Grain Size Variations in the Murray Formation: Stratigraphic Evidence for Changing Depositional Environments in Gale Crater, Mars
Abstract
The lowermost exposure of the Murray formation in Gale crater, Mars, was interpreted as sediment deposited in an ancient lake based on data collected by the Curiosity rover. Constraining the stratigraphic extent and duration of this environment has important implications for the paleohydrology of Gale. Insights into early Martian environments and paleofluid flow velocity can be obtained from grain size in rocks. Visual inspection of grain size is not always available for rocks investigated at field sites on Mars due to limited image coverage. But grain sizes can also be estimated from the Gini Index Mean Score, a grain-size proxy that uses point-to-point chemical variations in ChemCam Laser Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy data. Here, new Gini Index Mean Score results indicate that the Murray formation is dominated by mudstones with grains smaller than the spatial resolution of all rover cameras. Intervals of fine to coarse sandstone also are present, some of which are verified using observations of grain size and sedimentary structures in associated images. Overall, results demonstrate that most of the Murray consists of mudstone, suggesting settling of grains from suspension in low energy depositional environments such as lakes. Some of the mudstones contain desiccation cracks indicating periods of dryingmore »
- Authors:
-
- Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH (United States). Dept. of Earth Sciences; Univ. of California, Davis, CA (United States). Earth and Planetary Sciences Dept.
- Univ. of California, Davis, CA (United States). Earth and Planetary Sciences Dept.
- Univ. de Nantes (France). Lab. de Planétologie et Géophysique de Nantes
- Imperial College, London (United Kingdom). Dept. of Earth Science & Engineering
- Malin Space Science Systems, San Diego, CA (United States)
- Univ. of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN (United States). Dept. of Earth and Planetary Sciences
- Jackson State Univ., Jackson, MS (United States). Dept. of Physics, Atmospheric Sciences, and Geoscience
- Univ. de Toulouse, CNRS, UPS, CNES (France). Inst. de Recherche en Astrophysique & Planétologie
- Univ. of California, Davis, CA (United States). Earth and Planetary Sciences Dept.; Texas A & M Univ., College Station, TX (United States). Dept. of Geology and Geophysics
- Univ. of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM (United States). Inst. of Meteoritics
- Indiana Univ., Bloomington, IN (United States). Dept. of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences
- California Institute of Technology (CalTech), Pasadena, CA (United States). Jet Propulsion Lab. (JPL)
- California Institute of Technology (CalTech), Pasadena, CA (United States). Division of Geological and Planetary Sciences
- Los Alamos National Laboratory Los Alamos NM USA
- Publication Date:
- Research Org.:
- Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)
- Sponsoring Org.:
- National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)
- OSTI Identifier:
- 1650635
- Report Number(s):
- LA-UR-19-32323
Journal ID: ISSN 2169-9097
- Grant/Contract Number:
- 89233218CNA000001
- Resource Type:
- Journal Article: Accepted Manuscript
- Journal Name:
- Journal of Geophysical Research. Planets
- Additional Journal Information:
- Journal Volume: 125; Journal Issue: 2; Journal ID: ISSN 2169-9097
- Publisher:
- American Geophysical Union
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
- Subject:
- 58 GEOSCIENCES; planetary sciences
Citation Formats
Rivera‐Hernández, Frances, Sumner, Dawn Y., Mangold, Nicolas, Banham, Steven G., Edgett, Kenneth S., Fedo, Christopher M., Gupta, Sanjeev, Gwizd, Samantha, Heydari, Ezat, Maurice, Sylvestre, Nachon, Marion, Newsom, Horton, Schieber, Juergen, Stack‐Morgan, Katie, Stein, Nathan, and Wiens, Roger C. Grain Size Variations in the Murray Formation: Stratigraphic Evidence for Changing Depositional Environments in Gale Crater, Mars. United States: N. p., 2020.
Web. doi:10.1029/2019je006230.
Rivera‐Hernández, Frances, Sumner, Dawn Y., Mangold, Nicolas, Banham, Steven G., Edgett, Kenneth S., Fedo, Christopher M., Gupta, Sanjeev, Gwizd, Samantha, Heydari, Ezat, Maurice, Sylvestre, Nachon, Marion, Newsom, Horton, Schieber, Juergen, Stack‐Morgan, Katie, Stein, Nathan, & Wiens, Roger C. Grain Size Variations in the Murray Formation: Stratigraphic Evidence for Changing Depositional Environments in Gale Crater, Mars. United States. https://doi.org/10.1029/2019je006230
Rivera‐Hernández, Frances, Sumner, Dawn Y., Mangold, Nicolas, Banham, Steven G., Edgett, Kenneth S., Fedo, Christopher M., Gupta, Sanjeev, Gwizd, Samantha, Heydari, Ezat, Maurice, Sylvestre, Nachon, Marion, Newsom, Horton, Schieber, Juergen, Stack‐Morgan, Katie, Stein, Nathan, and Wiens, Roger C. 2020.
"Grain Size Variations in the Murray Formation: Stratigraphic Evidence for Changing Depositional Environments in Gale Crater, Mars". United States. https://doi.org/10.1029/2019je006230. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1650635.
@article{osti_1650635,
title = {Grain Size Variations in the Murray Formation: Stratigraphic Evidence for Changing Depositional Environments in Gale Crater, Mars},
author = {Rivera‐Hernández, Frances and Sumner, Dawn Y. and Mangold, Nicolas and Banham, Steven G. and Edgett, Kenneth S. and Fedo, Christopher M. and Gupta, Sanjeev and Gwizd, Samantha and Heydari, Ezat and Maurice, Sylvestre and Nachon, Marion and Newsom, Horton and Schieber, Juergen and Stack‐Morgan, Katie and Stein, Nathan and Wiens, Roger C.},
abstractNote = {The lowermost exposure of the Murray formation in Gale crater, Mars, was interpreted as sediment deposited in an ancient lake based on data collected by the Curiosity rover. Constraining the stratigraphic extent and duration of this environment has important implications for the paleohydrology of Gale. Insights into early Martian environments and paleofluid flow velocity can be obtained from grain size in rocks. Visual inspection of grain size is not always available for rocks investigated at field sites on Mars due to limited image coverage. But grain sizes can also be estimated from the Gini Index Mean Score, a grain-size proxy that uses point-to-point chemical variations in ChemCam Laser Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy data. Here, new Gini Index Mean Score results indicate that the Murray formation is dominated by mudstones with grains smaller than the spatial resolution of all rover cameras. Intervals of fine to coarse sandstone also are present, some of which are verified using observations of grain size and sedimentary structures in associated images. Overall, results demonstrate that most of the Murray consists of mudstone, suggesting settling of grains from suspension in low energy depositional environments such as lakes. Some of the mudstones contain desiccation cracks indicating periods of drying with a lowering of lake water level. However, beds and lenses of cross-bedded sandstones are common at specific intervals, suggesting episodes of fluvial and possibly eolian deposition. The persistence of lacustrine deposits interspersed with fluvial deposits suggests that liquid water was sustained on the Martian surface for tens of thousands to millions of years.},
doi = {10.1029/2019je006230},
url = {https://www.osti.gov/biblio/1650635},
journal = {Journal of Geophysical Research. Planets},
issn = {2169-9097},
number = 2,
volume = 125,
place = {United States},
year = {Mon Feb 10 00:00:00 EST 2020},
month = {Mon Feb 10 00:00:00 EST 2020}
}
Web of Science
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