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JOURNAL OF GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH,
VOL. 111,
E12S08,
19 PP., 2006
doi:10.1029/2006JE002728
Nature and origin of the hematite-bearing plains of Terra Meridiani based on analyses of orbital and Mars Exploration rover data sets
Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Washington University, St. Louis, Missouri, USA
Institut d'Astrophysique Spatiale, Université Paris-Sud, Orsay, France
NASA Johnson Space Center, Houston, Texas, USA
Institut d'Astrophysique Spatiale, Université Paris-Sud, Orsay, France
Department of Astronomy, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, USA
Department of Astronomy, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, USA
Department of Geological Sciences, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona, USA
Istituto di Fisica dello Spazio Interplanetario, Istituto Nazionale di Astrofisica, Rome, Italy
Institut d'Astrophysique Spatiale, Université Paris-Sud, Orsay, France
School of Geography and Environment, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
Space Science Institute, Boulder, Colorado, USA
Department of Geological Sciences, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona, USA
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, California, USA
Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Washington University, St. Louis, Missouri, USA
Geological and Planetary Sciences, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California, USA
Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Washington University, St. Louis, Missouri, USA
U.S. Geological Survey, Flagstaff, Arizona, USA
U.S. Geological Survey, Flagstaff, Arizona, USA
Institut für Anorganische und Analytische Chemie, Johannes Gutenberg-Universität, Mainz, Germany
Institut d'Astrophysique Spatiale, Université Paris-Sud, Orsay, France
NASA Johnson Space Center, Houston, Texas, USA
Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Washington University, St. Louis, Missouri, USA
Department of Astronomy, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, USA
Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Washington University, St. Louis, Missouri, USA
Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Washington University, St. Louis, Missouri, USA
Space Science Institute, Boulder, Colorado, USA
The ∼5 km of traverses and observations completed by the Opportunity rover from Endurance crater to the Fruitbasket outcrop show that the Meridiani plains consist of sulfate-rich sedimentary rocks that are largely covered by poorly-sorted basaltic aeolian sands and a lag of granule-sized hematitic concretions. Orbital reflectance spectra obtained by Mars Express OMEGA over this region are dominated by pyroxene, plagioclase feldspar, crystalline hematite (i.e., concretions), and nano-phase iron oxide dust signatures, consistent with Pancam and Mini-TES observations. Mössbauer Spectrometer observations indicate more olivine than observed with the other instruments, consistent with preferential optical obscuration of olivine features in mixtures with pyroxene and dust. Orbital data covering bright plains located several kilometers to the south of the landing site expose a smaller areal abundance of hematite, more dust, and a larger areal extent of outcrop compared to plains proximal to the landing site. Low-albedo, low-thermal-inertia, windswept plains located several hundred kilometers to the south of the landing site are predicted from OMEGA data to have more hematite and fine-grained olivine grains exposed as compared to the landing site. Low calcium pyroxene dominates spectral signatures from the cratered highlands to the south of Opportunity. A regional-scale model is presented for the formation of the plains explored by Opportunity, based on a rising ground water table late in the Noachian Era that trapped and altered local materials and aeolian basaltic sands. Cessation of this aqueous process led to dominance of aeolian processes and formation of the current configuration of the plains.
Received 7 April 2006; accepted 13 July 2006; published 22 November 2006.
Citation: (2006), Nature and origin of the hematite-bearing plains of Terra Meridiani based on analyses of orbital and Mars Exploration rover data sets, J. Geophys. Res., 111, E12S08, doi:10.1029/2006JE002728.
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