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- Title
Geologic Structure of the Vera Rubin Ridge, Gale Crater, Mars.
- Authors
Turner, Madison; Lewis, Kevin
- Abstract
Mount Sharp is a 5 km high mound of lithified sediments in the center of Gale crater on Mars. The Curiosity rover has been traversing this field site since its arrival in 2012. Curiosity has revealed a complex depositional and diagenetic history at Mount Sharp, which has been hypothesized to include a stable fluvio‐lacustrine period responsible for sediment accumulation at the base of the mound. We study this history by examining the bedding geometries of exposed bedrock along the traverse. Prior to landing, orbital measurements suggested the stratigraphy typically ranges between 2 and 5° from horizontal and is always oriented radially outward from the center of the mound. Terrestrial lacustrine basins display horizontal to shallowly dipping beds oriented toward the center of the basin. We determine the structure of bedding planes at Mount Sharp with in situ Mastcam and Navcam stereo topographic data from the Curiosity rover on the resistant strata of the Vera Rubin ridge at 24 sites along the Curiosity traverse in addition to long baseline Mastcam stereo and orbital stereo techniques. From this integrated approach, we report a shallow dip (2–7°) to the northwest, away from the central sedimentary mound. This result suggests that layering observed from orbit represents true depositional strata, rather than diagenetic horizons, and are an accurate measure of geologic structure. Additionally, these measurements have major implications for quantifying the vertical extent of the stratigraphy through which Curiosity has traversed. Plain Language Summary: Stereo images acquired from the Mars Science Laboratory Curiosity rover on the slopes of Mount Sharp allow for measurements of the orientation of bedding planes to be made. Bedding orientation can give important information about the environments that rock‐forming sediments were exposed to upon deposition and post‐depositionally. Using ordinary linear regression techniques on topography derived from stereo imagery, we are able to constrain bedding to be dipping shallowly to the northwest away from the center of Mount Sharp and similar to the slope of modern‐day topography. This result is consistent with previous studies which report beds dipping radially outward from the center of Gale crater, which impacts our understanding of the geologic history experienced at Gale. The result additionally impacts our understanding of Mount Sharp stratigraphy. Key Points: Bedding orientations derived from stereo topography using Curiosity's imaging suite converge on a 4° dip to the northwest for strata at Mount SharpThere is an agreement in measurements of mm‐scale to km‐scale bedding using rover‐ and orbital‐based stereoBedding orientation impacts stratigraphy and our understanding of the geologic history at Gale crater
- Subjects
GALE Crater (Mars); MARS rovers; MARS (Planet); STEREO image; BEDROCK; IMPACT craters
- Publication
Journal of Geophysical Research. Planets, 2023, Vol 128, Issue 9, p1
- ISSN
2169-9097
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1029/2022JE007237