A mineralogical instrument for planetary applications

The mineralogy of a planetary surface can be used to identify the provenance of soil or sediment and reveal the volcanic, metamorphic and/or sedimentological history of a particular region. We have discussed elsewhere the applications and the instrument design of possible X-ray diffraction and X-ray fluorescence (XRD/XRF) devices for the mineralogical characterization of planetary surfaces. In this abstract we evaluate some aspects of sample-detector geometry and sample collection strategies

Fracture Characteristics in a Disposal Pit on Mesita del Buey, Los Alamos National Laboratory

The characteristics of fractures in unit 2 of the Tshirege Member of the Bandelier Tuff were documented in Pit 39, a newly excavated 13.7 m deep disposal pit at Material Disposal Area G on Mesita del Buey. The average spacing between fractures is about 1.0 to 1.3 m, the average fracture aperture is about 3 to 5 mm, and the average fracture dip is about 76o to 77o. Fracture spacing and dip in Pit 39 are generally consistent with that reported from other fracture studies on the Pajarito Plateau, although the fracture apertures in Pit 39 are less than reported elsewhere. Measured fracture orientations are strongly affected by biases imparted by the orientations of the pit walls, which, combined with a small data set, make identification of potential preferred orientations dlfflcult. The most prominent fracture orientations observed in Pit 39, about E-W and N20E, are often not well represented elsewhere on the Pajarito Plateau. Fracture fills contain smectite to about 3 m depth, and calcite and opal may occur at all depths, principally associated with roots or root fossils (rhizoliths). Roots of pifion pine extend in fractures to the bottom of the pit along the north side, perhaps indicating a zone of preferred infiltration of water. Finely powdered tuff with clay-sized particles occurs within a number of fractures and may record abrasive disaggregation associated with small amounts of displacement on minor local faults

Emissivity spectrum of a large "dark streak" from themis infrared imagery

'Dark streaks', also known as 'slope streaks', are unusual surface features found on Mars that are known to appear and fade away on timescales of years. Various explanations have been proposed for their origin and composition, including dry avalanches and wet debris or precipitates from brines. Previous investigations have been based on analysis of panchromatic imagery and altimetry from Viking and Mars Global Surveyor missions. We have obtained an infrared emissivity spectrum of a large dark streak on the north western edge of Olympus Mons, using imagery from the THEMIS instrument on the Mars Odyssey 2001 spacecraft

CheMin: A Definitive Mineralogy Instrument in the Analytical Laboratory of the Mars Science Laboratory

An important goal of the Mars Science Laboratory (MSL '09) mission is the determination of definitive mineralogy and chemical composition. CheMin is a miniature X-ray diffraction/X-ray fluorescence (XRD/XRF) instrument that has been chosen for the analytical laboratory of MSL. CheMin utilizes a miniature microfocus source cobalt X-ray tube, a transmission sample cell and an energy-discriminating X-ray sensitive CCD to produce simultaneous 2-D X-ray diffraction patterns and X-ray fluorescence spectra from powdered or crushed samples. A diagrammatic view of the instrument is shown. Additional information is included in the original extended abstract

Silicic volcanism on Mars evidenced by tridymite in high-SiO2 sedimentary rock at Gale crater

Tridymite, a SiO2 mineral that crystallizes at low pressures and high temperatures (>870 °C) from high-SiO2 materials, was detected at high concentrations in a sedimentary mudstone in Gale crater, Mars. Mineralogy and abundance were determined by X-ray diffraction using the Chemistry and Mineralogy instrument on the Mars Science Laboratory rover Curiosity. Terrestrial tridymite is commonly associated with silicic volcanism where high temperatures and high-silica magmas prevail, so this occurrence is the first in situ mineralogical evidence for martian silicic volcanism. Multistep processes, including high-temperature alteration of silica-rich residues of acid sulfate leaching, are alternate formation pathways for martian tridymite but are less likely. The unexpected discovery of tridymite is further evidence of the complexity of igneous petrogenesis on Mars, with igneous evolution to high-SiO2 compositions

Low Hesperian P_(CO2) constrained from in situ mineralogical analysis at Gale Crater, Mars

Carbon dioxide is an essential atmospheric component in martian climate models that attempt to reconcile a faint young sun with planetwide evidence of liquid water in the Noachian and Early Hesperian. In this study, we use mineral and contextual sedimentary environmental data measured by the Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) Rover Curiosity to estimate the atmospheric partial pressure of CO_2 (P_(CO2)) coinciding with a long-lived lake system in Gale Crater at ∼3.5 Ga. A reaction–transport model that simulates mineralogy observed within the Sheepbed member at Yellowknife Bay (YKB), by coupling mineral equilibria with carbonate precipitation kinetics and rates of sedimentation, indicates atmospheric P_(CO2) levels in the 10s mbar range. At such low P_(CO2) levels, existing climate models are unable to warm Hesperian Mars anywhere near the freezing point of water, and other gases are required to raise atmospheric pressure to prevent lake waters from being lost to the atmosphere. Thus, either lacustrine features of Gale formed in a cold environment by a mechanism yet to be determined, or the climate models still lack an essential component that would serve to elevate surface temperatures, at least locally, on Hesperian Mars. Our results also impose restrictions on the potential role of atmospheric CO_2 in inferred warmer conditions and valley network formation of the late Noachian

