The Complex Exhumation History of Jezero Crater Floor Unit and Its Implication for Mars Sample Return
Research output: Contribution to journal › Journal article › Research › peer-review
Standard
The Complex Exhumation History of Jezero Crater Floor Unit and Its Implication for Mars Sample Return. / Quantin-Nataf, C.; Alwmark, S.; Calef, F. J.; Lasue, J.; Kinch, K.; Stack, K. M.; Sun, V.; Williams, N. R.; Dehouck, E.; Mandon, L.; Mangold, N.; Beyssac, O.; Clave, E.; Walter, S. H.G.; Simon, J. I.; Annex, A. M.; Horgan, B.; Rice, James W.; Shuster, D.; Cohen, B.; Kah, L.; Sholes, Steven; Weiss, B. P.
In: Journal of Geophysical Research: Planets, Vol. 128, No. 6, e2022JE007628, 2023.Research output: Contribution to journal › Journal article › Research › peer-review
Harvard
APA
Vancouver
Author
Bibtex
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
T1 - The Complex Exhumation History of Jezero Crater Floor Unit and Its Implication for Mars Sample Return
AU - Quantin-Nataf, C.
AU - Alwmark, S.
AU - Calef, F. J.
AU - Lasue, J.
AU - Kinch, K.
AU - Stack, K. M.
AU - Sun, V.
AU - Williams, N. R.
AU - Dehouck, E.
AU - Mandon, L.
AU - Mangold, N.
AU - Beyssac, O.
AU - Clave, E.
AU - Walter, S. H.G.
AU - Simon, J. I.
AU - Annex, A. M.
AU - Horgan, B.
AU - Rice, James W.
AU - Shuster, D.
AU - Cohen, B.
AU - Kah, L.
AU - Sholes, Steven
AU - Weiss, B. P.
N1 - Publisher Copyright: © 2023. American Geophysical Union. All Rights Reserved.
PY - 2023
Y1 - 2023
N2 - During the first year of NASA's Mars 2020 mission, Perseverance rover has investigated the dark crater floor unit of Jezero crater and four samples of this unit have been collected. The focus of this paper is to assess the potential of these samples to calibrate the crater-based Martian chronology. We first review the previous estimation of crater-based model age of this unit. Then, we investigate the impact crater density distribution across the floor unit. It reveals that the crater density is heterogeneous from areas which have been exposed to the bombardment during the last 3 Ga to areas very recently exposed to bombardment. It suggests a complex history of exposure to impact cratering. We also display evidence of several remnants of deposits on the top of the dark floor unit across Jezero below which the dark floor unit may have been buried. We propose the following scenario of burying/exhumation: the dark floor unit would have been initially buried below a unit that was a few tens of meters thick. This unit then gradually eroded away due to Aeolian processes from the northeast to the west, resulting in uneven exposure to impact bombardment over 3 Ga. A cratering model reproducing this scenario confirms the feasibility of this hypothesis. Due to the complexity of its exposure history, the Jezero dark crater floor unit will require additional detailed analysis to understand how the Mars 2020 mission samples of the crater floor can be used to inform the Martian cratering chronology.
AB - During the first year of NASA's Mars 2020 mission, Perseverance rover has investigated the dark crater floor unit of Jezero crater and four samples of this unit have been collected. The focus of this paper is to assess the potential of these samples to calibrate the crater-based Martian chronology. We first review the previous estimation of crater-based model age of this unit. Then, we investigate the impact crater density distribution across the floor unit. It reveals that the crater density is heterogeneous from areas which have been exposed to the bombardment during the last 3 Ga to areas very recently exposed to bombardment. It suggests a complex history of exposure to impact cratering. We also display evidence of several remnants of deposits on the top of the dark floor unit across Jezero below which the dark floor unit may have been buried. We propose the following scenario of burying/exhumation: the dark floor unit would have been initially buried below a unit that was a few tens of meters thick. This unit then gradually eroded away due to Aeolian processes from the northeast to the west, resulting in uneven exposure to impact bombardment over 3 Ga. A cratering model reproducing this scenario confirms the feasibility of this hypothesis. Due to the complexity of its exposure history, the Jezero dark crater floor unit will require additional detailed analysis to understand how the Mars 2020 mission samples of the crater floor can be used to inform the Martian cratering chronology.
KW - crater chronology
KW - Mars
U2 - 10.1029/2022JE007628
DO - 10.1029/2022JE007628
M3 - Journal article
AN - SCOPUS:85163662006
VL - 128
JO - Journal of Geophysical Research: Planets
JF - Journal of Geophysical Research: Planets
SN - 2169-9100
IS - 6
M1 - e2022JE007628
ER -
ID: 360257004