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Concretions in exhumed and inverted channels near Hanksville Utah: implications for Mars

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  25 February 2011

Jonathan D. A. Clarke  and
Carol R. Stoker
Jonathan D. A. Clarke
Affiliation:
Mars Society Australia, c/o 43 Michell St Monash, ACT 2904, Australia Australian Centre for Astrobiology, Ground Floor, Biological Sciences Building, Sydney, NSW, Australia e-mail: jon.clarke@bigpond.com
Carol R. Stoker
Affiliation:
NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, CA 94035, USA
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Abstract

The landscape near Hanksville, Utah, contains a diversity of Mars analogue features. These included segmented and inverted anastomosing palaeochannels exhumed from the Late Jurassic Brushy Basin Member of the Morrison Formation that hosts abundant small carbonate concretions. The exhumed and inverted channels closely resemble many seen on the surface of Mars in satellite imagery and which may be visited by surface missions in the near future. The channels contain a wealth of palaeoenvironmental information and are potentially of astrobiological interest, but intrinsically difficult terrain would make their study challenging on Mars. We show that an un-exhumed channel feature can be detected geophysically, and this may allow their study in more easily accessed terrain. The concretion's morphology and surface expression parallel the haematite ‘blue berries’ that are strewn across the surface of Meridiani Planum on Mars. They are best developed in poorly cemented medium to coarse channel sandstones and appear to have formed during deep burial.

Keywords

Mars regolithgeomorphologyrelief inversionpalaeochannelsconcretions
Type
Research Article
Information
International Journal of Astrobiology , Volume 10 , Special Issue 3: Special issue: Astrobiology field research in Moon/Mars analogue environments , July 2011 , pp. 161 - 175
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2011

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