Mid-latitude composition of mars from thermal and epithermal neutrons

Epithermal neutron data acquired by Mars Odyssey have been analyzed to determine global maps of water-equivalent hydrogen abundance. By assuming that hydrogen was distributed uniformly with depth within the surface, a map of minimum water abundance was obtained. The addition of thermal neutrons to this analysis could provide information needed to determine water stratigraphy. For example, thermal and epithermal neutrons have been used together to determine the depth and abundance of waterequivalent hydrogen of a buried layer in the south polar region. Because the emission of thermal neutrons from the Martian surface is sensitive to absorption by elements other than hydrogen, analysis of stratigraphy requires that the abundance of these elements be known. For example, recently published studies of the south polar region assumed that the Mars Pathfinder mean soil composition is representative of the regional soil composition, This assumption is partially motivated by the fact that Mars appears to have a well-mixed global dust cover and that the Pathfinder soil composition is representative of the mean composition of the Martian surface. In this study, we have analyzed thermal and epithermal neutron data measured by the neutron spectrometer subsystem of the gamma ray spectrometer to determine the spatial distribution of the composition of elements other than hydrogen. We have restricted our analysis to mid-latitude regions for which we have corrected the neutron counting data for variations in atmospheric thickness

Silicic volcanism on Mars evidenced by tridymite in high-SiO_2 sedimentary rock at Gale crater

Tridymite, a low-pressure, high-temperature (>870 °C) SiO_2 polymorph, was detected in a drill sample of laminated mudstone (Buckskin) at Marias Pass in Gale crater, Mars, by the Chemistry and Mineralogy X-ray diffraction instrument onboard the Mars Science Laboratory rover Curiosity. The tridymitic mudstone has ∼40 wt.% crystalline and ∼60 wt.% X-ray amorphous material and a bulk composition with ∼74 wt.% SiO_2 (Alpha Particle X-Ray Spectrometer analysis). Plagioclase (∼17 wt.% of bulk sample), tridymite (∼14 wt.%), sanidine (∼3 wt.%), cation-deficient magnetite (∼3 wt.%), cristobalite (∼2 wt.%), and anhydrite (∼1 wt.%) are the mudstone crystalline minerals. Amorphous material is silica-rich (∼39 wt.% opal-A and/or high-SiO_2 glass and opal-CT), volatile-bearing (16 wt.% mixed cation sulfates, phosphates, and chlorides−perchlorates−chlorates), and has minor TiO_2 and Fe_2O_3T oxides (∼5 wt.%). Rietveld refinement yielded a monoclinic structural model for a well-crystalline tridymite, consistent with high formation temperatures. Terrestrial tridymite is commonly associated with silicic volcanism, and detritus from such volcanism in a “Lake Gale” catchment environment can account for Buckskin’s tridymite, cristobalite, feldspar, and any residual high-SiO_2 glass. These cogenetic detrital phases are possibly sourced from the Gale crater wall/rim/central peak. Opaline silica could form during diagenesis from high-SiO_2 glass, as amorphous precipitated silica, or as a residue of acidic leaching in the sediment source region or at Marias Pass. The amorphous mixed-cation salts and oxides and possibly the crystalline magnetite (otherwise detrital) are primary precipitates and/or their diagenesis products derived from multiple infiltrations of aqueous solutions having variable compositions, temperatures, and acidities. Anhydrite is post lithification fracture/vein fill

Oxychlorine Species in Gale Crater and Broader Implications for Mars

Of 15 samples analyzed to date, the Sample Analysis at Mars (SAM) instrument on the Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) has detected oxychlorine compounds (perchlorate or chlorate) in 12 samples. The presence of oxychlorine species is inferred from the release of oxygen at temperatures less than 600degC and HCl between 350-850degC when a sample is heated to 850degC. The O2 release temperature varies with sample, likely caused by different cations, grain size differences, or catalytic effects of other minerals. In the oxychlorine-containing samples, perchlorate abundances range from 0.06 +/- 0.03 to 1.15 +/- 0.5 wt% Cl2O7 equivalent. Comparing these results to the elemental Cl concentration measured by the Alpha Particle X-ray Spectrometer (APXS) instrument, oxychlorine species account for 5-40% of the total Cl present. The variation in oxychlorine abundance has implications for their production and preservation over time. For example, the John Klein (JK) and Cumberland (CB) samples were acquired within a few meters of each other and CB contained approximately1.2 wt% Cl2O7 equivalent while JK had approximately 0.1 wt%. One difference between the two samples is that JK has a large number of veins visible in the drill hole wall, indicating more post-deposition alteration and removal. Finally, despite Cl concentrations similar to previous samples, the last three Murray formation samples (Oudam, Marimba, and Quela) had no detectable oxygen released during pyrolysis. This could be a result of oxygen reacting with other species in the sample during pyrolysis. Lab work has shown this is likely to have occurred in SAM but it is unlikely to have consumed all the O2 released. Another explanation is that the Cl is present as chlorides, which is consistent with data from the ChemCam (Chemical Camera) and CheMin (Chemistry and Mineralogy) instruments on MSL. For example, the Quela sample has approximately1 wt% elemental Cl detected by APXS, had no detectable O2 released, and halite (NaCl) has been tentatively identified in CheMin X-ray diffraction data. These data show that oxychlorines are likely globally distributed on Mars but the distribution is heterogenous depending on the perchlorate formation mechanism (production rate), burial, and subsequent diagenesi