P41A:
Curiosity’s Exploration of Vera Rubin Ridge, Gale Crater, Mars: Redox Interfaces as Indicators of Past Habitable Environments II


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Session ID#: 60140

Session Description:
NASA's Curiosity rover is advancing our understanding of habitability and the prospects for detecting ancient life through multi-disciplinary investigations.  Curiosity dedicated a year to exploring Vera Rubin Ridge, a feature with a strong hematite signature in orbital data, hypothesized to result from a redox interface present during or after primary deposition.  Curiosity's payload was used to understand how the depositional settings and geochemical conditions varied with elevation and distance.  Ongoing analyses indicate that the ridge stratigraphically represents a continuation of the primarily lacustrine Murray formation, while the variable distribution of ferrous and ferric phases represents either a diagenetic overprint or redox interfaces within the lake environment.  Both the early lacustrine setting and concurrent or later redox-driven processes are favorable for habitability.  This session aims to integrate results from Curiosity and from orbit with studies of redox interfaces on Mars and terrestrial settings to explore implications for past Martian habitable environments.
Primary Convener:  Ashwin R Vasavada, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, CA, United States and Mars Science Laboratory Science Team
Convener:  Michael A Meyer, NASA HQ, Washington, DC, United States and Mars Science Laboratory Science Team
Primary Liaison:  Ashwin R Vasavada, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, United States and Mars Science Laboratory Science Team
Chairs:  Ashwin R Vasavada, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, United States, Michael A Meyer, NASA HQ, Washington, DC, United States and Mars Science Laboratory Science Team
OSPA Liaison:  Ashwin R Vasavada, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, United States and Mars Science Laboratory Science Team
Index Terms:

5215 Origin of life [PLANETARY SCIENCES: ASTROBIOLOGY]
5220 Hydrothermal systems and weathering on other planets [PLANETARY SCIENCES: ASTROBIOLOGY]
5455 Origin and evolution [PLANETARY SCIENCES: SOLID SURFACE PLANETS]
6225 Mars [PLANETARY SCIENCES: SOLAR SYSTEM OBJECTS]

Abstracts Submitted to this Session:

A Lacustrine Environment Recorded at Vera Rubin Ridge: Overview of the Sedimentology and Stratigraphy observed by the Mars Science Laboratory Curiosity Rover (Invited) (353209)
Lauren A Edgar1, Abigail Fraeman2, Sanjeev Gupta3, Christopher Fedo4, John P Grotzinger5, Kathryn Stack6, Kristen A Bennett7, Vivian Zheng Sun8, Steven Banham3, Nathaniel Stein9, Kenneth S Edgett10, David M Rubin11, Christopher H House12 and Jason van Beek10, (1)USGS Astrogeology Science Center, Flagstaff, United States, (2)California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, United States, (3)Imperial College London, Department of Earth Science and Engineering, London, United Kingdom, (4)University of Tennessee, Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Knoxville, TN, United States, (5)Caltech, Pasadena, United States, (6)Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, United States, (7)Arizona State University, Tempe, United States, (8)NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, United States, (9)California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, United States, (10)Malin Space Science Systems, San Diego, CA, United States, (11)University of California-Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz, CA, United States, (12)Pennsylvania State University, Geosciences and Environmental Systems Institute, University Park, United States
Curiosity at Vera Rubin Ridge: Major Findings and Implications for Habitability (Invited) (420697)
Abigail Fraeman1, Vivian Zheng Sun2, Lauren A Edgar3, Christopher Fedo4, Valerie Kristen Fox5, John P Grotzinger5, Craig Hardgrove6, Briony H N Horgan7, Christopher H House8, Samantha Jacobs9, Jeffrey Roy Johnson10, Sarah Johnson11, Elizabeth B Rampe12, Mark R Salvatore13, Kathryn Stack2, Lucy M Thompson14, Danika F Wellington15, Roger C Wiens16, Amy J Williams17 and Ashwin R Vasavada2, (1)NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, United States, (2)Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, United States, (3)USGS Astrogeology Science Center, Flagstaff, AZ, United States, (4)University of Tennessee, Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Knoxville, TN, United States, (5)California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, United States, (6)Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, United States, (7)Purdue University, Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences, West Lafayette, IN, United States, (8)Pennsylvania State University, Geosciences and Environmental Systems Institute, University Park, United States, (9)Arizona State University, Phoenix, United States, (10)Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, Laurel, MD, United States, (11)Georgetown University, Washington, DC, United States, (12)NASA Johnson Space Center, Houston, TX, United States, (13)Northern Arizona University, Astronomy and Planetary Science, Flagstaff, AZ, United States, (14)University of New Brunswick, Fredericton, NB, Canada, (15)Arizona State University, Tempe, United States, (16)Space Science and Applications, Los Alamos, United States, (17)University of Florida, Department of Geological Sciences, Ft Walton Beach, FL, United States
Alpha Particle X-ray Spectrometer-Derived Compositional Characteristics of the Vera Rubin Ridge, Gale Crater, Mars and its Origin. (441489)
Lucy M Thompson1, Abigail Fraeman2, Jeffrey A Berger3, Nick I Boyd3, Ralf Gellert3, Catherine O'Connell-Cooper4, John G Spray1, Scott VanBommel5 and Albert Yen6, (1)University of New Brunswick, Fredericton, NB, Canada, (2)California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, United States, (3)University of Guelph, Guelph, ON, Canada, (4)University of New Brunswick, Earth Sciences, Fredericton, NB, Canada, (5)University of Guelph, Guelph, Canada, (6)NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, CA, United States
The Mineralogical Record of Redox at Gale Crater (399255)
Thomas Bristow1, Elizabeth B Rampe2, Cherie Achilles3, David Frederick Blake4, Nicholas R Castle5, Steve Chipera6, Patricia L Craig7, Joy A Crisp8, David J Des Marais4, Gordon Downs9, Robert T Downs10, Abigail Fraeman11, John P Grotzinger12, Robert M Hazen13, Jeffrey Roy Johnson14, Christopher H House15, Paul R Mahaffy16, Charles Malespin17, Amy McAdam18, Douglas W Ming2, John Morookian8, Richard V Morris2, Shaunna M Morrison19, Valerie Tu2, David T Vaniman20, Ashwin R Vasavada21, Albert Yen8 and MSL Science Team, (1)NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, United States, (2)NASA Johnson Space Center, Houston, TX, United States, (3)NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD, United States, (4)NASA Ames Research Center, Exobiology Branch, Moffett Field, CA, United States, (5)Lunar and Planetary Institute, Houston, TX, United States, (6)Chesapeake Energy, Oklahoma City, OK, United States, (7)Planetary Science Institute, Tuscon, AZ, United States, (8)NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, CA, United States, (9)University of Arizona, Tucson, United States, (10)University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, United States, (11)NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, United States, (12)Caltech, Pasadena, United States, (13)Carnegie Inst, Washington, DC, United States, (14)Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, Laurel, MD, United States, (15)Pennsylvania State University, Geosciences and Environmental Systems Institute, University Park, United States, (16)NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Planetary Environments Laboratory, Greenbelt, United States, (17)NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, United States, (18)NASA Goddard SFC, Greenbelt, United States, (19)Carnegie Institution for Science Washington, Geophysical Laboratory, Washington, DC, United States, (20)Planetary Science Institute, Tuscon, United States, (21)Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, United States
Correlating Mastcam Multispectral Data and Rock Morphology to Understand Potential Links Between Ferric Spectral Features Along Vera Rubin Ridge in Gale Crater, Mars (425480)
Samantha Jacob1, Danika F Wellington2, Prof. James F Bell III, PhD1, Abigail Fraeman3, Vivian Zheng Sun4, Jeffrey Roy Johnson5 and Briony H N Horgan6, (1)Arizona State University, School of Earth and Space Exploration, Tempe, United States, (2)Arizona State University, Tempe, United States, (3)NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, United States, (4)Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, United States, (5)Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, Laurel, MD, United States, (6)Purdue University, Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences, West Lafayette, IN, United States
Geochemical evidence from the ChemCam instrument highlighting the role of diagenesis at Vera Rubin Ridge in Gale crater, Mars (357263)
Jens Frydenvang1, Nicolas Mangold2, Roger C Wiens3, Abigail Fraeman4, Christopher Fedo5, Jonas l'Haridon2, Sanjeev Gupta6, Benton C Clark7, Olivier Forni8, Pierre-Yves Meslin8, Ann Ollila9, Patrick James Gasda10, Valerie Payre11, Fred J Calef III12 and Mark R Salvatore13, (1)Natural History Museum of Denmark, København K, Denmark, (2)LPGN Laboratoire de Planétologie et Géodynamique de Nantes, Nantes Cedex 03, France, (3)Purdue University, West Lafayette, United States, (4)NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, United States, (5)University of Tennessee, Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Knoxville, TN, United States, (6)Imperial College London, Department of Earth Science and Engineering, London, United Kingdom, (7)Space Science Institute Boulder, Boulder, CO, United States, (8)Institut de Recherche en Astrophysique et Planétologie (IRAP), Toulouse, France, (9)Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, NM, United States, (10)Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, United States, (11)Université de Lorraine, Nancy, France, (12)Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, United States, (13)Northern Arizona University, Astronomy and Planetary Science, Flagstaff, AZ, United States
Iron Mobility During Diagenesis as Observed by ChemCam at Gale Crater, Mars (372996)
Jonas l'Haridon1, Nicolas Mangold2, Agnes Cousin3, Jeffrey Roy Johnson4, Abigail Fraeman5, William Rapin6, Jens Frydenvang7, Vivian Zheng Sun8, Olivier Forni9, Pierre-Yves Meslin10, Olivier Gasnault9, Sylvestre Maurice11, Roger C Wiens12 and Mars Science Laboratory, (1)LPGN Laboratoire de Planétologie et Géodynamique de Nantes, Nantes Cedex 03, France, (2)CNRS, Nantes Université, Université d'Angers, Le Mans Université, Laboratoire de Planétologie et Géosciences, Nantes, France, (3)Institut de Recherche en Astrophysique et Planétologie (IRAP), Toulouse, France, (4)Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, Laurel, MD, United States, (5)California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, United States, (6)California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, United States, (7)Natural History Museum of Denmark, København K, Denmark, (8)NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, United States, (9)IRAP, CNRS, Université de Toulouse, UPS-OMP, Toulouse Cedex 4, France, (10)IRAP, Universite Paul Sabatier, Toulouse, France, (11)IRAP, CNRS, Université de Toulouse, UPS-OMP, Toulouse, France, (12)Space Science and Applications, Los Alamos, United States
Assessing Lateral Variations in the Mineralogical Stratigraphy of Mt. Sharp: Linking Rover and Orbital Observations (436440)
Rachel Sheppard, Brown University, Providence, RI, United States, Ralph Milliken, Brown University, Providence, United States, Yuki Itoh, University of Massachusetts, Electrical and Computer Engineering, Amherst, MA, United States and Mario Parente, University of Massachusetts Amherst, Electrical and Computer Engineering, Amherst, MA, United States

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