Brine-driven destruction of clay minerals in Gale crater, Mars

T F Bristow; J P Grotzinger; E B Rampe; J Cuadros; S J Chipera; G W Downs; C M Fedo; J Frydenvang; A C McAdam; R V Morris; C N Achilles; D F Blake; N Castle; P Craig; D J Des Marais; R T Downs; R M Hazen; D W Ming; S M Morrison; M T Thorpe; A H Treiman; V Tu; D T Vaniman; A S Yen; R Gellert; P R Mahaffy; R C Wiens; A B Bryk; K A Bennett; V K Fox; R E Millken; A A Fraeman; A R Vasavada

doi:10.1126/science.abg5449

Brine-driven destruction of clay minerals in Gale crater, Mars

Science. 2021 Jul 9;373(6551):198-204. doi: 10.1126/science.abg5449.

Authors

T F Bristow¹, J P Grotzinger², E B Rampe³, J Cuadros⁴, S J Chipera⁵, G W Downs⁶, C M Fedo⁷, J Frydenvang⁸, A C McAdam⁹, R V Morris³, C N Achilles⁹, D F Blake¹⁰, N Castle⁵, P Craig⁵, D J Des Marais¹⁰, R T Downs⁶, R M Hazen¹¹, D W Ming³, S M Morrison¹¹, M T Thorpe¹², A H Treiman¹³, V Tu¹², D T Vaniman⁵, A S Yen¹⁴, R Gellert¹⁵, P R Mahaffy⁹, R C Wiens¹⁶, A B Bryk¹⁷, K A Bennett¹⁸, V K Fox², R E Millken¹⁹, A A Fraeman¹⁴, A R Vasavada¹⁴

Affiliations

¹ Eobiology Branch, NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, CA 94035, USA. thomas.f.bristow@nasa.gov.
² Division of Geological and Planetary Sciences, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91125, USA.
³ Astromaterials Research and Exploration Science Division, NASA Johnson Space Center, Houston, TX 77058, USA.
⁴ Department of Earth Sciences, Natural History Museum, London SW7 5BD, UK.
⁵ Planetary Science Institute, Tucson, AZ 85719, USA.
⁶ Department of Geosciences, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85721, USA.
⁷ Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN 37996, USA.
⁸ Globe Institute, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark.
⁹ Solar System Exploration Division, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD 20771, USA.
¹⁰ Eobiology Branch, NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, CA 94035, USA.
¹¹ Earth and Planets Laboratory, Carnegie Institution for Science, Washington, DC 20015, USA.
¹² Jacobs Technology-Jacobs JETS Contract, Astromaterials Research and Exploration Science Division, at NASA Johnson Space Center, Houston, TX 77058, USA.
¹³ Lunar and Planetary Institute, Universities Space Research Association, Houston, TX 77058, USA.
¹⁴ Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91109, USA.
¹⁵ Department of Physics, University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario N1G 2W1, Canada.
¹⁶ Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, NM 87545, USA.
¹⁷ Department of Earth and Planetary Science, University of California Berkeley, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA.
¹⁸ U.S. Geological Survey, Astrogeology Science Center, Flagstaff, AZ 86001, USA.
¹⁹ Department of Earth, Environmental Sciences and Planetary Sciences, Brown University, Providence, RI 02912, USA.

PMID: 34244410
DOI: 10.1126/science.abg5449

Abstract

Mars' sedimentary rock record preserves information on geological (and potential astrobiological) processes that occurred on the planet billions of years ago. The Curiosity rover is exploring the lower reaches of Mount Sharp, in Gale crater on Mars. A traverse from Vera Rubin ridge to Glen Torridon has allowed Curiosity to examine a lateral transect of rock strata laid down in a martian lake ~3.5 billion years ago. We report spatial differences in the mineralogy of time-equivalent sedimentary rocks <400 meters apart. These differences indicate localized infiltration of silica-poor brines, generated during deposition of overlying magnesium sulfate-bearing strata. We propose that destabilization of silicate minerals driven by silica-poor brines (rarely observed on Earth) was widespread on ancient Mars, because sulfate deposits are globally distributed.

Publication types

Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.

Associated data

Dryad/10.5061/ dryad.k3j9kd576