Bagnold Dunes Campaign Phase 2: Visible/Near-Infrared Reflectance Spectroscopy of Longitudinal Ripple Sands
- The Johns Hopkins Univ. Applied Physics Lab., Laurel, MD (United States)
- Arizona State Univ., Tempe, AZ (United States)
- Planetary Science Institute, Tucson, AZ (United States)
- Univ. of Winnipeg, Winnipeg, MB (Canada)
- Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, CA (United States); California Inst. of Technology (CalTech), Pasadena, CA (United States)
- Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, CA (United States)
- Univ. de Toulouse, Toulouse (France)
- Univ. of New Brunswick, Fredericton, NB (Canada)
- Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)
As part of the Phase 2 Bagnold Dune campaign at Gale Crater, Mars, constraints on the geochemistry, mineralogy, and oxidation state of pristine and disturbed linear sand ripples were made using visible/near–infrared spectral observations for comparison to Phase 1 spectra of the barchan dunes to the north. Spectra acquired by the ChemCam and Mastcam instruments (400–1,000 nm) at four Phase 2 locations revealed similar overall spectral trends between the two regions, but most Phase 2 sands were redder in the visible wavelengths. The majority of targets exhibited lower red/infrared ratios, higher ~530–nm band depths, and higher red/blue ratios than Phase 1 samples, suggesting a greater proportion of redder, fine–grained, ferric sands in Phase 2 samples. Here, this is consistent with the slightly greater proportion of hematite in Phase 2 samples as determined from CheMin analyses of the Ogunquit sands, which may reflect contamination from the surrounding hematite–bearing Murray formation bedrock.
- Research Organization:
- Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA); USDOE
- Grant/Contract Number:
- 89233218CNA000001
- OSTI ID:
- 1508549
- Report Number(s):
- LA-UR-18-28844
- Journal Information:
- Geophysical Research Letters, Vol. 45, Issue 18; ISSN 0094-8276
- Publisher:
- American Geophysical UnionCopyright Statement
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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