Soil diversity at Jezero crater and Comparison to Gale crater, Mars

The martian soil is of particular interest as it can help us understand the different processes that have occurred on Mars by studying the chemistry and mineralogy of its constituents as a function of grain size. The fine-grained martian soil is thought to be homogeneous across the planet and thus to represent a global component. In this study we report on the soil targets analysed by the SuperCam instrument aboard the Perseverance rover, which is currently exploring Jezero crater. A total of 343 targets were analysed. Their grain size distribution confirms the sparsity of 250–900 Â μ m particles in the martian soil, although both smaller and larger grains are present. We found that the local components, due to erosion of the local bedrock, are present not only in the very coarse grains or larger gravels of the soil, but also in the very fine ones (¡250 Â μ m ). We detected some very coarse grains enriched in olivine, pyroxene and carbonate in both the crater floor and the delta front locations, whereas phyllosilicate-rich grains have been encountered only in the delta front. We have compared the Jezero fine-grained soil targets with those of Gale crater using ChemCam data. We found that those at Jezero show no evidence of Mg sulfates, in contrast to the observation at Gale. In addition, the fine-grained soil at Jezero is more hydrated than that at Gale, probably due to its higher specific surface area. • Composition of regolith targets at Jezero crater as a function of grain size and location. • Sparsity of 250–900 μ m particles in the martian regolith. • Fine-grained regolith ( < 250 μ m) at Jezero is different from the one at Gale crater. • Jezero fine-grained soil regolith is more hydrated than that at Gale crater.

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Publication Details

Journal
Icarus
Published
2024-09-13
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.icarus.2024.116299
Citations
3
Primary Topic
Planetary Science and Exploration
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
0.99

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article

Soil diversity at Jezero crater and Comparison to Gale crater, Mars

Juan Manuel Madariaga, P.-Y. Meslin, C. C. Bedford, P. Pilleri et al.
3 citations
Icarus
Planetary Science and Exploration
0.99
article

Soil diversity at Jezero crater and Comparison to Gale crater, Mars

Juan Manuel Madariaga, P.-Y. Meslin, C. C. Bedford, P. Pilleri, Susanne Schröder, Elise Clavé, Baptiste Chide, N. Martin, Ryan C. Sullivan, Olivier Beyssac, Elisabeth M. Hausrath, Thierry Fouchet, Gorka Arana, Arya Udry, S. Maurice, E. Dehouck, S. M. Clegg, Iratxe Poblacion, R. C. Wiens, Alicia Vaughan, O. Forni, A. Cousin, J. Lasue, J. Johnson, Olivier Gasnault, P. Beck
article en
3 citations

Abstract

The martian soil is of particular interest as it can help us understand the different processes that have occurred on Mars by studying the chemistry and mineralogy of its constituents as a function of grain size. The fine-grained martian soil is thought to be homogeneous across the planet and thus to represent a global component. In this study we report on the soil targets analysed by the SuperCam instrument aboard the Perseverance rover, which is currently exploring Jezero crater. A total of 343 targets were analysed. Their grain size distribution confirms the sparsity of 250–900 Â μ m particles in the martian soil, although both smaller and larger grains are present. We found that the local components, due to erosion of the local bedrock, are present not only in the very coarse grains or larger gravels of the soil, but also in the very fine ones (¡250 Â μ m ). We detected some very coarse grains enriched in olivine, pyroxene and carbonate in both the crater floor and the delta front locations, whereas phyllosilicate-rich grains have been encountered only in the delta front. We have compared the Jezero fine-grained soil targets with those of Gale crater using ChemCam data. We found that those at Jezero show no evidence of Mg sulfates, in contrast to the observation at Gale. In addition, the fine-grained soil at Jezero is more hydrated than that at Gale, probably due to its higher specific surface area. • Composition of regolith targets at Jezero crater as a function of grain size and location. • Sparsity of 250–900 μ m particles in the martian regolith. • Fine-grained regolith ( < 250 μ m) at Jezero is different from the one at Gale crater. • Jezero fine-grained soil regolith is more hydrated than that at Gale crater.

IcarusVol. 425
Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1 (FR), École Normale Supérieure de Lyon (FR), Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (FR), University of Nevada, Las Vegas (US), Université Toulouse III - Paul Sabatier (FR), Université Fédérale de Toulouse Midi-Pyrénées (FR), Université Paris Cité (FR), Cornell University (US), Purdue University West Lafayette (US), Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (US), Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt e. V. (DLR) (DE), Sorbonne Université (FR), Laboratoire de Minéralogie & Cosmochimie du Muséum (FR), Institut de Planétologie et d'Astrophysique de Grenoble (FR), Apogee Technology (United States) (US), Laboratoire d’études spatiales et d’instrumentation en astrophysique (FR), Institut de minéralogie, de physique des matériaux et de cosmochimie (FR), Laboratoire de Sciences de la Terre (FR), Laboratoire de Géologie de Lyon : Terre, Planètes et Environnement (FR), Institut de Recherche en Astrophysique et Planétologie (FR), Université Jean Monnet (FR), Université Grenoble Alpes (FR)
National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Purdue University, Centre National d’Etudes Spatiales, Los Alamos National Laboratory
Openalex Percentile: Top 23%
Planetary Science and Exploration
0.99
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