Compositions of coarse and fine particles in martian soils at gale: A window into the production of soils

•Martian soils are analyzed for the first time at sub millimeter scale.•Three different groups of coarse grains have been distinguished.•Fine particles seem to derive from one group of coarse grains.•Presence of amorphous component in fine particles and some coarse grains.•Fine particles have underg...

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Published in:Icarus (New York, N.Y. 1962) N.Y. 1962), 2015-03, Vol.249, p.22-42
Main Authors: Cousin, A., Meslin, P.Y., Wiens, R.C., Rapin, W., Mangold, N., Fabre, C., Gasnault, O., Forni, O., Tokar, R., Ollila, A., Schröder, S., Lasue, J., Maurice, S., Sautter, V., Newsom, H., Vaniman, D., Le Mouélic, S., Dyar, D., Berger, G., Blaney, D., Nachon, M., Dromart, G., Lanza, N., Clark, B., Clegg, S., Goetz, W., Berger, J., Barraclough, B., Delapp, D.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Chemical composition
Clusters
Coarsening
Earth Sciences
Grains
Landing sites
Mars
Mars surface
Origins
Regoliths
Sciences of the Universe
Silicon dioxide
Soils
Spectroscopy
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Summary:•Martian soils are analyzed for the first time at sub millimeter scale.•Three different groups of coarse grains have been distinguished.•Fine particles seem to derive from one group of coarse grains.•Presence of amorphous component in fine particles and some coarse grains.•Fine particles have undergone limited interaction with water. The ChemCam instrument onboard the Curiosity rover provides for the first time an opportunity to study martian soils at a sub-millimeter resolution. In this work, we analyzed 24 soil targets probed by ChemCam during the first 250sols on Mars. Using the depth profile capability of the ChemCam LIBS (Laser-Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy) technique, we found that 45% of the soils contained coarse grains (>500μm). Three distinct clusters have been detected: Cluster 1 shows a low SiO2 content; Cluster 2 corresponds to coarse grains with a felsic composition, whereas Cluster 3 presents a typical basaltic composition. Coarse grains from Cluster 2 have been mostly observed exposed in the vicinity of the landing site, whereas coarse grains from Clusters 1 and 3 have been detected mostly buried, and were found all along the rover traverse. The possible origin of these coarse grains was investigated. Felsic (Cluster 2) coarse grains have the same origin as the felsic rocks encountered near the landing site, whereas the origin of the coarse grains from Clusters 1 and 3 seems to be more global. Fine-grained soils (particle size
ISSN:0019-1035
1090-2643
1090-2643
DOI:10.1016/j.icarus.2014.04.052