Geology topics

A. S. Yen

Publications and source records attributed to A. S. Yen.

14 recordsLinked to original sources

USGS2022

Mars Science Laboratory CheMin data from the Glen Torridon region and the significance of lake-groundwater interactions in interpreting mineralogy and sedimentary history

The Glen Torridon (GT) region is positioned in terrains with strong clay mineral signatures, as inferred from orbital spectroscopy. The GT campaign confirmed orbital distinctions with in situ measurements by the Mars Science Laboratory rover, Curiosity , and the CheMin X-ray diffraction instrument with of some of the highest clay mineral abundances to date. Additionally, GT is unique because of distinct phase identifications for the first time by CheMin, including: (i) Fe-carbonates, and (ii) a novel peak in the XRD patterns of some GT samples, with an interplanar spacing of at 9.2 Å. Fe-carbonates have been previously suggested from other instruments onboard, but this is the first definitive reporting by CheMin of multiple samples with Fe-carbonate. This new phase has never been observed in Gale crater with the CheMin instrument and may be a new mineral for Mars, but discrete identification still remains enigmatic because no single phase on Earth is able to account the mineralogical, geochemical, and sedimentological constraints in the GT region. Here, we modeled XRD profiles and propose an interstratified clay mineral, specifically greenalite-minnesotaite (G-M), as a reasonable candidate. The coexistence of Fe-carbonate and Fe-rich clay minerals in the GT samples, supports a conceptual model of a lacustrine groundwater mixing environment in the ancient Gale crater lake. Groundwater interaction with percolating lake waters in the sediments is common in terrestrial lacustrine settings, and the diffusion of two distinct water bodies within the subsurface can create a geochemical gradient and unique mineral front in the sediments. Ultimately, the proximity to this mixing zone controlled the secondary minerals preserved in the Jura, Knockfarril Hill, and Glasgow members of the Mt. Sharp group exposed in GT.

Journal of Geophysical Research E: Planets↗

USGS2021

Brine-driven destruction of clay minerals in Gale crater, Mars

Mars’ sedimentary rock record preserves information on geological (and potential astrobiological) processes that occurred on the planet billions of years ago. The Curiosity rover is exploring the lower reaches of Mount Sharp, in Gale crater on Mars. A traverse from Vera Rubin ridge to Glen Torridon has allowed Curiosity to examine a lateral transect of rock strata laid down in a martian lake ~3.5 billion years ago. We report spatial differences in the mineralogy of time-equivalent sedimentary rocks <400 meters apart. These differences indicate localized infiltration of silica-poor brines, generated during deposition of overlying magnesium sulfate–bearing strata. We propose that destabilization of silicate minerals driven by silica-poor brines (rarely observed on Earth) was widespread on ancient Mars, because sulfate deposits are globally distributed.

Science↗

USGS2015

Context of ancient aqueous environments on Mars from in situ geologic mapping at Endeavour Crater

Using the Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity , we have compiled one of the first field geologic maps on Mars while traversing the Noachian terrain along the rim of the 22 km diameter Endeavour Crater (Latitude −2°16′33″, Longitude −5°10′51″). In situ mapping of the petrographic, elemental, structural, and stratigraphic characteristics of outcrops and rocks distinguishes four mappable bedrock lithologic units. Three of these rock units predate the surrounding Burns formation sulfate-rich sandstones and one, the Matijevic Formation, represents conditions on early Mars predating the formation of Endeavour Crater. The stratigraphy assembled from these observations includes several geologic unconformities. The differences in lithologic units across these unconformities record changes in the character and intensity of the Martian aqueous environment over geologic time. Water circulated through fractures in the oldest rocks over periods long enough that texturally and elementally significant alteration occurred in fracture walls. These oldest pre-Endeavour rocks and their network of mineralized and altered fractures were preserved by burial beneath impact ejecta and were subsequently exhumed and exposed. The alteration along joints in the oldest rocks and the mineralized veins and concentrations of trace metals in overlying lithologic units is direct evidence that copious volumes of mineralized and/or hydrothermal fluids circulated through the early Martian crust. The wide range in intensity of structural and chemical modification from outcrop to outcrop along the crater rim shows that the ejecta of large (>8 km in diameter) impact craters is complex. These results imply that geologic complexity is to be anticipated in other areas of Mars where cratering has been a fundamental process in the local and regional geology and mineralogy.

