Mineralogy of evaporite deposits on Mars: Constraints from laboratory, field, and remote measurements of analog terrestrial acid saline lakes

Abstract:

Remote compositional data from imaging spectrometers such as CRISM, OMEGA, and TES, and high-resolution imagery from MOC, CTX, and HiRISE have provided invaluable information for improving our understanding of the composition and geologic history of the martian surface and identifying potential past and present habitable environments on Mars. Simulated CRISM spectra and summary parameter maps and HiRISE color images were generated using airborne hyperspectral data of two acid-saline lakes in Western Australia. These locations are applicable to Mars, as they contain a suite of clays, sulfates, and salts formed under variable pH and salinity - mineralogies similar to those observed in Noachian and Hesperian terrain. The remote datasets were used to make surface composition predictions which were then verified through field study and sample analysis. We find phyllosilicates intermixed with sulfates in sulfate-rich surfaces exhibit variable spectral responses, even for similar conditions and abundances seen in the field. Where sulfates, such as gypsum and alunite, are found, phyllosilicates are intermixed or reside beneath the surface yet are not always detected. This suggests that geologic complexities may mask phyllosilicate detection at or near the surface on Mars where only sulfates have so far been found.