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Assessments of Potential Rock Coatings at Rocknest, Gale Crater with ChemCamMany locations on Mars have low color contrast between the rocks and soils due to the rocks being "dusty"--basically having a surface that is spectrally similar to Martian soil. In general this has been interpreted as soil and/or dust clinging to the rock though either mechanical or electrostic processes. However, given the apparent mobility of thin films of water forming cemented soils on Mars and at Gale Crater, the possibility exists that some of these "dusty" surfaces may actually be coatings formed by thin films of water locally mobilizing soil/air fall material at the rock interface. This type of coating was observed by Spirit during an investigation of the rock Mazatzal which showed enhanced salts above "normal soil" and an enhancement of nano phase iron oxide that was ~ 10 micronmeters thick. We decided to use ChemCam to investigate the possibility of similar rock coatings forming at the Rocknest site at Gale Crater.
Document ID
20150005662
Acquisition Source
Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Document Type
Conference Paper
External Source(s)
Authors
Blaney, D. L.
(Jet Propulsion Lab., California Inst. of Tech. Pasadena, CA, United States)
Anderson, R.
(Geological Survey Reston, VA, United States)
Berger, G.
(Research Inst. in Astrophysics and Planetology (IRAP) Toulouse, France)
Bridges, J.
(Leicester Univ. United Kingdom)
Bridges, N.
(Johns Hopkins Univ. Laurel, MD, United States)
Clark, B.
(Space Science Inst. Boulder, CO, United States)
Clegg, S.
(Los Alamos National Lab. NM, United States)
Ehlman, B.
(California Inst. of Tech. Pasadena, CA, United States)
Goetz, W.
(Max-Planck Inst. for Solar System Research Germany)
King, P.
(Australian National Univ. Canberra, Australia)
Lanza, N.
(Los Alamos National Lab. NM, United States)
Mangold, N.
(Nantes Univ. France)
Meslin, P.-Y.
(Research Inst. in Astrophysics and Planetology (IRAP) Toulouse, France)
Newsom, H.
(New Mexico Univ. Albuquerque, NM, United States)
Date Acquired
April 15, 2015
Publication Date
March 18, 2013
Subject Category
Lunar And Planetary Science And Exploration
Meeting Information
Meeting: Lunar and Planetary Science Conference
Location: The Woodlands, TX
Country: United States
Start Date: March 18, 2013
End Date: March 22, 2013
Sponsors: Lunar and Planetary Inst.
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Other
Keywords
Gale Crater
Laser Induced Breakdown Spectrome-ter (LIBS)
ChemCam

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