Gale Crater 'Curiosity Mission' Landing Site Formed During Mars' "Water Epoch"

          



Crater counts show that the western portions of the Medusae Fossae formation on Mars—an intensely eroded deposit near the northern edge of the cratered highlands-- are much older than previously thought, originating near the end of the Hesperian geologic epoch on Mars, around 3.5 billion years ago, which means that these deposits were emplaced during the epoch that shows evidence for the wide distribution of water at the surface of Mars.

New mapping has revealed the presence of Medusae Fossae (MFF) materials close to Gale crater (image above), the landing site chosen for the Mars Science Laboratory rover Curiosity, en route to its landing the evening of Aug. 5, 2012, PDT (early Aug. 6, EDT). The primary goal for Curiosity is to look for chemical evidence of ancient life preserved within exposures near the base of a five-kilometers high mound of layered materials at the center of Gale crater.

"Layering at the top of the large mound at the center of Gale is similar to layering visible in western Medusae Fossae Formation exposures, so Curiosity may be able to examine these materials up close, providing the first direct evidence of how they were formed," said Zimbelman, geologist at the National Air and Space Museum’s Center for Earth and Planetary Studies and lead author on the paper. "This is exciting because so far none of our orbiting spacecraft have been able to measure the composition of MFF materials, something crucial to any explanation of its origin.

Because of its history, 96-mile wide Gale Crater crater with its strangely sculpted mountain --three times higher than the Grand Canyon is deep--is the ideal place for Curiosity to conduct its mission of exploration into the Red Planet's past. Researchers plan to use Curiosity to study layers in the mountain that hold evidence about wet environments of early Mars. 

"This may be one of the thickest exposed sections of layered sedimentary rocks in the solar system," said Joy Crisp, MSL Deputy Project Scientist from NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. "The rock record preserved in those layers holds stories that are billions of years old -- stories about whether, when, and for how long Mars might have been habitable."

An instrument on Curiosity can check for any water that might be bound into shallow underground minerals along the rover's path. 

Today the Red Planet is a radiation-drenched, bitterly cold, bleak world. Enormous dust storms explode across the barren landscape and darken Martian skies for months at a time. But data from the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter suggest that Mars once hosted vast lakes and flowing rivers.

"Gale Crater and its mountain will tell this intriguing story," says Matthew Golombek, Mars Exploration Program Landing Site Scientist from JPL. "The layers there chronicle Mars' environmental history.

Previous work revealed that the layering in the Gale mound is quite different between the oldest layers near the base of the mound and more uniformly layered materials visible at the top of the mound. The layered materials at the top of Gale mound are similar in appearance to uniformly layered exposures of western MFF materials in the areas recently mapped. So, should Curiosity be able to climb up onto the mound and reach some of the uniformly layered materials, the spacecraft will then be able to sample materials that look very much like MFF deposits. 

 

                 

         

A logical extension of the interpretations in this report suggests that the materials comprising the upper portions of Gale mound might be outliers of MFF (image above) material, much like the ones now identified just outside of the crater. The precise instruments of Curiosity might then show what MFF materials are made of, and thereby open a window onto what happened during the close of the climate-altering Hesperian period.

The findings are reported in a paper by Smithsonian scientists James R. Zimbelman and Stephen P. Scheidt, "Hesperian age for western Medusae Fossae Formation, Mars" scheduled for publication in the June 29 issue of the journal Science.

The image below show portions of global geologic maps of Mars derived from Viking data, with MFF units outlined in red.  The equator of Mars runs through the middle of the image; each grid box corresponds to 10 by 10 degrees (roughly 590 by 590 km).

 

           

The Daily Galaxy via Smithsonian and Science Journal

Image credits: Credit: U.S. Geological Survey and NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Arizona

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Comments

[dr burke]

Where did Earth's water come from? Asteroids? I think we got our water from
Mars. It could hold on to it and over millions of years, the Sun and earth's
gravity pull it down to Earth. Water ice asteroids or Mars water?

[E A Nassir]

The gases of the atmosphere of the Earth emerged from the Earth itself when it was hot in the past.

"The Earth was a flaming object, so you can realize that the flame and smoke (i.e. gases) emerge from every flaming object. However, the gases are still emerging from the Earth; most of such gases emerge from volcanoes, petroleum wells, and mineral water springs."
http://www.quran-ayat.com/universe/index.htm#The_Gaseous_Heavens

Among the gases that emerged from the Earth were the hydrogen and oxygen, then by electric factor, these two gases united which led to the formation of the water.

Therefore, the water of the Earth came from the Earth itself.
http://www.quran-ayat.com/universe/index.htm#Question_10

And it is not logical that the water of the Earth came from Mars or from any other planet.

[E A Nassir]

There is life on Mars; there are people on Mars, in addition to the animal and plant.

Water, the essential factor for life, is available on Mars: ice on the two poles, on the tops of high mountains, cloud is drifted by wind; in addition: what they have not discovered yet: rivers, seas and oceans.

The thing is that they have not discovered this yet; because their communication was not good: transferring the images, then modification of such images have led to such errors.

Now, this time, I think they will discover all kinds of life on Mars: they have chosen the correct place for their landing, maybe.

http://www.quran-ayat.com/universe/new_page_2.htm#The_Journey_to_Mars_Is_Successful_

http://www.facebook.com/#!/profile.php?id=100001130108287

[Velocity_Wave]

@EA Nassir:

Well, EA, I hate to break this to you, but your mind is playing delusional tricks on you again. You want, very badly to believe there are "people" walking around on Mars. We all do.

You want so badly for there to be people on Mars, that your mind is making up excuses about data-transfers. Nothing I, nor anyone else says, will convince you otherwise.

So it's fairly pointless for me to tell you the reality:

that there are no "people" walking around on Mars. No footprints in the dusty-sand.

On the surface of Mars there exists only a barren, cold, rusty-red, planet wide desert of emptiness.

Underground there could be life, and maybe even liquid water. Perhaps very simple life... maybe a few alien-bacteria cells. But there is nothing complex walking around on Mars. Just dust, and dust storms.