Constraining the chemical depth profile of a manganese-rich surface layer in Gale crater, Mars

High Manganese Observations with Chemcam in Gale Crater, Mars

([email protected]), W.W. Fischer, R.C. Wiens, J. Grotzinger, A.M. Ollila, A. Cousin, R.B. Anderson, B.C. Clark, R. Gellert, N. Mangold, S. Maurice, S. Le Mouélic, M. Nachon, M. Schmidt, J. Berger, S. M. Clegg, O. Forni, C. Hardgrove, N. Melikechi, H.E. Newsom, V. Sautter. Los Alamos National Laboratory, P.O. Box 1663, Los Alamos, NM 87545, U.S.A. California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA....

High manganese concentrations in rocks at Gale crater, Mars

The surface of Mars has long been considered a relatively oxidizing environment, an idea supported by the abundance of ferric iron phases observed there. However, compared to iron, manganese is sensitive only to high redox potential oxidants, and when concentrated in rocks, it provides a more specific redox indicator of aqueous environments. Observations from the ChemCam instrument on the Curio...

Compositional End Members in Gale Crater, Mars

Mars atmosphere. Mars methane detection and variability at Gale crater.

Reports of plumes or patches of methane in the martian atmosphere that vary over monthly time scales have defied explanation to date. From in situ measurements made over a 20-month period by the tunable laser spectrometer of the Sample Analysis at Mars instrument suite on Curiosity at Gale crater, we report detection of background levels of atmospheric methane of mean value 0.69 ± 0.25 parts pe...

A cold hydrological system in Gale crater, Mars

Gale crater is a 154-km-diameter impact crater formed during the Late Noachian/Early Hesperian at the dichotomy boundary on Mars. Here we describe potential evidence for ancient glacial, periglacial and fluvial (including glacio-fluvial) activity within Gale crater, and the former presence of ground ice and lakes. Our interpretations are derived from morphological observations using high-resolu...