@article{5f0d9fe70e984307bf06b814b5e1a41a,
title = "Evidence for Multiple Diagenetic Episodes in Ancient Fluvial-Lacustrine Sedimentary Rocks in Gale Crater, Mars",
abstract = "The Curiosity rover's exploration of rocks and soils in Gale crater has provided diverse geochemical and mineralogical data sets, underscoring the complex geological history of the region. We report the crystalline, clay mineral, and amorphous phase distributions of four Gale crater rocks from an 80-m stratigraphic interval. The mineralogy of the four samples is strongly influenced by aqueous alteration processes, including variations in water chemistries, redox, pH, and temperature. Localized hydrothermal events are evidenced by gray hematite and maturation of amorphous SiO2 to opal-CT. Low-temperature diagenetic events are associated with fluctuating lake levels, evaporative events, and groundwater infiltration. Among all mudstones analyzed in Gale crater, the diversity in diagenetic processes is primarily captured by the mineralogy and X-ray amorphous chemistry of the drilled rocks. Variations indicate a transition from magnetite to hematite and an increase in matrix-associated sulfates suggesting intensifying influence from oxic, diagenetic fluids upsection. Furthermore, diagenetic fluid pathways are shown to be strongly affected by unconformities and sedimentary transitions, as evidenced by the intensity of alteration inferred from the mineralogy of sediments sampled adjacent to stratigraphic contacts.",
keywords = "Mars, XRD, diagenesis, mineralogy",
author = "Achilles, {C. N.} and Rampe, {E. B.} and Downs, {R. T.} and Bristow, {T. F.} and Ming, {D. W.} and Morris, {R. V.} and Vaniman, {D. T.} and Blake, {D. F.} and Yen, {A. S.} and McAdam, {A. C.} and B. Sutter and Fedo, {C. M.} and S. Gwizd and Thompson, {L. M.} and R. Gellert and Morrison, {S. M.} and Treiman, {A. H.} and Crisp, {J. A.} and Gabriel, {T. S.J.} and Chipera, {S. J.} and Hazen, {R. M.} and Craig, {P. I.} and Thorpe, {M. T.} and {Des Marais}, {D. J.} and Grotzinger, {J. P.} and Tu, {V. M.} and N. Castle and Downs, {G. W.} and Peretyazhko, {T. S.} and Walroth, {R. C.} and P. Sarrazin and Morookian, {J. M.}",
note = "Funding Information: The authors gratefully acknowledge the MSL engineering and operations teams for their support in data collection. The thoughtful reviews of John Spray and two anonymous reviewers greatly improved the manuscript. This research was supported by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Mars Science Laboratory Mission, by NASA Headquarters under the NASA Earth and Space Science Fellowship Program (Grant NNX16AL41H), and by an appointment to the NASA Postdoctoral Program at the Goddard Flight Space Center administered by USRA through a contract with NASA. An early version of this manuscript is published in the author's dissertation (Achilles, C. N., 2018). Analyses of crystalline and X‐ray amorphous materials in Gale crater rocks and soils). Some of this research was carried out at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, under a contract with the NASA. Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2020. The Authors.",
year = "2020",
month = aug,
day = "1",
doi = "10.1029/2019JE006295",
language = "English (US)",
volume = "125",
journal = "Journal of Geophysical Research: Planets",
issn = "2169-9097",
number = "8",
}