Martian Eolian Dust Probed by ChemCam
Abstract
The ubiquitous eolian dust on Mars plays important roles in the current sedimentary and atmospheric processes of the planet. The ChemCam instrument retrieves a consistent eolian dust composition at the submillimeter scale from every first laser shot on Mars targets. Its composition presents significant differences with the Aeolis Palus soils and the Bagnold dunes as it contains lower CaO and higher SiO_2. The dust FeO and TiO_2 contents are also higher, probably associated with nanophase oxide components. The dust spectra show the presence of volatile elements (S and Cl), and the hydrogen content is similar to Bagnold sands but lower than Aeolis Palus soils. Consequently, the dust may be a contributor to the amorphous component of soils, but differences in composition indicate that the two materials are not equivalent.
Additional Information
© 2018 American Geophysical Union. Received 13 JUN 2018; Accepted 26 SEP 2018; Accepted article online 10 OCT 2018; Published online 23 OCT 2018. The authors acknowledge the constructive comments received from two anonymous referees and the Editor A. Dombard. The data used in this work can be found at NASA's Planetary Data System website as MSL‐M‐CHEMCAM‐LIBS‐4/5‐RDR‐V1.0. A .csv file containing all the first shots major oxide compositions used in the study with sequence numbers and targets' names is available as supporting information of the manuscript. This allows the reader to reproduce the main results presented (Table 1 and Figures 1, 2, and S5). The sequence of numbers and names also allows the reader to collect the correct spectra from the PDS repository. Support from the French Space Agency (CNES) and NASA's Mars Program Office is acknowledged.Attached Files
Published - Lasue_et_al-2018-Geophysical_Research_Letters.pdf
Supplemental Material - grl58111-sup-0001-supplementary.pdf
Supplemental Material - grl58111-sup-0002-supplementary.csv
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Additional details
- Eprint ID
- 91729
- Resolver ID
- CaltechAUTHORS:20181212-112211982
- Centre National d'Études Spatiales (CNES)
- NASA
- Created
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2018-12-12Created from EPrint's datestamp field
- Updated
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2021-11-16Created from EPrint's last_modified field