Journal of Geophysical Research E: Planets↗

USGS2012

Ancient impact and aqueous processes at Endeavour Crater, Mars

The rover Opportunity has investigated the rim of Endeavour Crater, a large ancient impact crater on Mars. Basaltic breccias produced by the impact form the rim deposits, with stratigraphy similar to that observed at similar-sized craters on Earth. Highly localized zinc enrichments in some breccia materials suggest hydrothermal alteration of rim deposits. Gypsum-rich veins cut sedimentary rocks adjacent to the crater rim. The gypsum was precipitated from low-temperature aqueous fluids flowing upward from the ancient materials of the rim, leading temporarily to potentially habitable conditions and providing some of the waters involved in formation of the ubiquitous sulfate-rich sandstones of the Meridiani region.

Science↗

USGS2011

Bounce Rock-A shergottite-like basalt encountered at Meridiani Planum, Mars

The Opportunity rover of the Mars Exploration Rover mission encountered an isolated rock fragment with textural, mineralogical, and chemical properties similar to basaltic shergottites. This finding was confirmed by all rover instruments, and a comprehensive study of these results is reported here. Spectra from the miniature thermal emission spectrometer and the Panoramic Camera reveal a pyroxene-rich mineralogy, which is also evident in M??ssbauer spectra and in normative mineralogy derived from bulk chemistry measured by the alpha particle X-ray spectrometer. The correspondence of Bounce Rock's chemical composition with the composition of certain basaltic shergottites, especially Elephant Moraine (EET) 79001 lithology B and Queen Alexandra Range (QUE) 94201, is very close, with only Cl, Fe, and Ti exhibiting deviations. Chemical analyses further demonstrate characteristics typical of Mars such as the Fe/Mn ratio and P concentrations. Possible shock features support the idea that Bounce Rock was ejected from an impact crater, most likely in the Meridiani Planum region. Bopolu crater, 19.3km in diameter, located 75km to the southwest could be the source crater. To date, no other rocks of this composition have been encountered by any of the rovers on Mars. The finding of Bounce Rock by the Opportunity rover provides further direct evidence for an origin of basaltic shergottite meteorites from Mars.

Meteoritics and Planetary Science↗

USGS2010

Spirit Mars Rover Mission: Overview and selected results from the northern Home Plate Winter Haven to the side of Scamander crater

This paper summarizes Spirit Rover operations in the Columbia Hills, Gusev crater, from sol 1410 (start of the third winter campaign) to sol 2169 (when extrication attempts from Troy stopped to winterize the vehicle) and provides an overview of key scientific results. The third winter campaign took advantage of parking on the northern slope of Home Plate to tilt the vehicle to track the sun and thus survive the winter season. With the onset of the spring season, Spirit began circumnavigating Home Plate on the way to volcanic constructs located to the south. Silica‐rich nodular rocks were discovered in the valley to the north of Home Plate. The inoperative right front wheel drive actuator made climbing soil‐covered slopes problematical and led to high slip conditions and extensive excavation of subsurface soils. This situation led to embedding of Spirit on the side of a shallow, 8 m wide crater in Troy, located in the valley to the west of Home Plate. Examination of the materials exposed during embedding showed that Spirit broke through a thin sulfate‐rich soil crust and became embedded in an underlying mix of sulfate and basaltic sands. The nature of the crust is consistent with dissolution and precipitation in the presence of soil water within a few centimeters of the surface. The observation that sulfate‐rich deposits in Troy and elsewhere in the Columbia Hills are just beneath the surface implies that these processes have operated on a continuing basis on Mars as landforms have been shaped by erosion and deposition.

