Sub-meter desiccation crack patterns imaged by Curiosity at Gale Crater on Mars shed additional light on former lakes evident from examined outcrops

Abstract:

Small-scale desiccation crack patterns (mudcrack-like arrays of uniform ~0.1 to 1 m polygonal domains separated by linear or curving cracks in exposed bedding) imaged by Curiosity in Gale Crater, Mars complement a wealth of diverse data obtained from exposures of sedimentary rocks that point to deposition “in fluvial, deltaic, and lacustrine environments” including an “intracrater lake system likely [to have] existed intermittently for thousands to millions of years …”(e.g. Grotzinger et al., 2015, Science, submitted). We interpret these mudcrack-like patterns, found on many of the bedrock exposures imaged by Curiosity, as desiccation cracks that developed either of two ways: 1) at the soft sediment-air interface like common mudcracks, or 2) at or below the sediment-water interface by synaeresis or diastasis (involving differential compaction). In the context of recent studies of terrestrial mudcracks, and cracks formed experimentally in various wet powders as they loose moisture, these desiccation features reflect diverse aspects of the formative environment. If they formed as mudcracks, some of the lakes were shallow enough to permit the recurrent drying and wetting that can lead to the geometric regularity characteristic of several of sets of mudcracks. Moreover, the water likely contained little suspended sediment otherwise the mudcracks would be buried too rapidly for the crack pattern to persist and to mature into regular polygonal patterns. The preservation of these desiccation crack patterns does not require, but does not exclude, deep burial and exhumation. Although invisible from satellite because of their size, a multitude of Mastcam and Navcam images reveals these informative features in considerable detail. These images complement much evidence, mostly from HiRISE data from several regions, suggesting that potential desiccation polygons on larger scales may be more common on the surface of Mars than generally recognized.