Machine-Learning-Driven New Geologic Discoveries at Mars Rover Landing Sites: Jezero Crater and NE Syrtis
Abstract
A hierarchical Bayesian classifier is trained at pixel scale with spectral data from the CRISM (Compact Reconnaissance Imaging Spectrometer for Mars) images. Its utility in detecting small exposures of uncommon phases is demonstrated with new geologic discoveries near the Mars-2020 rover landing site. Akaganeite is found in sediments on the Jezero crater floor and in fluvial deposits at NE Syrtis. Jarosite and silica are found on the Jezero crater floor while chlorite-smectite and Al phyllosilicates are found in the Jezero crater walls. These detections point to a multi-stage, multi-chemistry history of water in Jezero crater and the surrounding region and provide new information for guiding the Mars-2020 rover's landed exploration. In particular, the akaganeite, silica, and jarosite in the floor deposits suggest either a later episode of salty, Fe-rich waters that post-date the Jezero crater delta or groundwater alteration of portions of the Jezero crater sedimentary sequence.
Additional Information
Published Online: Wed, 18 Dec 2019. Thanks to the CRISM science and operations teams for their work to collect and process these datasets and to Jay Dickson and the Caltech Murray Laboratory for Planetary Visualization for the global CTX mosaic and other assistance with dataset registration. M.D. was sponsored by the National Science Foundation (NSF) under Grant Number IIS-1252648 (CAREER). The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of NSF. E.K.L. was supported by an NSERC PGS-D scholarship. B.L.E. thanks NASA MRO-CRISM extended mission funding for partial support. All CRISM data used in this paper are publicly available through the PDS node (http://ode.rsl.wustl.edu/mars/). Image coordinates of all detections reported in this paper are available as a supplementary file.Attached Files
Submitted - essoar.10501294.1.pdf
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Additional details
- Eprint ID
- 106320
- Resolver ID
- CaltechAUTHORS:20201028-085838317
- IIS-1252648
- NSF
- Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC)
- NASA
- Created
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2020-10-29Created from EPrint's datestamp field
- Updated
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2021-11-16Created from EPrint's last_modified field
- Caltech groups
- Division of Geological and Planetary Sciences