High manganese concentrations in rocks at Gale crater, Mars
- Creators
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Lanza, Nina L.
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Fischer, Woodward W.
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Wiens, Roger C.
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Grotzinger, John P.
- Ollila, Ann M.
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Cousin, Agnes
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Anderson, Ryan B.
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Clark, Benton C.
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Gellert, Ralf
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Mangold, Nicolas
- Maurice, Sylvester
- Le Mouélic, Stéphane
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Nachon, Marion
- Schmidt, Mariek E.
- Berger, Jeffrey
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Clegg, Samuel M.
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Forni, Olivier
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Hardgrove, Craig
- Melikechi, Noureddine
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Newsom, Horton E.
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Sautter, Violaine
Abstract
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 Curiosity rover indicate abundances of manganese in and on some rock targets that are 1–2 orders of magnitude higher than previously observed on Mars, suggesting the presence of an as-yet unidentified manganese-rich phase. These results show that the Martian surface has at some point in time hosted much more highly oxidizing conditions than has previously been recognized.
Additional Information
© 2014 American Geophysical Union. Received 29 April 2014; Accepted 13 July 2014; Accepted article online 18 July 2014; Published online 25 August 2014. The data reported here are archived at the Planetary Data System, available at http://pds-geosciences.wustl.edu/missions/msl/index.htm. This research was carried out with funding from NASA's Mars Program Office and the Centre National d'Etudes Spatiales (CNES) in France. We are grateful to Bradley Tebo and an anonymous reviewer for providing valuable feedback. The Editor thanks Bradley Tebo and an anonymous reviewer for their assistance in evaluating this paper.Attached Files
Published - grl51938.pdf
Supplemental Material - 2014GL060329fA04.pdf
Supplemental Material - 2014GL060329ts01.xlsx
Supplemental Material - 2014GL060329ts02.xlsx
Supplemental Material - Lanza_auxiliaryinfo_README.docx
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Additional details
- Eprint ID
- 51436
- Resolver ID
- CaltechAUTHORS:20141107-111618504
- NASA
- Centre National d'Études Spatiales (CNES)
- Created
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2014-11-07Created from EPrint's datestamp field
- Updated
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2021-11-10Created from EPrint's last_modified field
- Caltech groups
- Division of Geological and Planetary Sciences (GPS)