Ancient Aqueous Environments at Endeavour Crater, Mars

Author:

Arvidson R. E.1,Squyres S. W.2,Bell J. F.3,Catalano J. G.1,Clark B. C.4,Crumpler L. S.5,de Souza P. A.6,Fairén A. G.2,Farrand W. H.4,Fox V. K.1,Gellert R.7,Ghosh A.8,Golombek M. P.9,Grotzinger J. P.10,Guinness E. A.1,Herkenhoff K. E.11,Jolliff B. L.1,Knoll A. H.12,Li R.13,McLennan S. M.14,Ming D. W.15,Mittlefehldt D. W.15,Moore J. M.16,Morris R. V.15,Murchie S. L.17,Parker T. J.9,Paulsen G.18,Rice J. W.19,Ruff S. W.3,Smith M. D.20,Wolff M. J.4

Affiliation:

1. Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Washington University in Saint Louis, St. Louis, MO 63130, USA.

2. Department of Astronomy, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853, USA.

3. School of Earth and Space Exploration, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ 85287, USA.

4. Space Science Institute, Boulder, CO 80301, USA.

5. New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science, Albuquerque, NM 87104, USA.

6. Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization (CSIRO) Computational Informatics, Hobart 7001 TAS, Australia.

7. Department of Physics, University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario, N1G 2W1, Canada.

8. Tharsis Inc., Gaithersburg, MD 20877, USA.

9. Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91109, USA.

10. Division of Geological and Planetary Sciences, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91125, USA.

11. U.S. Geological Survey, Astrogeology Science Center, Flagstaff, AZ 86001, USA.

12. Botanical Museum, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA.

13. Department of Civil, Environmental, and Geodetic Engineering, Ohio State University, Columbus, OH 43210, USA.

14. Department of Geosciences, State University of New York, Stony Brook, NY 11794, USA.

15. Astromaterials Research and Exploration Science (ARES), NASA Johnson Space Center, Houston, TX 77058, USA.

16. NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, CA 94035, USA.

17. Applied Physics Laboratory, Laurel, MD 20723, USA.

18. Honeybee Robotics Spacecraft Mechanisms Corporation, Pasadena, CA 91103, USA.

19. Planetary Science Institute, Tucson, AZ 85719, USA.

20. NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD 20771, USA.

Abstract

Opportunity has investigated in detail rocks on the rim of the Noachian age Endeavour crater, where orbital spectral reflectance signatures indicate the presence of Fe +3 -rich smectites. The signatures are associated with fine-grained, layered rocks containing spherules of diagenetic or impact origin. The layered rocks are overlain by breccias, and both units are cut by calcium sulfate veins precipitated from fluids that circulated after the Endeavour impact. Compositional data for fractures in the layered rocks suggest formation of Al-rich smectites by aqueous leaching. Evidence is thus preserved for water-rock interactions before and after the impact, with aqueous environments of slightly acidic to circum-neutral pH that would have been more favorable for prebiotic chemistry and microorganisms than those recorded by younger sulfate-rich rocks at Meridiani Planum.

Publisher

American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)

Subject

Multidisciplinary

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