aeolian strata of the Mirador formation at Maria Gordon notch, identifying four distinct fracture sets. Three fracture sets formed during burial, and one during exhumation. The first group (Sets 1 and 2) consisting of bedding parallel and bedding-bounded vertical fractures, associated with early lithification and hydraulic fracturing of the rock, as water escaped from isolated pores. Fracture set 3 - Vertical sulphate-filled fractures - formed after a second episode of diagenesis, as water escaped from deeper within the succession. The final fracture set are barren and associated with exhumation of the crater fill. Modelling burial stress suggest that Set 1 and 2 would form at depths greater than 1 km. The tensile strength of the rocks are generally higher than anticipated, due to the absence of shear fractures (faults).

Fracture sets 1-3 demonstrate dewatering of the strata during burial, which continued up until maximum burial at ~4.7 km. This water was driven toward the surface, providing water for diagenesis, alteration reactions and could have reasonably extended the habitability window within Gale crater.

Plane Language Summary

Gale crater contains a mound of sediment that accumulated under a mixture of wet, and then increasingly dry conditions. As lake sediments were buried and lithified, water became trapped in the pore spaces. With increasing burial depth, the pore water pressure increased until it exceeded the tensile strength of the rock, causing fractures to form. Because the confining weight of the overlying rocks was normally greater than the horizontal confining forces, these fractures typically formed in a sub-vertical orientation.

The timing of different fracture sets corresponds to different stages of burial, and the interactions between fractures can be used to time events within the subsurface, such as compaction and lithification of the sediments, the ground water geochemistry, and external tectonic compression on the basin.

Fracturing occurred in four stages: three sets formed during burial, associated with dewatering of the accumulated sediment, and the fourth set is associated with the exhumation of Mount Sharp. The dewatering process would drive water upwards into shallower strata, driving diagenesis, and lithification of the sediments after surface conditions became arid, and would extend the habitability window within the shallow subsurface

Data Availability Statement

Data presented in this study are archived with the NASA Planetary Data System (PDS). Mastcam MAHLI and MARDI (MMM) images, along with engineering camara (Navcam & Hazcam) data are archived in the imaging portal (https://pds-imaging.jpl.nasa.gov/volumes/msl.html) and are readily accessible through the MSL Curiosity Analyst's Notebook (https://an.rsl.wustl.edu/msl). Mastcam data used in this study are available via this database: Malin (2013; [Data] https://doi.org/10.17189/1520190)

For location data, PDS - Places (2013; [Data] https://planetarydata.jpl.nasa.gov/img/data/msl/msl_places/).

The HiRISE mosaic is found via Calef and Parker [Data] (2016; http://bit.ly/MSL_Basemap).

Images used can be found in a data table in Text S1 in Supporting Information S1 slide pack. Data (interpretations) generated during the course of this study are available in Text S1 in Supporting Information S1.

VRVis PRo3D: a 3D viewer for exploration and geologic interpretation of planetary surface reconstructions. (2025, April 02; Version 5.0.0) [Software]. https://github.com/pro3d-space/PRo3D/ Details about the software can be found at: https://pro3d.space/.

Videos depicting 3D Digital Outcrop Models, and the annotations can be found on YouTube using this hyperlink: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLAESV91icy-SMm3lkkOPwh2kl8xkuJGe0

Acknowledgements

The authors acknowledge the efforts made by the NASA Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) Project's engineering, science, and management teams in making this research possible. The authors are also grateful to the many MSL team members who participated in tactical and strategic operations during the traverse up to and through Maria Gordon notch. Special thanks go to Malin Space Science Systems (MSSS) for providing operations support to acquire these images, and for the processing of Mastcam mosaic products used herein. Steven G. Banham, Sanjeev Gupta, and Robert Barnes acknowledge funding from the UK Space Agency (UKSA) (Grant numbers: ST/N000579/1; ST/S001492/1; ST/S001506/1; ST/T001755/1; ST/Y000137/1).

VRVis are acknowledged for ongoing support and development of the PRo3D software. Joanneum Research are acknowledged for processing of key data products which made this research possible. VRVis and JOANNEUM RESEARCH activities were funded by FFG ASAP Contract 911911. Parts of this study were carried out at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, under a contract with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.

Anthony D Feldman and an anonymous reviewer are acknowledged and thanked for their constructive comments during the review process: this manuscript has been improved by their input.