Chemical alteration of fine-grained sedimentary rocks at Gale crater

Mangold, Nicolas; Dehouck, E.; Fedo, C.; Forni, O.; Achilles, C.; Bristow, T.; Downs, R. T.; Frydenvang, J.; Gasnault, O.; L'Haridon, J.; Deit, L. Le; Maurice, S.; McLennan, S. M.; Meslin, P. -Y.; Morrison, S.; Newsom, H. E.; Rampe, E.; Rapin, W.; Rivera-Hernandez, F.; Salvatore, M.; Wiens, R. C.

doi:10.1016/j.icarus.2018.11.004

Chemical alteration of fine-grained sedimentary rocks at Gale crater

Journal Article · Sat Nov 17 00:00:00 EST 2018 · Icarus

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.icarus.2018.11.004· OSTI ID:1483549

Mangold, Nicolas ^[1]; ^[2]; Fedo, C. ^[3]; ^[4]; Achilles, C. ^[5]; Bristow, T. ^[6]; ^[5]; ^[7]; ^[4]; ^[1]; Deit, L. Le ^[1]; Maurice, S. ^[4]; McLennan, S. M. ^[8]; Meslin, P. -Y. ^[4]; ^[5]; ^[9]; Rampe, E. ^[10]; Rapin, W. ^[11]; ^[12]; Salvatore, M. ^[13] more »

Univ. de Nantes, Univ. d'Angers, Nantes (France)
Univ. Claude Bernard (France)
Univ. of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN (United States)
Univ. de Toulouse, Toulouse (France)
Univ. of Arizona, Tucson, AZ (United States)
NASA Ames Research Center (ARC), Moffett Field, Mountain View, CA (United States)
Univ. of Copenhagen (Denmark)
Stony Brook Univ., Stony Brook, NY (United States)
Univ. of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM (United States)
Aerodyne Industries, Houston, TX (United States)
UC Davis Earth and Planetary Science, Davis, CA (United States)
California Inst. of Technology (CalTech), Pasadena, CA (United States)
Northern Arizona Univ., Flagstaff, AZ (United States)
Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)

From Sol 750 to 1550, the Curiosity rover documented >100 m thick stack of fine-grained sedimentary rocks making up part of the Murray formation, at the base of Mt Sharp, Gale crater. Here, we use data collected by the ChemCam instrument to estimate the level of chemical weathering in these sedimentary rocks. Both the Chemical Index of Alteration (CIA) and the Weathering Index Scale (WIS) indicate a progressive increase in alteration up section, reaching values of CIA of 63 and WIS of 25%. The increase in CIA and WIS values is coupled with a decrease in calcium abundance, suggesting partial dissolution of Ca-bearing minerals (clinopyroxene and plagioclase). Mineralogy from the CheMin X-ray diffraction instrument indicates a decrease in mafic minerals compared with previously analyzed strata and a significant proportion of phyllosilicates consistent with this interpretation. Furthermore, these observations suggest that the sediments were predominantly altered in an open system, before or during their emplacement, contrasting with the rock-dominated conditions inferred in sedimentary deposits analyzed at Yellowknife Bay.

View Accepted Manuscript (DOE)

Research Organization:: Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL)

Sponsoring Organization:: NASA; USDOE

Grant/Contract Number:: 89233218CNA000001

OSTI ID:: 1483549

Report Number(s):: LA-UR-18-29015

Journal Information:: Icarus, Journal Name: Icarus Vol. 321; ISSN 0019-1035

Publisher:: ElsevierCopyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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