Oxidation of manganese in an ancient aquifer, Kimberley formation, Gale crater, Mars
- Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)
- Washington Univ., St. Louis, MO (United States). Dept. of Earth and Planetary Sciences
- Space Science Inst., Boulder, CO (United States)
- California Inst. of Technology (CalTech), Pasadena, CA (United States)
- Univ. of Guelph, ON (Canada)
- Stony Brook Univ., NY (United States). Dept. of Geosciences
- NASA Johnson Space Center, Houston, TX (United States)
- Western Washington Univ., Bellingham, WA (United States). Geology Dept.
- Arizona State Univ., Tempe, AZ (United States). School of Earth and Space Exploration
- Univ. of Western Ontario, London, ON (Canada). Dept. of Earth Sciences
- California Inst. of Technology (CalTech), La Canada Flintridge, CA (United States). Jet Propulsion Lab.
- Johns Hopkins Univ., Baltimore, MD (United States). Applied Physics Lab.
- Univ. Toulouse III - Paul Sabatier (UPS), Toulouse (France). Observatoire Midi-Pyrenees (OMP), Inst. for Research in Astrophysics and Planetology (IRAP)
- Malin Space Science Systems, San Diego, CA (United States)
- Univ. de Lorraine, Nancy (France). GeoRessources Lab.
- Oregon State Univ., Corvallis, OR (United States). College of Earth, Ocean, and Atmospheric Sciences
- Univ. of Copenhagen (Denmark). The Niels Bohr Inst.
- U.S. Naval Academy, Annapolis Maryland (United States). Aerospace Engineering
- Univ. de Nantes, Nantes (France)
- Lulea Univ. of Technology, Kiruna (Sweden). Dept. of Computer Science, Electrical and Space Engineering; Univ. of Granada (Spain). Andalusian Inst. of Earth Sciences (CSIC-UGR)
- Purdue Univ., West Lafayette, IN (United States). Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Science
- Univ. of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM (United States). Inst. of Meteoritics
- Natural History Museum ( IMPMC), Paris (France).
- Univ. of New Brunswick, Fredericton NB (Canada). Planetary and Space Science Centre
- Lunar and Planetary Inst., Houston Texas (United States)
- Planetary Science Inst., Tucson, AZ (United States)
- Lulea Univ. of Technology, Kiruna (Sweden). Dept. of Computer Science, Electrical and Space Engineering; Centro de Astrobiologia (CAB), Madrid (Spain)
We report that the Curiosity rover observed high Mn abundances (>25 wt % MnO) in fracture-filling materials that crosscut sandstones in the Kimberley region of Gale crater, Mars. The correlation between Mn and trace metal abundances plus the lack of correlation between Mn and elements such as S, Cl, and C, reveals that these deposits are Mn oxides rather than evaporites or other salts. On Earth, environments that concentrate Mn and deposit Mn minerals require water and highly oxidizing conditions; hence, these findings suggest that similar processes occurred on Mars. In conclusion, based on the strong association between Mn-oxide deposition and evolving atmospheric dioxygen levels on Earth, the presence of these Mn phases on Mars suggests that there was more abundant molecular oxygen within the atmosphere and some groundwaters of ancient Mars than in the present day.
- Research Organization:
- Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA); USDOE
- Grant/Contract Number:
- AC52-06NA25396
- OSTI ID:
- 1304809
- Report Number(s):
- LA-UR-15-20086
- Journal Information:
- Geophysical Research Letters, Vol. 43, Issue 14; ISSN 0094-8276
- Publisher:
- American Geophysical UnionCopyright Statement
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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