Fluids during diagenesis and sulfate vein formation in sediments at Gale crater, Mars

• Published in: Meteoritics & Planetary Science
• Main Authors: Schwenzer, S. P., Bridges, J. C., Wiens, R. C., Conrad, P. G., Kelley, S. P., Leveille, R., Mangold, N., Martín-Torres, J., Mcadam, Amy, Newsom, H., Zorzano, M. P., Rapin, W., Spray, J., Treiman, A. H., Westall, F., Fairén, A. G., Meslin, P.-Y.
• Other Authors: Lunar and Planetary Institute Houston (LPI), The Open University of Japan Chiba (OUJ), Space Research Centre Leicester, University of Leicester, Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), NASA Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC), University of Alabama Tuscaloosa (UA), Canadian Space Agency (CSA), Laboratoire de Planétologie et Géodynamique UMR 6112 (LPG), Université d'Angers (UA)-Université de Nantes - UFR des Sciences et des Techniques (UN UFR ST), Université de Nantes (UN)-Université de Nantes (UN)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Instituto Andaluz de Ciencias de la Tierra (IACT), Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Cientificas = Spanish National Research Council (CSIC)-Universidad de Granada = University of Granada (UGR), Luleå University of Technology (LUT), Institute of Meteoritics Albuquerque (IOM), The University of New Mexico Albuquerque, Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences Albuquerque (EPS), Centro de Astrobiologia Madrid (CAB), Instituto Nacional de Técnica Aeroespacial (INTA)-Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Cientificas = Spanish National Research Council (CSIC), Institut de recherche en astrophysique et planétologie (IRAP), Université Toulouse III - Paul Sabatier (UT3), Université de Toulouse (UT)-Université de Toulouse (UT)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Observatoire Midi-Pyrénées (OMP), Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD)-Université Toulouse III - Paul Sabatier (UT3), Université de Toulouse (UT)-Université de Toulouse (UT)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Centre National d'Études Spatiales Toulouse (CNES)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Météo-France-Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Centre National d'Études Spatiales Toulouse (CNES)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)-Météo-France-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Planetary and Space Science Centre (PASSC), University of New Brunswick (UNB), Centre de biophysique moléculaire (CBM), Université d'Orléans (UO)-Université de Tours (UT)-Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale (INSERM)-Institut de Chimie - CNRS Chimie (INC-CNRS)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Department of Astronomy Ithaca, Cornell University New York
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: HAL CCSD 2016
• Subjects: [CHIM]Chemical Sciences; [SDU]Sciences of the Universe [physics]; Yellowknife; Yellowknife Bay
• Online Access: https://hal.science/hal-01407955; https://doi.org/10.1111/maps.12668

International audience We model the fluids involved in the alteration processes recorded in the Sheepbed Member mudstones of Yellowknife Bay (YKB), Gale crater, Mars, as revealed by the Mars Science Laboratory Curiosity rover investigations. We compare the Gale crater waters with fluids modeled for shergottites, nakhlites, and the ancient meteorite ALH 84001, as well as rocks analyzed by the Mars Exploration rovers, and with terrestrial ground and surface waters. The aqueous solution present during sediment alteration associated with phyllosilicate formation at Gale was high in Na, K, and Si; had low Mg, Fe, and Al concentrations—relative to terrestrial groundwaters such as the Deccan Traps and other modeled Mars fluids; and had near neutral to alkaline pH. Ca and S species were present in the 10−3 to 10−2 concentration range. A fluid local to Gale crater strata produced the alteration products observed by Curiosity and subsequent evaporation of this groundwater-type fluid formed impure sulfate- and silica-rich deposits—veins or horizons. In a second, separate stage of alteration, partial dissolution of this sulfate-rich layer in Yellowknife Bay, or beyond, led to the pure sulfate veins observed in YKB. This scenario is analogous to similar processes identified at a terrestrial site in Triassic sediments with gypsum veins of the Mercia Mudstone Group in Watchet Bay, UK.