Major Volatiles from MSL SAM Evolved Gas Analyses: Yellowknife Bay Through Lower Mount Sharp

• Main Authors: Bish, D. L., McAdam, A. C., Niles, P. B., Archer, P. D., Jr., Morris, R. V., Sutter, B., Franz, H. B., Navarro-Gonzalez, R., Ming, D. W., McKay, C. P., Stern, J. C., Atreya, S. K., Glavin, D. P., Freissinet, C., Wilhelm, M. B., Eigenbrode, J. L., Mahaffy, P. R., Blake, D. F.
• Format: Other/Unknown Material
• Language: unknown
• Published: 2015
• Subjects: Lunar and Planetary Science and Exploration; Yellowknife; Yellowknife Bay; Mount Sharp
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/2060/20150002829

The Sample Analysis at Mars (SAM) and Chemistry and Mineralogy (CheMin) instruments on the Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) analysed several subsamples of <150 m fines from five sites at Gale Crater. Three were in Yellowknife Bay: the Rocknest aeolian bedform ("RN") and drilled Sheepbed mudstone from sites John Klein ("JK") and Cumberland ("CB"). One was drilled from the Windjana ("WJ") site on a sandstone of the Kimberly formation investigated on route to Mount Sharp. Another was drilled from the Confidence Hills ("CH") site on a sandstone of the Murray Formation at the base of Mt. Sharp (Pahrump Hills). Outcrops are sedimentary rocks that are largely of fluvial or lacustrine origin, with minor aeolian deposits. SAM's evolved gas analysis (EGA) mass spectrometry detected H2O, CO2, O2, H2, SO2, H2S, HCl, NO, and other trace gases, including organic fragments. The identity and evolution temperature (T) of evolved gases can support CheMin mineral detection and place constraints on trace volatile-bearing phases or phases difficult to characterize with XRD (e.g., X-ray amorphous phases). They can also give constraints on sample organic chemistry. Here, we discuss trends in major evolved volatiles from SAM EGA analyses to date.