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Water alteration of rocks and soils on Mars at the Spirit rover site in Gusev crater

Nature volume 436, pages 66–69 (2005)Cite this article

Abstract

Gusev crater was selected as the landing site for the Spirit rover because of the possibility that it once held a lake. Thus one of the rover's tasks was to search for evidence of lake sediments1. However, the plains at the landing site were found to be covered by a regolith composed of olivine-rich basaltic rock and windblown ‘global’ dust2. The analyses of three rock interiors exposed by the rock abrasion tool showed that they are similar to one another, consistent with having originated from a common lava flow3,4,5,6,7,8. Here we report the investigation of soils, rock coatings and rock interiors by the Spirit rover from sol (martian day) 1 to sol 156, from its landing site to the base of the Columbia hills. The physical and chemical characteristics of the materials analysed provide evidence for limited but unequivocal interaction between water and the volcanic rocks of the Gusev plains. This evidence includes the softness of rock interiors that contain anomalously high concentrations of sulphur, chlorine and bromine relative to terrestrial basalts and martian meteorites9; sulphur, chlorine and ferric iron enrichments in multilayer coatings on the light-toned rock Mazatzal; high bromine concentration in filled vugs and veins within the plains basalts; positive correlations between magnesium, sulphur and other salt components in trench soils; and decoupling of sulphur, chlorine and bromine concentrations in trench soils compared to Gusev surface soils, indicating chemical mobility and separation.

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Figure 1: Rock Mazatzal and its coatings.
Figure 2: Chemistry and mineralogy of Mazatzal and coatings.
Figure 3: Concentrations of Mg, Al, Cl and Br versus S in rocks and soils.

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Acknowledgements

Larry A. Haskin, the lead author of this manuscript, died on 24 March 2005. Larry will be remembered by the Athena Science Team for his dedication since the start of the Athena Science Instrument Payload, for his leadership in developing the Mars Microbeam Raman Spectrometer, and for his contributions during the Mars Exploration Rover mission. We thank the NASA Mars programme for support of our participations in the Mars Exploration Rover mission. We thank the Jet Propulsion Laboratory management and the engineering teams for their handling of the rover, sometimes under trying circumstances. We thank K. Kuebler, L. Keszthelyi, M. Blinder and V. Thomas-Holmes for special assistance.

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Author notes

  1. Larry A. Haskin: ‡Deceased

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Washington University in Saint Louis, Missouri, 63130, USA

    Larry A. Haskin, Alian Wang, Bradley L. Jolliff & Raymond E. Arvidson

  2. Department of Earth & Planetary Sciences, University of Tennessee, Tennessee, 37996, Knoxville, USA

    Harry Y. McSween

  3. Planetary Sciences, University of Tennessee,

    Harry Y. McSween

  4. Lockheed Martin Space Systems, Colorado, 80125, Littleton, USA

    Benton C. Clark

  5. Exobiology Branch, MS 239-4, NASA Ames Research Center, California, 94035, Moffett Field, USA

    David J. Des Marais

  6. Department of Geosciences, State University of New York, New York, 11794-2100, Stony Brook, USA

    Scott M. McLennan, Nicholas J. Tosca & Joel A. Hurowitz

  7. Department of Geological Sciences, Arizona State University, Box 876305, Arizona, 85287, Tempe, USA

    Jack D. Farmer, Phil R. Christensen & Steve Ruff

  8. JPL, 4800 Oak Grove Drive, California, 91109, Pasadena, USA

    Albert Yen & Diana Blaney

  9. Cornell University, 428 Space Science Buildings, New York, 14853, Ithaca, USA

    Steve W. Squyres & James F. Bell III

  10. Institut für Anorganische und Analytische Chemie, Johannes Gutenberg-Universität, Staudinger Weg 9, D-55128, Mainz, Germany

    Göstar Klingelhöfer & Christian Schröder

  11. Companhia Vale do Rio Doce, 20030-900, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil

    Paulo A. de Souza Jr

  12. NASA JSC, MC KR, 2101 NASA Parkway, Texas, 77058, Houston, USA

    Douglas W. Ming

  13. Abteilung Kosmochemie, Max-Planck-Institut für Chemie, Postfach 3060, Mainz, Germany

    Ralf Gellert, Jutta Zipfel & Johannes Brückner

  14. USGS Flagstaff, 2255 North Gemini Drive, Arizona, 86001, Flagstaff, USA

    Kenneth Herkenhoff & Lawrence Soderblom

  15. Honeybee Robotics, New York, 10012, New York, USA

    Steven Gorevan

  16. SETI Institute and Space Science Division, MS 245-3, NASA Ames Research Center, California, 94035, Moffett Field, USA

    Nathalie A. Cabrol

  17. New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science, 1801 Mountain Road, New Mexico, 87104, Albuquerque, USA

    Larry Crumpler

  18. Smithsonian Institution, DC, 20024, Washington, USA

    John Grant

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Correspondence to Alian Wang.

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Haskin, L., Wang, A., Jolliff, B. et al. Water alteration of rocks and soils on Mars at the Spirit rover site in Gusev crater. Nature 436, 66–69 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1038/nature03640

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