P23B:
Habitability, Preservation of Organic Molecules, and Environmental Transitions at Gale Crater, Mars II Posters
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Session ID#: 13389
Session Description:
The habitable environment discovered on Gale crater’s plains was a remarkable find, but an isolated one. As Curiosity reached Aeolis Mons, the crater’s water-rich history was revealed. An integrated look at the geology showed that the lower mountain was built through multiple episodes of fluvio-lacustrine activity over millions of years. Its lake sediments offer fascinating comparisons with those on the plains. Some depart dramatically from a basaltic composition and contain evidence for alteration and diagenetic processes that indicate multiple generations of liquid water. These findings point to chemical and environmental changes over time, with implications for habitability and the preservation of organic materials. Within these diverse sediments, Curiosity detected a variety of organic molecules in multiple drilled samples. This session will explore the mission’s progress in compiling the chemical, mineralogical, and environmental factors that control habitability and the preservation of organic molecules in ancient terrains on Mars.
Primary Convener: Ashwin R Vasavada, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, United States
Conveners: Michael A Meyer, NASA Headquarters, Washington, DC, United States and Joy A Crisp, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, CA, United States
Chairs: Joy A Crisp, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, CA, United States, Michael A Meyer, NASA Headquarters, Washington, DC, United States and Ashwin R Vasavada, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, United States
OSPA Liaison: Michael A Meyer, NASA Headquarters, Washington, DC, United States
Abstracts Submitted to this Session:
Leah E. Sacks1,2, Lauren A Edgar2, Christopher S Edwards3 and Ryan B Anderson2, (1)Carleton College, Northfield, United States, (2)USGS Astrogeology Science Center, Flagstaff, AZ, United States, (3)Northern Arizona University, Department of Physics and Astronomy, Flagstaff, AZ, United States
Ryan B Anderson1, Lauren A Edgar1, Kevin W Lewis2 and David M Rubin3, (1)USGS Astrogeology Science Center, Flagstaff, AZ, United States, (2)Johns Hopkins University, Earth and Planetary Sciences, Baltimore, MD, United States, (3)University of California-Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz, CA, United States
Colin M Dundas1, Ryan B Anderson1, Olivier Gasnault2, Stephane Le Mouelic3, Horton E Newsom4, Roger C Wiens5 and Ashwin R Vasavada6, (1)USGS Astrogeology Science Center, Flagstaff, AZ, United States, (2)IRAP, CNRS, Université de Toulouse, UPS-OMP, Toulouse Cedex 4, France, (3)CNRS, Paris Cedex 16, France, (4)University of New Mexico Main Campus, Albuquerque, NM, United States, (5)Space Science and Applications, Los Alamos, United States, (6)Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, United States
Paul Archer Jr.1, Douglas W Ming2, Brad Sutter1, Richard V Morris2, Benton C Clark3, Paul R Mahaffy4, James J Wray5, Alberto G. Fairen6, Ralf Gellert7, Albert S Yen8, David Frederick Blake9, David T Vaniman10, Daniel Patrick Glavin11, Jennifer L Eigenbrode12, Melissa G Trainer13, Rafael Navarro-Gonzalez14, Christopher P McKay15, Caroline Freissinet16 and Peter Martin17, (1)Jacobs Technology, NASA Johnson Space Center, Houston, TX, United States, (2)NASA Johnson Space Center, Houston, TX, United States, (3)Space Science Institute, Boulder, CO, United States, (4)NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, United States, (5)Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA, United States, (6)Centro de Astrobiología, Madrid, Spain, (7)University of Guelph, Guelph, ON, Canada, (8)NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, CA, United States, (9)NASA Ames Research Center, Exobiology Branch, Moffett Field, CA, United States, (10)Planetary Science Institute Tucson, Tucson, AZ, United States, (11)NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Solar System Exploration Division, Greenbelt, United States, (12)NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD, United States, (13)NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Planetary Environments Laboratory, Greenbelt, United States, (14)Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico, Instituto de Ciencias Nucleares, Mexico City, DF, Mexico, (15)NASA Ames Research Center, Space Science & Astrobiology Division, Moffett Field, United States, (16)NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, NASA Postdoctoral Program, Greenbelt, United States, (17)California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, United States
Christopher R Webster, NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, CA, United States, Paul R Mahaffy, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, United States, Sushil K Atreya, University of Michigan Ann Arbor, Ann Arbor, MI, United States and SAM Science Team
Olivier Forni1, Pierre-Yves Meslin2, Nicolas Mangold3, Jonas l'Haridon3, Marion Nachon4, Agnes Cousin5, Horton E Newsom6, Samuel M Clegg7, Olivier Gasnault1, Sylvestre Maurice8, Roger C Wiens9, Violaine Sautter10, Erwin Dehouck5 and Jeremie Lasue11, (1)IRAP, CNRS, Université de Toulouse, UPS-OMP, Toulouse Cedex 4, France, (2)IRAP, Universite Paul Sabatier, Toulouse, France, (3)LPGN Laboratoire de Planétologie et Géodynamique de Nantes, Nantes Cedex 03, France, (4)University of California Davis, Davis, CA, United States, (5)Institut de Recherche en Astrophysique et Planétologie (IRAP), Toulouse, France, (6)University of New Mexico Main Campus, Albuquerque, NM, United States, (7)Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, United States, (8)IRAP, CNRS, Université de Toulouse, UPS-OMP, Toulouse, France, (9)Space Science and Applications, Los Alamos, United States, (10)MNHN, CNRS, Paris Cedex 16, France, (11)IRAP-CNRS, Univ. of Toulouse, Toulouse, France
James M T Lewis1, Jennifer L Eigenbrode2, Heather B. Franz3, Brad Sutter4, Paul B Niles5 and Amy McAdam2, (1)Center for Research and Exploration in Space Science and Technology, Howard University, Washington, United States, (2)NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD, United States, (3)NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Center for Research and Exploration in Space Science and Technology, Greenbelt, MD, United States, (4)Jacobs Technology, NASA Johnson Space Center, Houston, TX, United States, (5)NASA Johnson Space Center, Houston, TX, United States
Valerie Kristen Fox, Washington University, St Louis, MO, United States, Raymond E Arvidson, Washington University in St Louis, St. Louis, MO, United States and Abigail Fraeman, NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, United States
Danika F Wellington1, Prof. James F Bell III, PhD1, Jeffrey Roy Johnson2, Abigail Fraeman3, Kjartan Münster Kinch4, Austin Godber1 and Melissa S Rice5, (1)Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, United States, (2)Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD, United States, (3)NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, United States, (4)University of Copenhagen, Niels Bohr Institute, Copenhagen, Denmark, (5)Western Washington University, Bellingham, WA, United States
