Nomad rover field experiment, Atacama desert, Chile 2. Identification of paleolife evidence using a robotic vehicle: Lessons and recommendations for a Mars sample return mission

This is the publisher's version, also available electronically from "http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com".During the Nomad Rover Field Experiment in the Atacama Desert (Chile), a potential fossil was identified in a boulder by the science team remotely located at NASA Ames Research Center, California. The science team requested the collecting of the boulder that was returned for laboratory analysis. This analysis confirmed the evidence of paleolife. As the first fossil identified and sampled by a remotely located science team using a rover, we use the case of sample I-250697 to describe the process, both in the field and later in the laboratory during the rock analysis, which led to the identification, characterization, and confirmation of the evidence of paleolife evidence in I-250697. We point out the lessons that this case provides for future Mars sample return missions

Multi-Taxa Isotopic Investigation of Paleohydrology In the Lower Cretaceous Cedar Mountain Formation, Eastern Utah, U.S.A.: Deciphering Effects Of the Nevadaplano Plateau On Regional Climate

We investigate the regional climatic effects of the formation of the “Nevadaplano” plateau during the Sevier Orogeny in an overall warming world. Paleohydrology was reconstructed from 590 individual measurements of phosphate O isotopes in continental faunas of the Lower Cretaceous Cedar Mountain Formation, Utah, U.S.A. Semi-aquatic (turtles, crocodiles) and terrestrial (dinosaurs) taxa are compared to coeval pedogenic carbonates to interpret changing water sources over time. Samples were grouped into four stratigraphic faunas (lower Yellow Cat, upper Yellow Cat, Ruby Ranch, and Mussentuchit members). Resulting isotopic values were converted to δ18Owvalues using established δ18Op–δ18Ow and δ18Oc–δ18Ow relationships. At a formation scale, turtles (δ18Op  =  14.1 to 15.7‰ V-SMOW) and crocodiles (δ18Op  =  15.0 to 19.2‰) document water compositions of −8.1 to −6.1‰ and −7.7 to −4.2‰, respectively, within the zonal range for formation-scale meteoric water at 34° N paleolatitude (−7.1 to −4.8‰) established by pedogenic carbonates (δ18Oc  =  22.0 to 23.5‰ V-SMOW). These data suggest that, like soil carbonates, turtle and crocodile phosphate isotopes can be used as proxies for meteoric water isotopic composition. Dinosaur δ18Op(sauropods: 19.7 to 21.9‰, ornithischians: 16.6 to 21.7‰, small theropods: 16.9 to 18.2‰, and large allosauroids: 19.1 to 20.3‰) values generally exceed those of semi-aquatic taxa. Using mass-balance equations for modern terrestrial animals adjusted for size and inferred dinosaur physiology, ingested water is calculated for the above dinosaur groups. On a member scale, when meteoric-water values are compared with calculated dinosaur drinking water, values are equal to or lighter than meteoric water for most herbivorous groups (as low as −15.5‰ for ornithischians) and equal to or heavier than meteoric water for most carnivorous groups (as high as −2.0‰ for allosauroids). Changes in δ18Ometeoric water, δ18Odinosaur ingested water, faunal assemblages, and sedimentology, from member to member, correlate to thrusting events of the Sevier Orogeny. High elevations in the orogeny attenuated the influences of Pacific moisture, causing rainshadow-induced aridity on the leeward foreland basin during upper Yellow Cat time, and hosted seasonal snow accumulation by the end of Ruby Ranch time, as suggested by 18O-enriched water (e.g., up to an average of −2.0‰ from an allosauroid tooth) and extremely 18O-depleted water (e.g., −15.5‰ for ornithischians) in the Ruby Ranch Member. By Mussentuchit-time, delivery of the Western Interior Seaway–dominated moisture to the region, despite continued rise of the Sevier Mountains

New Geochronological Age Constraint and Chemostratigraphy for Aptian Lacustrine Strata, Cedar Mountain Formation, Utah

Abstract The Early Cretaceous is an important time of transition in Earth history, marked by a succession of oceanic anoxic events and carbon cycle perturbations that drove changes on land and in the ocean. The need for more precise geochronologic constraints in terrestrial sediments of Early Cretaceous age that record faunal and floral transitions is especially critical. The Cedar Mountain Formation (CMF) is a continental lithostratigraphic unit that hosts a trove of paleoclimate archives and important dinosaurian fossil localities. Determining the timing of deposition of CMF strata has been an ongoing effort for many years. Here, we present new lithostratigraphic and carbon isotope chemostratigraphic data along with high‐precision radiometric ages to further constrain the Ruby Ranch Member of the CMF at a unique locality referred to as “Lake Carpenter,” where a thick section of dominantly lacustrine strata overlies fluvial‐overbank to palustrine strata more typical of other Ruby Ranch Member outcrops. A bentonite bed near the base of the section provides one of the most precise ages yet determined within the Ruby Ranch Member of 115.92 ± 0.14 Ma via CA‐ID‐TIMS U‐Pb analysis of zircons. The age and the trends in the carbon isotope record indicate that the Lake Carpenter sediments were deposited entirely within the late Aptian Stage. These unique new data provide an important step toward improving our understanding of the timing of Early Cretaceous evolutionary and paleoclimate events