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Properties of the Nili Fossae Olivine-clay-carbonate lithology: orbital and in situ at Séítah
  • +32
  • Adrian Jon Brown,
  • Linda C Kah,
  • Lucia Mandon,
  • Roger C. Wiens,
  • Patrick C. Pinet,
  • Elise Clavé,
  • Stephane Le Mouelic,
  • Arya Udry,
  • Patrick J Gasda,
  • Clement Royer,
  • Keyron Hickman-Lewis,
  • Agnès Cousin,
  • Justin I Simon,
  • Edward Cloutis,
  • Thierry Fouchet,
  • Alberto Fairen,
  • Stephanie Connell,
  • David Timothy Flannery,
  • Briony Heather Noelle Horgan,
  • Lisa Mayhew,
  • Allan H. Treiman,
  • Jorge I. Núñez,
  • Brittan Valhalla Wogsland,
  • Hans E. F. Amundsen,
  • Cathy Quantin-Nataf,
  • Kevin Peter Hand,
  • Vinciane Debaille,
  • Ari Essunfeld,
  • Pierre Beck,
  • Nicholas Tosca,
  • Juan Manuel Madariaga,
  • Eleni Maria Ravanis,
  • Karim Benzerara,
  • Jade Comellas,
  • Olivier Forni
Adrian Jon Brown
Plancius Research

Corresponding Author:[email protected]

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Linda C Kah
University of Tennessee at Knoxville
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Lucia Mandon
Laboratoire de Géologie de Lyon
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Roger C. Wiens
Los Alamos National Laboratory (DOE)
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Patrick C. Pinet
Univ. de Toulouse / CNRS
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Elise Clavé
University of Bordeaux
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Stephane Le Mouelic
LPGN
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Arya Udry
Department of Geoscience, University of Nevada, Las Vegas
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Patrick J Gasda
Los Alamos National Laboratory (DOE)
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Clement Royer
4LESIA, Observatoire de Paris, Université PSL, CNRS, Sorbonne Université, Université de Paris,
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Keyron Hickman-Lewis
The Natural History Museum
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Agnès Cousin
Institut de Recherche en Astrophysique et Planétologie - IRAP
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Justin I Simon
National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)
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Edward Cloutis
University of Winnepeg
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Thierry Fouchet
Observatoire de Paris
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Alberto Fairen
Centro de Astrobiologia
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Stephanie Connell
Purdue University
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David Timothy Flannery
Science and Engineering Faculty, Queensland University of Technology
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Briony Heather Noelle Horgan
Purdue University
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Lisa Mayhew
University of Colorado Boulder
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Allan H. Treiman
Lunar and Planetary Institute
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Jorge I. Núñez
Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory
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Brittan Valhalla Wogsland
University of Tennessee
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Hans E. F. Amundsen
Earth and Planetary Exploration Services
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Cathy Quantin-Nataf
laboratoire de Géologie de Lyon
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Kevin Peter Hand
Jet Propulsion Laboratory
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Vinciane Debaille
Université Libre de Bruxelles
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Ari Essunfeld
Los Alamos National Laboratory
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Pierre Beck
Institut de Planétologie et d'Astrophysique de Grenoble, Université Joseph Fourier, Grenoble, France
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Nicholas Tosca
University of Cambridge
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Juan Manuel Madariaga
University of the Basque Country
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Eleni Maria Ravanis
Department of Earth Sciences, University of Hawai'i, Honolulu, HI, USA
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Karim Benzerara
Institut de Minéralogie, Physique des Matériaux et Cosmochimie, CNRS
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Jade Comellas
University of Hawai'i at Mānoa
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Olivier Forni
Institut de Recherche en Astrophysique et Planétologie (IRAP) - CNRS
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Abstract

We examine the observed properties of the Nili Fossae olivine-clay-carbonate lithology from orbital data and in situ by the Mars 2020 rover at the Séítah unit in Jezero crater, including: 1) composition (Liu, 2022) 2) grain size (Tice, 2022) 3) inferred viscosity (calculated based on geochemistry collected by SuperCam (Wiens, 2022)). Based on the low viscosity and distribution of the unit we postulate a flood lava origin for the olivine-clay-carbonate at Séítah. We include a new CRISM map of the clay 2.38 μm band and use in situ data to show that the clay in the olivine cumulate in the Séítah formation is consistent with talc or serpentine from Mars 2020 SuperCam LIBS and VISIR and MastCam-Z observations. We discuss two intertwining aspects of the history of the lithology: 1) the emplacement and properties of the cumulate layer within a lava lake, based on terrestrial analogs in the Pilbara, Western Australia, and using previously published models of flood lavas and lava lakes, and 2) the limited extent of post emplacement alteration, including clay and carbonate alteration (Clave, this issue; Mandon, this issue).