Search Publications
Hydrous minerals on Mars as seen by the CRISM and OMEGA imaging spectrometers: Updated global view
Mangold, N.; Bibring, J. -P.; Poulet, F. +2 more
The surface of Mars has preserved the record of early environments in which its basaltic crust was altered by liquid water. These aqueous environments have survived in the form of hydrological morphologies and alteration minerals, including clays and hydrated salts. Because these minerals probe on Earth aqueous environments compatible with biotic …
Groundwater activity on Mars and implications for a deep biosphere
Michalski, Joseph R.; Niles, Paul B.; Cuadros, Javier +3 more
By the time eukaryotic life or photosynthesis evolved on Earth, the martian surface had become extremely inhospitable, but the subsurface of Mars could potentially have contained a vast microbial biosphere. Crustal fluids may have welled up from the subsurface to alter and cement surface sediments, potentially preserving clues to subsurface habita…
Sequence of infilling events in Gale Crater, Mars: Results from morphology, stratigraphy, and mineralogy
Le Deit, Laetitia; Hauber, Ernst; Jaumann, Ralf +3 more
Crater is filled by sedimentary deposits including a mound of layered deposits, Aeolis Mons. Using orbital data, we mapped the crater infillings and measured their geometry to determine their origin. The sediment of Aeolis Mons is interpreted to be primarily air fall material such as dust, volcanic ash, fine-grained impact products, and possibly s…
Global investigation of olivine on Mars: Insights into crust and mantle compositions
Bibring, J. -P.; Gondet, B.; Langevin, Y. +4 more
present the distribution of olivine on Mars, derived from spectral parameters based on the 1 µm olivine absorption band. The olivine can be defined with respect to two spectral end-members: type 1 corresponds to olivine with low iron content and/or small grain size and/or small abundance, and type 2, which corresponds to olivine with higher iron c…
Three-dimensional Martian ionosphere model: I. The photochemical ionosphere below 180 km
Forget, F.; Chaufray, J. -Y.; Leblanc, F. +6 more
We describe the Mars ionosphere with unprecedented detail in 3-D, as simulated by a Mars general circulation model (the Laboratoire de Météorologie Dynamique Mars GCM), and compare it with recent measurements. The model includes a number of recent extensions and improvements. Different simulations for a full Martian year have been performed. The e…
Geochemical Consequences of Widespread Clay Mineral Formation in Mars' Ancient Crust
Ehlmann, Bethany L.; Mangold, Nicolas; Chassefière, Eric +7 more
Clays form on Earth by near-surface weathering, precipitation in water bodies within basins, hydrothermal alteration (volcanic- or impact-induced), diagenesis, metamorphism, and magmatic precipitation. Diverse clay minerals have been detected from orbital investigation of terrains on Mars and are globally distributed, indicating geographically wid…
Annual survey of water vapor vertical distribution and water-aerosol coupling in the martian atmosphere observed by SPICAM/MEx solar occultations
Forget, F.; Maltagliati, L.; Montmessin, F. +5 more
The vertical distribution of water vapor is a very important diagnostic to determine the physical and chemical processes that drive the martian water cycle. Yet, very few direct measurements have been performed so far, and our knowledge of the H2O vertical distribution on Mars relies on General Circulation Models (GCMs). The study prese…
Rocket dust storms and detached dust layers in the Martian atmosphere
Määttänen, Anni; Forget, François; Spiga, Aymeric +2 more
Airborne dust is the main climatic agent in the Martian environment. Local dust storms play a key role in the dust cycle; yet their life cycle is poorly known. Here we use mesoscale modeling that includes the transport of radiatively active dust to predict the evolution of a local dust storm monitored by OMEGA on board Mars Express. We show that t…
What the ancient phyllosilicates at Mawrth Vallis can tell us about possible habitability on early Mars
Murchie, Scott L.; Bishop, Janice L.; Parente, Mario +5 more
Phyllosilicate deposits on Mars provide an opportunity to evaluate aqueous activity and the possibility that habitable environments may have existed during the Noachian period there. Analysis of hyperspectral visible/near-infrared (VNIR) Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) Compact Reconnaissance Imaging Spectrometer for Mars (CRISM) images has shown…
Crater-based dating of geological units on Mars: Methods and application for the new global geological map
Tanaka, Kenneth L.; Platz, Thomas; Michael, Gregory +2 more
The new, post-Viking generation of Mars orbital imaging and topographical data provide significant higher-resolution details of surface morphologies, which induced a new effort to photo-geologically map the surface of Mars at 1:20,000,000 scale. Although from unit superposition relations a relative stratigraphical framework can be compiled, it was…