Geochemistry of the Bagnold dune field as observed by ChemCam and comparison with other aeolian deposits at Gale Crater

Agnes, Cousin; Dehouck, Erwin; Meslin, Pierre-Yves; Forni, Olivier; Williams, Amy J.; Stein, Nathan; Gasnault, Olivier; Bridges, Nathan; Ehlmann, Bethany; Schröder, Susanne; Payré, Valérie; Rapin, William; Pinet, Patrick; Sautter, Violaine; Lanza, Nina; Lasue, Jérémie; Maurice, Sylvestre; Wiens, Roger C.

doi:10.1002/2017JE005261

Title: Geochemistry of the Bagnold dune field as observed by ChemCam and comparison with other aeolian deposits at Gale Crater

Journal Article · Tue Jun 27 00:00:00 EDT 2017 · Journal of Geophysical Research. Planets

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1002/2017JE005261· OSTI ID:1396139

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Univ. of Toulouse (France). Inst. for Research in Astrophysics and Planetology (IRAP)
Towson Univ., MD (United States). Dept. of Physics Astronomy and Geosciences
California Inst. of Technology (CalTech), Pasadena, CA (United States)
Applied Physics Lab., Laurel, MD (United States)
German Aerospace Center (DLR), Berlin (Germany)
Univ. of Loraine, Nancy (France)
National Museum of Natural History, Paris (France)
Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)

The Curiosity rover conducted the first field investigation of an active extraterrestrial dune. Our study of the Bagnold dunes focuses on the ChemCam chemical results and also presents findings on the grain size distributions based on the ChemCam RMI and MAHLI images. These active dunes are composed of grains that are mostly <250 μm. Their composition is overall similar to that of the aeolian deposits analyzed all along the traverse (“Aeolis Palus soils”). Nevertheless, the dunes contain less volatiles (Cl, H, S) than the Aeolis Palus soils, which appears to be due to a lower content of volatile-rich fine-grained particles (<100 μm), or a lower content of volatile-rich amorphous component, possibly as a result of: 1) a lower level of chemical alteration; 2) the removal of an alteration rind at the surface of the grains during transport; 3) a lower degree of interaction with volcanic gases/aerosols; or 4) physical sorting that removed the smallest and most altered grains. Analyses of the >150 μm grain-size dump piles have shown that coarser grains (150-250 μm) are enriched in the mafic elements Fe and Mn, suggesting a larger content in olivine compared to smaller grains (<150 μm) of the Bagnold dunes. Furthermore, the chemistry of soils analyzed in the vicinity of the dunes indicates that they are similar to the dune material. Altogether these observations suggest that the olivine content determined by X-ray diffraction of the <150 μm grain-size sample should be considered as a lower limit for the Bagnold dunes.

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Research Organization:: Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE; National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)

Grant/Contract Number:: AC52-06NA25396

OSTI ID:: 1396139

Report Number(s):: LA-UR-17-27677

Journal Information:: Journal of Geophysical Research. Planets, Vol. 122, Issue 10; ISSN 2169-9097

Publisher:: American Geophysical UnionCopyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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Cited by: 40 works

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