Chemical variations in Yellowknife Bay formation sedimentary rocks analyzed by ChemCam on board the Curiosity rover on Mars

• Published in: Journal of Geophysical Research: Planets
• Main Authors: Mangold, N., Forni, O., Dromart, G., Stack, K., Wiens, R. C., Gasnault, O., Sumner, D. Y., Nachon, M., Meslin, P. -Y., Anderson, R. B., Barraclough, B., Bell, J. F., Berger, G., Blaney, D. L., Bridges, J. C., Calef, F., Clark, B., Clegg, S. M., Cousin, A., Edgar, L., Edgett, K., Ehlmann, B., Fabre, Cécile, Fisk, M., Grotzinger, J., Gupta, S., Herkenhoff, K. E., Hurowitz, J., Johnson, J. R., Kah, L. C., Lanza, N., Lasue, J., Le Mouelic, S., Léveillé, R., Lewin, E., Malin, M., Mclennan, S., Maurice, S., Melikechi, N., Mezzacappa, A., Milliken, R., Newsom, H., Ollila, A., Rowland, S. K., Sautter, V., Schmidt, M., Schroeder, S., d'Uston, C., Vaniman, D., Williams, R.
• Other Authors: 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), 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), Laboratoire de Géologie de Lyon - Terre, Planètes, Environnement (LGL-TPE), École normale supérieure de Lyon (ENS de Lyon)-Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1 (UCBL), Université de Lyon-Université de Lyon-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Université Jean Monnet - Saint-Étienne (UJM)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), California Institute of Technology (CALTECH), Space Remote Sensing Group (ISR-2), Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), Department of Earth and Planetary Science UC Berkeley (EPS), University of California Berkeley (UC Berkeley), University of California (UC)-University of California (UC), United States Geological Survey Reston (USGS), Planetary Science Institute Tucson (PSI), ASU School of Earth and Space Exploration (SESE), Arizona State University Tempe (ASU), Space Research Centre Leicester, University of Leicester, Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), NASA-California Institute of Technology (CALTECH), Space Science Institute Boulder (SSI), GeoRessources, Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Centre de recherches sur la géologie des matières premières minérales et énergétiques (CREGU)-Université de Lorraine (UL)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), College of Earth, Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences Corvallis (CEOAS), Oregon State University (OSU), Department of Earth Science and Technology Imperial College London, Imperial College London, Department of Geosciences Stony Brook, Stony Brook University SUNY (SBU), State University of New York (SUNY)-State University of New York (SUNY), College of Marine and Environmental Sciences Cairns, James Cook University (JCU), C2O Consulting, Department of Natural Resource Sciences, McGill University = Université McGill Montréal, Canada, Institut des Sciences de la Terre (ISTerre), Université Joseph Fourier - Grenoble 1 (UJF)-Institut Français des Sciences et Technologies des Transports, de l'Aménagement et des Réseaux (IFSTTAR)-Institut national des sciences de l'Univers (INSU - CNRS)-Institut de recherche pour le développement IRD : UR219-PRES Université de Grenoble-Université Savoie Mont Blanc (USMB Université de Savoie Université de Chambéry )-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), State University of New York (SUNY), Optical Science Center for Applied Research (OSCAR), Delaware State University (DSU), Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering and Earth Science Notre Dame (CEEES), University of Notre Dame Indiana (UND), Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences Albuquerque (EPS), The University of New Mexico Albuquerque, Institute of Meteoritics Albuquerque (IOM)
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: HAL CCSD 2015
• Subjects: Mars; Gale crater; sediments; ChemCam; LIBS; [SDU.STU]Sciences of the Universe [physics]/Earth Sciences; Yellowknife
• Online Access: https://hal.univ-lorraine.fr/hal-01281801; https://hal.univ-lorraine.fr/hal-01281801/document; https://hal.univ-lorraine.fr/hal-01281801/file/2014JE004681.pdf; https://doi.org/10.1002/2014JE004681

International audience The Yellowknife Bay formation represents a similar to 5m thick stratigraphic section of lithified fluvial and lacustrine sediments analyzed by the Curiosity rover in Gale crater, Mars. Previous works have mainly focused on the mudstones that were drilled by the rover at two locations. The present study focuses on the sedimentary rocks stratigraphically above the mudstones by studying their chemical variations in parallel with rock textures. Results show that differences in composition correlate with textures and both manifest subtle but significant variations through the stratigraphic column. Though the chemistry of the sediments does not vary much in the lower part of the stratigraphy, the variations in alkali elements indicate variations in the source material and/or physical sorting, as shown by the identification of alkali feldspars. The sandstones contain similar relative proportions of hydrogen to the mudstones below, suggesting the presence of hydrous minerals that may have contributed to their cementation. Slight variations in magnesium correlate with changes in textures suggesting that diagenesis through cementation and dissolution modified the initial rock composition and texture simultaneously. The upper part of the stratigraphy (similar to 1m thick) displays rocks with different compositions suggesting a strong change in the depositional system. The presence of float rocks with similar compositions found along the rover traverse suggests that some of these outcrops extend further away in the nearby hummocky plains.