SURFACE EXPRESSION AND GEOMETRIES OF DELTAIC DEPOSITS OF JEZERO WESTERN FAN TOP (MARS)

Abstract

International audienceBetween February-September 2023, the Mars 2020 Perseverance rover explored the upper exposed surface of the western Jezero sedimentary fan. The rover’s exploration focused primarily on the so-called “curvilinear unit.” This unit was initially defined in orbiter images [1, 2] by the presence of repetitive, arcuate decameter-scale bedsets (Fig. 1). These morphologies were first interpreted to be fluvial in origin (likely meanders [2]). However, ground-based inspection from the rover’s perspective tends to show us that they more than likely originate from deltaic depositional processes, in line with other observations made by Perseverance on the fan front [e.g., 3; 4]