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Published May 28, 2017 | Supplemental Material + Published
Journal Article Open

Diagenetic silica enrichment and late-stage groundwater activity in Gale crater, Mars

Abstract

Diagenetic silica enrichment in fracture‐associated halos that crosscut lacustrine and unconformably overlying aeolian sedimentary bedrock is observed on the lower north slope of Aeolis Mons in Gale crater, Mars. The diagenetic silica enrichment is colocated with detrital silica enrichment observed in the lacustrine bedrock yet extends into a considerably younger, unconformably draping aeolian sandstone, implying that diagenetic silica enrichment postdates the detrital silica enrichment. A causal connection between the detrital and diagenetic silica enrichment implies that water was present in the subsurface of Gale crater long after deposition of the lacustrine sediments and that it mobilized detrital amorphous silica and precipitated it along fractures in the overlying bedrock. Although absolute timing is uncertain, the observed diagenesis likely represents some of the most recent groundwater activity in Gale crater and suggests that the timescale of potential habitability extended considerably beyond the time that the lacustrine sediments of Aeolis Mons were deposited.

Additional Information

© 2017 American Geophysical Union. Issue Online: 24 June 2017; Version of Record online: 30 May 2017; Accepted manuscript online: 26 April 2017; Manuscript accepted: 24 April 2017; Manuscript revised: 22 April 2017; Manuscript received: 02 March 2017. This research was supported by the NASA MSL Mission, operated by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology. We acknowledge the support of the MSL engineering and operations staff. J.F. thanks the Villum Foundation, K.M.K. and M.B.M. thank the Danish Council for Independent Research (4002‐00292), J.C.B. and S.P.S. thank UKSA (ST/P002110/1), and C.C.B. thanks STFC (ST/N50421X/1) for support. Data from the MSL mission are available online (http://pds‐geosciences.wustl.edu/missions/msl/). ChemCam and APXS derived data products used in this work are attached as supporting information.

Attached Files

Published - 2017GL073323.pdf

Supplemental Material - grl555851-sup-0001-supplementary.pdf

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