Properties of the Nili Fossae Olivine-clay-carbonate lithology: orbital
and in situ at Séítah
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).