Details

Autor(en) / Beteiligte

• Williams, R. M. E.
• Grotzinger, J. P.
• Dietrich, W. E.
• Gupta, S.
• Sumner, D. Y.
• Wiens, R. C.
• Mangold, N.
• Malin, M. C.
• Edgett, K. S.
• Maurice, S.
• Forni, O.
• Gasnault, O.
• Ollila, A.
• Newsom, H. E.
• Dromart, G.
• Palucis, M. C.
• Yingst, R. A.
• Anderson, R. B.
• Herkenhoff, K. E.
• Le Mouélic, S.
• Goetz, W.
• Madsen, M. B.
• Koefoed, A.
• Jensen, J. K.
• Bridges, J. C.
• Schwenzer, S. P.
• Lewis, K. W.
• Stack, K. M.
• Rubin, D.
• Kah, L. C.
• Bell, J. F.
• Farmer, J. D.
• Sullivan, R.
• Van Beek, T.
• Blaney, D. L.
• Pariser, O.
• Deen, R. G.

Titel

Martian Fluvial Conglomerates at Gale Crater

Ist Teil von

• Science (American Association for the Advancement of Science), 2013-05, Vol.340 (6136), p.1068-1072

Ort / Verlag

United States: American Association for the Advancement of Science

Erscheinungsjahr

2013

Link zum Volltext

Quelle

Alma/SFX Local Collection

Beschreibungen/Notizen

• Observations by the Mars Science Laboratory Mast Camera (Mastcam) in Gale crater reveal isolated outcrops of cemented pebbles (2 to 40 millimeters in diameter) and sand grains with textures typical of fluvial sedimentary conglomerates. Rounded pebbles in the conglomerates indicate substantial fluvial abrasion. ChemCam emission spectra at one outcrop show a predominantly feldspathic composition, consistent with minimal aqueous alteration of sediments. Sediment was mobilized in ancient water flows that likely exceeded the threshold conditions (depth 0.03 to 0.9 meter, average velocity 0.20 to 0.75 meter per second) required to transport the pebbles. Climate conditions at the time sediment was transported must have differed substantially from the cold, hyper-arid modern environment to permit aqueous flows across several kilometers.