An interval of high salinity in ancient Gale crater lake on Mars

Rapin, William; Ehlmann, Bethany L.; Dromart, G.; Schieber, J.; Thomas, N. H.; Fischer, W. W.; Fox, V. K.; Stein, Nathan T.; Nachon, M.; Clark, Benton C.; Kah, L. C.; Thompson, L.; Meyer, H. A.; Gabriel, T. S. J.; Hardgrove, Craig; Mangold, N.; Rivera-Hernandez, F.; Wiens, Roger Craig; Vasavada, A. R.

doi:10.1038/s41561-019-0458-8

An interval of high salinity in ancient Gale crater lake on Mars

Journal Article · Mon Oct 07 00:00:00 EDT 2019 · Nature Geoscience

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1038/s41561-019-0458-8· OSTI ID:1734724

^[1]; Ehlmann, Bethany L. ^[2]; Dromart, G. ^[3]; Schieber, J. ^[4]; Thomas, N. H. ^[1]; Fischer, W. W. ^[1]; Fox, V. K. ^[1]; Stein, Nathan T. ^[1]; Nachon, M. ^[5]; Clark, Benton C. ^[6]; ^[7]; Thompson, L. ^[8]; Meyer, H. A. ^[1]; Gabriel, T. S. J. ^[9]; Hardgrove, Craig ^[9]; Mangold, N. ^[10]; ^[11]; ^[12]; Vasavada, A. R. ^[2]

California Institute of Technology (CalTech), Pasadena, CA (United States)
California Institute of Technology (CalTech), Pasadena, CA (United States). Jet Propulsion Lab. (JPL)
Univ. of Lyon (France)
Indiana Univ., Bloomington, IN (United States)
Texas A & M Univ., College Station, TX (United States)
Space Science Inst., Boulder, CO (United States)
Univ. of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN (United States)
Univ. of New Brunswick, Fredericton NB (Canada)
Arizona State Univ., Tempe, AZ (United States)
Univ. Nantes (France); Univ. Angers (France)
Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH (United States)
Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)

Precipitated minerals, including salts, are primary tracers of atmospheric conditions and water chemistry in lake basins. Ongoing in situ exploration by the Curiosity rover of Hesperian (around 3.3–3.7 Gyr old) sedimentary rocks within Gale crater on Mars has revealed clay-bearing fluvio-lacustrine deposits with sporadic occurrences of sulfate minerals, primarily as late-stage diagenetic veins and concretions. In this work, we report bulk enrichments, disseminated in the bedrock, of 30–50 wt% calcium sulfate intermittently over about 150 m of stratigraphy, and of 26–36 wt% hydrated magnesium sulfate within a thinner section of strata. We use geochemical analysis, primarily from the ChemCam laser-induced breakdown spectrometer, combined with results from other rover instruments, to characterize the enrichments and their lithology. The deposits are consistent with early diagenetic, pre-compaction salt precipitation from brines concentrated by evaporation, including magnesium sulfate-rich brines from extreme evaporative concentration. This saline interval represents a substantial hydrological perturbation of the lake basin, which may reflect variations in Mars’ obliquity and orbital parameters. Our findings support stepwise changes in Martian climate during the Hesperian, leading to more arid and sulfate-dominated environments as previously inferred from orbital observations.

View Accepted Manuscript (DOE)

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

Sponsoring Organization:: National Aeronautic and Space Administration (NASA); USDOE National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA)

Grant/Contract Number:: 89233218CNA000001

OSTI ID:: 1734724

Report Number(s):: LA-UR--19-32327

Journal Information:: Nature Geoscience, Journal Name: Nature Geoscience Journal Issue: 11 Vol. 12; ISSN 1752-0908; ISSN 1752-0894

Publisher:: Nature Publishing GroupCopyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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