Journal of Geophysical Research E: Planets↗

USGS2008

Spirit Mars Rover Mission to the Columbia Hills, Gusev Crater: Mission overview and selected results from the Cumberland Ridge to Home Plate

This paper summarizes the Spirit rover operations in the Columbia Hills of Gusev Crater from sols 513 to 1476 and provides an overview of selected findings that focus on synergistic use of the Athena Payload and comparisons to orbital data. Results include discovery of outcrops (Voltaire) on Husband Hill that are interpreted to be altered impact melt deposits that incorporated local materials during emplacement. Evidence for extensive volcanic activity and aqueous alteration in the Inner Basin is also detailed, including discovery and characterization of accretionary lapilli and formation of sulfate, silica, and hematite‐rich deposits. Use of Spirit's data to understand the range of spectral signatures observed over the Columbia Hills by the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter's Compact Reconnaissance Imaging Spectrometer (CRISM) hyperspectral imager (0.4–4 μ m) is summarized. We show that CRISM spectra are controlled by the proportion of ferric‐rich dust to ferrous‐bearing igneous minerals exposed in ripples and other wind‐blown deposits. The evidence for aqueous alteration derived from Spirit's data is associated with outcrops that are too small to be detected from orbital observations or with materials exposed from the shallow subsurface during rover activities. Although orbital observations show many other locations on Mars with evidence for minerals formed or altered in an aqueous environment, Spirit's data imply that the older crust of Mars has been altered even more extensively than evident from orbital data. This result greatly increases the potential that the surface or shallow subsurface was once a habitable regime.

Journal of Geophysical Research E: Planets↗

USGS2008

Hydrothermal processes at Gusev Crater: An evaluation of Paso Robles class soils

The Mars Exploration Rover Spirit analyzed multiple occurrences of sulfur-rich, light-toned soils along its traverse within Gusev Crater. These hydrated deposits are not readily apparent in images of undisturbed soil but are present at shallow depths and were exposed by the actions of the rover wheels. Referred to as 'Paso Robles' class soils, they are dominated by ferric iron sulfates, silica, and Mg-sulfates. Ca-sulfates, Ca-phosphates, and other minor phases are also indicated in certain specific samples. The chemical compositions are highly variable over both centimeter-scale distances and between the widely separated exposures, but they clearly reflect the elemental signatures of nearby rocks. The quantity of typical basaltic soil mixed into the light-toned materials prior to excavation by the rover wheels is minimal, suggesting negligible reworking of the deposits after their initial formation. The mineralogy, geochemistry, variability, association with local compositions, and geologic setting of the deposits suggest that Paso Robles class soils likely formed as hydrothermal and famarolic condensates derived from magma degassing and/ or oxidative alteration of crustal iron sulfide deposits. Their occurrence as unconsolidated, near-surface soils permits, though does not require, an age that is significantly younger than that of the surrounding rocks. Copyright 2008 by the American Geophysical Union.

Journal of Geophysical Research E: Planets↗

USGS2008

Meteorites on Mars observed with Mars Exploration Rovers

Reduced weathering rates due to the lack of liquid water and significantly greater typical surface ages should result in a higher density of meteorites on the surface of Mars compared to Earth. Several meteorites were identified among the rocks investigated during Opportunity's traverse across the sandy Meridiani plains. Heat Shield Rock is a IAB iron meteorite and has been officially recognized as 'Meridiani Planum.' Barberton is olivine-rich and contains metallic Fe in the form of kamacite, suggesting a meteoritic origin. It is chemically most consistent with a mesosiderite silicate clast. Santa Catarina is a brecciated rock with a chemical and mineralogical composition similar to Barberton. Barberton, Santa Catarina, and cobbles adjacent to Santa Catarina may be part of a strewn field. Spirit observed two probable iron meteorites from its Winter Haven location in the Columbia Hills in Gusev Crater. Chondrites have not been identified to date, which may be a result of their lower strengths and probability to survive impact at current atmospheric pressures. Impact craters directly associated with Heat Shield Rock, Barberton, or Santa Catarina have not been observed, but such craters could have been erased by eolian-driven erosion.

Journal of Geophysical Research E: Planets↗

USGS2007

Evidence for montmorillonite or its compositional equivalent in Columbia Hills, Mars

During its exploration of the Columbia Hills, the Mars Exploration Rover "Spirit" encountered several similar samples that are distinctly different from Martian meteorites and known Gusev crater soils, rocks, and sediments. Occurring in a variety of contexts and locations, these "Independence class" samples are rough-textured, iron-poor (equivalent FeO ??? 4 wt%), have high Al/Si ratios, and often contain unexpectedly high concentrations of one or more minor or trace elements (including Cr, Ni, Cu, Sr, and Y). Apart from accessory minerals, the major component common to these samples has a compositional profile of major and minor elements which is similar to the smectite montmorillonite, implicating this mineral, or its compositional equivalent. Infrared thermal emission spectra do not indicate the presence of crystalline smectite. One of these samples was found spatially associated with a ferric sulfate-enriched soil horizon, possibly indicating a genetic relationship between these disparate types of materials. Compared to the nearby Wishstone and Watchtower class rocks, major aqueous alteration involving mineral dissolution and mobilization with consequent depletions of certain elements is implied for this setting and may be undetectable by remote sensing from orbit because of the small scale of the occurrences and obscuration by mantling with soil and dust.

