Geochemistry and Mineralogy of Ancient Sedimentary Rocks Analyzed by the SuperCam Instrument in the Jezero Delta, Mars
Erwin Dehouck
(1)
,
Olivier Forni
(2)
,
Cathy Quantin-Nataf
(1)
,
Pierre Beck
(3)
,
Nicolas Mangold
(4)
,
Clément Royer
(5)
,
Elise Clavé
(6)
,
Olivier Beyssac
(7)
,
Jeffrey Roy Johnson
(8)
,
Lucia Mandon
(9)
,
François Poulet
(10)
,
Stéphane Le Mouélic
(4)
,
Gwénaël Caravaca
(2)
,
Hemani Kalucha
(11)
,
Erin Gibbons
(12)
,
Gilles Dromart
(1)
,
Patrick J Gasda
(13)
,
Pierre-Yves Meslin
(2)
,
Susanne Schroeder
(14)
,
Arya Udry
(15)
,
Ryan B. Anderson
(16)
,
Samuel M. Clegg
(13)
,
Agnès Cousin
(2)
,
Travis Gabriel
(17)
,
Jérémie Lasue
(2)
,
Thierry Fouchet
(18)
,
Paolo Pilleri
(2)
,
Cédric Pilorget
(10)
,
Joel Hurowitz
(19)
,
Jorge Núñez
(8)
,
Amy J. Williams
(20)
,
Patrick Russell
(21)
,
Justin I. Simon
(22)
,
Sylvestre Maurice
(2)
,
Roger C Wiens
(5)
1
LGL-TPE -
Laboratoire de Géologie de Lyon - Terre, Planètes, Environnement
2 IRAP - Institut de recherche en astrophysique et planétologie
3 IPAG - Institut de Planétologie et d'Astrophysique de Grenoble
4 LPG - Laboratoire de Planétologie et Géosciences [UMR_C 6112]
5 EAPS - Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences [West Lafayette]
6 CELIA - Centre d'Etudes Lasers Intenses et Applications
7 IMPMC - Institut de minéralogie, de physique des matériaux et de cosmochimie
8 APL - Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory [Laurel, MD]
9 CALTECH - California Institute of Technology
10 IAS - Institut d'astrophysique spatiale
11 Division of Geological and Planetary Sciences [Pasadena]
12 McGill University = Université McGill [Montréal, Canada]
13 LANL - Los Alamos National Laboratory
14 DLR - Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt [Berlin]
15 Department of Geoscience [Las Vegas]
16 US Geological Survey [Flagstaff]
17 USGS - United States Geological Survey
18 LESIA - Laboratoire d'études spatiales et d'instrumentation en astrophysique = Laboratory of Space Studies and Instrumentation in Astrophysics
19 SBU - Stony Brook University [SUNY]
20 UF|Geological - Department of Geological Sciences [Gainesville]
21 EPSS - Department of Earth, Planetary and Space Sciences [Los Angeles]
22 JSC - NASA Johnson Space Center
2 IRAP - Institut de recherche en astrophysique et planétologie
3 IPAG - Institut de Planétologie et d'Astrophysique de Grenoble
4 LPG - Laboratoire de Planétologie et Géosciences [UMR_C 6112]
5 EAPS - Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences [West Lafayette]
6 CELIA - Centre d'Etudes Lasers Intenses et Applications
7 IMPMC - Institut de minéralogie, de physique des matériaux et de cosmochimie
8 APL - Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory [Laurel, MD]
9 CALTECH - California Institute of Technology
10 IAS - Institut d'astrophysique spatiale
11 Division of Geological and Planetary Sciences [Pasadena]
12 McGill University = Université McGill [Montréal, Canada]
13 LANL - Los Alamos National Laboratory
14 DLR - Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt [Berlin]
15 Department of Geoscience [Las Vegas]
16 US Geological Survey [Flagstaff]
17 USGS - United States Geological Survey
18 LESIA - Laboratoire d'études spatiales et d'instrumentation en astrophysique = Laboratory of Space Studies and Instrumentation in Astrophysics
19 SBU - Stony Brook University [SUNY]
20 UF|Geological - Department of Geological Sciences [Gainesville]
21 EPSS - Department of Earth, Planetary and Space Sciences [Los Angeles]
22 JSC - NASA Johnson Space Center
Erwin Dehouck
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Olivier Forni
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Cathy Quantin-Nataf
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Pierre Beck
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Nicolas Mangold
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Clément Royer
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Olivier Beyssac
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Jeffrey Roy Johnson
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Lucia Mandon
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Stéphane Le Mouélic
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Gwénaël Caravaca
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Gilles Dromart
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Patrick J Gasda
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Pierre-Yves Meslin
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Arya Udry
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Agnès Cousin
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Travis Gabriel
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Jérémie Lasue
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Thierry Fouchet
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Paolo Pilleri
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Cédric Pilorget
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Jorge Núñez
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Amy J. Williams
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Patrick Russell
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Sylvestre Maurice
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Roger C Wiens
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Résumé
In February 2021, the NASA Perseverance rover landed in Jezero crater, Mars. The first year of the mission was dedicated to the exploration of the crater floor, which was found to be composed of aqueously altered lava flows and cumulate rocks. Then, in April 2022, Perseverance reached the foot of the Jezero western fan, which had been interpreted as a river delta based on both orbital and rover observations. Between April 2022 and February 2023, Perseverance investigated the basal layers of the delta at two locations named Cape Nukshak and Hawksbill Gap, which are ~400 m apart. In this contribution, we present an overview of the geochemistry and mineralogy of the delta rocks as observed by the SuperCam instrument onboard Perseverance.
In terms of major-element geochemistry (measured by LIBS), the lowest exposed strata of the delta front, found at a location named Enchanted Lake (part of the Cape Nukshak section), show mafic compositions broadly in line with those measured on the crater floor. Some LIBS analyzes are consistent with stoichiometric pyroxene and olivine grains. In contrast, most strata exposed above Enchanted Lake show more felsic compositions (i.e., lower Fe and Mg contents, higher Si and Al contents) and lack stoichiometric pyroxene and olivine grains.
In terms of mineralogy, the visible and near-infrared spectra collected by SuperCam reveal the widespread presence of secondary phases throughout the delta front, including phyllosilicates, sulfates and carbonates. Two types of phyllosilicates are identified: Mg-rich serpentine in gray-toned siltstones at the Enchanted Lake location, and Mg-rich vermiculite (likely mixed with smectite) in fine sandstones of the Devils Tanyard member. The sulfates are mainly Fe- and Mg-bearing species, and are found in a distinctly light-toned interval referred to as the Hogwallow Flats member.
Taken together, these observations show that the rocks preserved within the Jezero delta front record a diversity of sediment sources and past aqueous alteration conditions. This diversity implies that the rock samples collected by Perseverance for a future return to Earth likely cover a range of paleoenvironments and organic preservation potentials, which was a primary consideration when selecting Jezero as the landing site.