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Aqueously altered igneous rocks sampled on the floor of Jezero crater, Mars.

Authors :
Farley KA
Stack KM
Shuster DL
Horgan BHN
Hurowitz JA
Tarnas JD
Simon JI
Sun VZ
Scheller EL
Moore KR
McLennan SM
Vasconcelos PM
Wiens RC
Treiman AH
Mayhew LE
Beyssac O
Kizovski TV
Tosca NJ
Williford KH
Crumpler LS
Beegle LW
Bell JF 3rd
Ehlmann BL
Liu Y
Maki JN
Schmidt ME
Allwood AC
Amundsen HEF
Bhartia R
Bosak T
Brown AJ
Clark BC
Cousin A
Forni O
Gabriel TSJ
Goreva Y
Gupta S
Hamran SE
Herd CDK
Hickman-Lewis K
Johnson JR
Kah LC
Kelemen PB
Kinch KB
Mandon L
Mangold N
Quantin-Nataf C
Rice MS
Russell PS
Sharma S
Siljeström S
Steele A
Sullivan R
Wadhwa M
Weiss BP
Williams AJ
Wogsland BV
Willis PA
Acosta-Maeda TA
Beck P
Benzerara K
Bernard S
Burton AS
Cardarelli EL
Chide B
Clavé E
Cloutis EA
Cohen BA
Czaja AD
Debaille V
Dehouck E
Fairén AG
Flannery DT
Fleron SZ
Fouchet T
Frydenvang J
Garczynski BJ
Gibbons EF
Hausrath EM
Hayes AG
Henneke J
Jørgensen JL
Kelly EM
Lasue J
Le Mouélic S
Madariaga JM
Maurice S
Merusi M
Meslin PY
Milkovich SM
Million CC
Moeller RC
Núñez JI
Ollila AM
Paar G
Paige DA
Pedersen DAK
Pilleri P
Pilorget C
Pinet PC
Rice JW Jr
Royer C
Sautter V
Schulte M
Sephton MA
Sharma SK
Sholes SF
Spanovich N
St Clair M
Tate CD
Uckert K
VanBommel SJ
Yanchilina AG
Zorzano MP
Source :
Science (New York, N.Y.) [Science] 2022 Sep 30; Vol. 377 (6614), pp. eabo2196. Date of Electronic Publication: 2022 Sep 30.
Publication Year :
2022

Abstract

The Perseverance rover landed in Jezero crater, Mars, to investigate ancient lake and river deposits. We report observations of the crater floor, below the crater's sedimentary delta, finding that the floor consists of igneous rocks altered by water. The lowest exposed unit, informally named Séítah, is a coarsely crystalline olivine-rich rock, which accumulated at the base of a magma body. Magnesium-iron carbonates along grain boundaries indicate reactions with carbon dioxide-rich water under water-poor conditions. Overlying Séítah is a unit informally named Máaz, which we interpret as lava flows or the chemical complement to Séítah in a layered igneous body. Voids in these rocks contain sulfates and perchlorates, likely introduced by later near-surface brine evaporation. Core samples of these rocks have been stored aboard Perseverance for potential return to Earth.

Details

Language :
English
ISSN :
1095-9203
Volume :
377
Issue :
6614
Database :
MEDLINE
Journal :
Science (New York, N.Y.)
Publication Type :
Academic Journal
Accession number :
36007009
Full Text :
https://doi.org/10.1126/science.abo2196