HiRISE high-resolution images are used to analyze the geomorphologies in Mclaughlin crater at Mawrth Vallis on Mars. Spectral features of hyper-spectral CRISM data are enhanced through band ratio to reduce the residuals of the instrumental calibration and atmospheric correction. Spectral analysis shows that this crater not only bears spectral features of phyllosilicates such as montmorillonite, nontronite and serpentine, but also exhibits spectral features of carbonate minerals. The co-existence of these diverse alteration minerals produced in different conditions indicates that the geochemical environment in this crater had been altered many times. Two hypotheses are proposed to explain the causes of this mineral diversity: 1) carbonate and other minerals were formed firstly by infiltration metasomatism underground, and then excavated and exposed by later impact; 2) the impact excavated the basalt/olivine-dominant Martian crust, and the long cooling and crystallization differentiation process of the impact-generated hydrothermal system formed these diverse minerals.

Date Published: 14 May 2014
PDF: 6 pages
Proc. SPIE 9158, Remote Sensing of the Environment: 18th National Symposium on Remote Sensing of China, 91580J (14 May 2014); doi: 10.1117/12.2063744

Published in SPIE Proceedings Vol. 9158:
Remote Sensing of the Environment: 18th National Symposium on Remote Sensing of China
Qingxi Tong; Jie Shan; Boqin Zhu, Editor(s)