habitable environments of ancient mars: deciphering the...
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Habitable Environments of Ancient Mars:
Deciphering the Rock Record John Grotzinger
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Modern Mars: Recurring Slope Lineae
McEwan et al., 2014
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Mars Timeline: Water-related environments
Ehlmann et al., 2011, Nature
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• “Mars is a volcanic planet”. But…
• Layered rocks can be sedimentary.
• Sedimentary basins are chemical reactors: heat + fluid flow aqueous minerals
• Sedimentary rocks are the archive of Earth’s early biosphere record.
• “Mars is a glacial planet”. But…
• No landed mission has ever encountered glacial landforms. Sedimentary deposits
lack glacial features.
• Mars was apparently wet enough, and warm enough, for liquid water to be stable
at surface for 104 - 106 years.
• “Noachian Hesperian was a global acidization event”. But… • Meridiani (Opportunity rover) was acidic. Gale crater (Curiosity rover) was not.
• The largest river system on Mars only formed clays despite spanning NH
boundary. No evidence of layered sulfates in younger history.
• When considering biomarker preservation, texture and petrogenesis are as
important as mineralogy.
• Need more (small, cheap) rovers, assigned to “boutique” missions.
Rethinking Ancient Mars
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Gale Crater and Mt. Sharp
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Grotzinger et al., 2016
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Looking South to Mount Sharp
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Looking North to Crater Rim
Anhydrous
Sulfates
Clays
Mixed
Mineral Stratigraphy, lower Mt. Sharp
1 km
Marias Pass
Naukluft
Murray Buttes
Stack et al., 2015
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1m
Williams et al., 2016
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Grotzinger et al., 2015
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Mars (cm-scale) Earth (cm-scale)
Ancient Lake Beds
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NASA/Caltech/JPL/MSSS
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Preliminary Results 15hrs integration
Mineral Rocknest John Klein
Plagioclase (~An50) 43% 30%
Olivine (~Fo58) 20.5% 4.4%
Augite 16.7% 6.2%
Pigeonite 11.4% 5.2%
Magnetite 1.8% 10%
Anhydrite 1.4% 4.5%
Pyrhotite - 1.5%
Smectite - 20-30%
Amorphous material 25-40% 20%
Vaniman et al., 2014
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Yellowknife Bay
Pahrump Hills
Marias Pass
Naukluft Plateau
Murray Buttes
Mafic Igneous
Magnetite
Hematite
Crystalline SiO2
Fe Sulfate
Ca Sulfate
Phyllosilicate
JK CB CH
MJ
TP
BK
OD
MB
Feldspar Mineral Stratigraphy of Gale
Sedimentary Rocks (Bradbury and Mt. Sharp groups only)
Rampe et al., In Press
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1 cm
“Marias Pass”
-73% SiO2
-Laminae are
0.5 mm thick
-Very fine
grained
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plagioclase
K-spar
magnetite
cristobalite
tridymite
opal-CT
amorphous
Marias Pass
plagioclase
Morris et al., 2016
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Precambrian Banded Iron Formation, Silica-rich Facies
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Precambrian Laminated Silica Deposit
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Precambrian Laminated Silica Deposit
Microfossils
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Hematite-sulfate = shallow water facies
– Nearshore sediments delivered by fluvial input; dense, mafic minerals dominate.
– Oxidant concentration (UV photons, molecular O2) > [Fe2+].
– Fe-oxidation produces hematite and acidity, eventually stabilizing minor jarosite.
– Evaporation of the lake concentrates water to produce Mg, Ca sulfates.
Magnetite-silica = deep water facies
– Offshore sediments are finer, less dense clastics (crystalline silica, feldspars, perhaps some of the opaline silica)
– Oxidant concentration (UV photons, molecular O2) < [Fe2+].
– Less oxic conditions permit the precipitation of authigenic magnetite > hematite.
– Amorphous silica precipitated via interactions with silica-rich source area.
A stratified lake model
Hurowitz et al., In Review
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Surface Scenario for Origin of Life
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Deep Fractures: Subsurface Habitability
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• Gale crater contained a long-lived ancient lake fed by surface
waters derived from low-elevation highlands, and also
groundwater.
• Mineral compositions show unexpected and surprising diversity
in Murray formation, representing environmental differentiation
over geologically brief time scales
• High silica compositions inconsistent with acid weathering, via
minerals, major/minor elements.
• Opaline silica may have precipitated as early diagenetic
sediment, or directly from water column to form finely laminated
mudstone.
• These rocks provide compelling evidence for habitability, and
remarkably Earth-like analogs for biosignature preservation.
• Boutique missions – look for borates, cyanide salts, etc.
Conclusions
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Clinoform Sandstone (View to West)
Toplap surface
10 m
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Pliocene Deltas, Caspian Sea, Azerbaijan
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Gale is on the Dichotomy Boundary
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Mineralogy-based Chronostratigraphy for Mars
Bibring et al., 2006
•Major Step Forward
•Based on physical properties that show apparent temporal evolution
•Testable based on in situ measurements
•But like all time scales is now in need of revision
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Toward a
Global
Stratigraphy
For Mars (Grotzinger and Milliken, SEPM, 2012)