Journal of Geophysical Research E: Planets↗

USGS2007

Visible and near-infrared multispectral analysis of rocks at Meridiani Planum, Mars, by the Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity

Multispectral measurements in the visible and near infrared of rocks at Meridiani Planum by the Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity's Pancam are described. The Pancam multispectral data show that the outcrops of the Burns formation consist of two main spectral units which in stretched 673, 535, 432 nm color composites appear buff- and purple-colored. These units are referred to as the HFS and LFS spectral units based on higher and lower values of 482 to 535 nm slope. Spectral characteristics are consistent with the LFS outcrop consisting of less oxidized, and the HFS outcrop consisting of more oxidized, iron-bearing minerals. The LFS surfaces are not as common and appear, primarily, at the distal ends of outcrop layers and on steep, more massive surfaces, locations that are subject to greater eolian erosion. Consequently, the HFS surfaces are interpreted as a weathering rind. Further inherent spectral differences between layer's and between different outcrop map units, both untouched and patches abraded by the rover's Rock Abrasion Tool, are also described. Comparisons of the spectral parameters of the Meridiani outcrop with a set of laboratory reflectance measurements of Fe3+-bearing minerals show that the field of outcrop measurements plots near the fields of hematite, ferrihydrite, poorly crystalline goethite, and schwertmannite. Rind and fracture fill materials, observed intermittently at outcrop exposures, are intermediate in their spectral character between both the HFS and LFS spectral classes and other, less oxidized, surface materials (basaltic sands, spherules, and cobbles). Copyright 2007 by the American Geophysical Union.

Journal of Geophysical Research E: Planets↗

USGS2006

Two years at Meridiani Planum: Results from the Opportunity Rover

The Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity has spent more than 2 years exploring Meridiani Planum, traveling ∼8 kilometers and detecting features that reveal ancient environmental conditions. These include well-developed festoon (trough) cross-lamination formed in flowing liquid water, strata with smaller and more abundant hematite-rich concretions than those seen previously, possible relict “hopper crystals” that might reflect the formation of halite, thick weathering rinds on rock surfaces, resistant fracture fills, and networks of polygonal fractures likely caused by dehydration of sulfate salts. Chemical variations with depth show that the siliciclastic fraction of outcrop rock has undergone substantial chemical alteration from a precursor basaltic composition. Observations from microscopic to orbital scales indicate that ancient Meridiani once had abundant acidic groundwater, arid and oxidizing surface conditions, and occasional liquid flow on the surface.

Science↗

USGS2005

An integrated view of the chemistry and mineralogy of martian soils

The mineralogical and elemental compositions of the martian soil are indicators of chemical and physical weathering processes. Using data from the Mars Exploration Rovers, we show that bright dust deposits on opposite sides of the planet are part of a global unit and not dominated by the composition of local rocks. Dark soil deposits at both sites have similar basaltic mineralogies, and could reflect either a global component or the general similarity in the compositions of the rocks from which they were derived. Increased levels of bromine are consistent with mobilization of soluble salts by thin films of liquid water, but the presence of olivine in analysed soil samples indicates that the extent of aqueous alteration of soils has been limited. Nickel abundances are enhanced at the immediate surface and indicate that the upper few millimetres of soil could contain up to one per cent meteoritic material.

Nature↗

USGS2004

Magnetic properties experiments on the Mars Exploration Rover Spirit at Gusev Crater

The magnetic properties experiments are designed to help identify the magnetic minerals in the dust and rocks on Mars—and to determine whether liquid water was involved in the formation and alteration of these magnetic minerals. Almost all of the dust particles suspended in the martian atmosphere must contain ferrimagnetic minerals (such as maghemite or magnetite) in an amount of ∼2% by weight. The most magnetic fraction of the dust appears darker than the average dust. Magnetite was detected in the first two rocks ground by Spirit.

Science↗