Mineralogy of an Active Eolian Sediment from the Namib Dune, Gale Crater, Mars
- Creators
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Achilles, C. N.
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Downs, R. T.
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Ming, D. W.
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Rampe, E. B.
- Morris, R. V.
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Treiman, A. H.
- Morrison, S. M.
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Blake, D. F.
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Vaniman, D. T.
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Ewing, R. C.
- Chipera, S. J.
- Yen, A. S.
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Bristow, T. F.
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Ehlmann, B. L.
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Gellert, R.
- Hazen, R. M.
- Fendrich, K. V.
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Craig, P. I.
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Grotzinger, J. P.
- Des Marais, D. J.
- Farmer, J. D.
- Sarrazin, P. C.
- Morookian, J. M.
Abstract
The Mars Science Laboratory rover, Curiosity, is using a comprehensive scientific payload to explore rocks and soils in Gale crater, Mars. Recent investigations of the Bagnold Dune Field provided the first in situ assessment of an active dune on Mars. The Chemistry and Mineralogy (CheMin) X-ray diffraction instrument on Curiosity performed quantitative mineralogical analyses of the <150 μm size fraction of the Namib dune at a location called Gobabeb. Gobabeb is dominated by basaltic minerals. Plagioclase, Fo56 olivine, and two Ca-Mg-Fe pyroxenes account for the majority of crystalline phases along with minor magnetite, quartz, hematite, and anhydrite. In addition to the crystalline phases, a minimum ~42 wt % of the Gobabeb sample is X-ray amorphous. Mineralogical analysis of the Gobabeb data set provides insights into the origin(s) and geologic history of the dune material and offers an important opportunity for ground truth of orbital observations. CheMin's analysis of the mineralogy and phase chemistry of modern and ancient Gale crater dune fields, together with other measurements by Curiosity's science payload, provides new insights into present and past eolian processes on Mars.
Additional Information
© 2017 The Authors. This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs License, which permits use and distribution in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited, the use is non-commercial and no modifications or adaptations are made. Received 14 JAN 2017; Accepted 7 JUN 2017; Accepted article online 15 JUN 2017; Published online 30 NOV 2017. This research was supported by the NASA Mars Science Laboratory Mission (grant NNX11AP82A) and by NASA Headquarters under the NASA Earth and Space Science Fellowship Program (grant NNX16AL41H). We would like to acknowledge the support of JPL engineering and the Mars Science Laboratory operations team. All data used in this manuscript are available at the NASA Planetary Data System Geosciences Node. Any opinions, findings, or recommendations expressed herein are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.Attached Files
Published - Achilles_et_al-2017-Journal_of_Geophysical_Research__Planets.pdf
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Additional details
- Eprint ID
- 78256
- Resolver ID
- CaltechAUTHORS:20170615-153929827
- NNX11AP82A
- NASA
- NNX16AL41H
- NASA
- Created
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2017-06-22Created from EPrint's datestamp field
- Updated
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2021-11-15Created from EPrint's last_modified field
- Caltech groups
- Astronomy Department, Division of Geological and Planetary Sciences