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Originally published in Science Express on 17 February 2005
Science 11 March 2005:
Vol. 307. no. 5715, pp. 1584 - 1586
DOI: 10.1126/science.1109091
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Reports

Sulfates in the North Polar Region of Mars Detected by OMEGA/Mars Express

Yves Langevin,* François Poulet, Jean-Pierre Bibring, Brigitte Gondet

The Observatoire pour la Minéralogie, l'Eau, les Glaces, et l'Activité (OMEGA) imaging spectrometer observed the northern circumpolar regions of Mars at a resolution of a few kilometers. An extended region at 240°E, 85°N, with an area of 60 kilometers by 200 kilometers, exhibits absorptions at wavelengths of 1.45, 1.75, 1.94, 2.22, 2.26, and 2.48 micrometers. These signatures can be unambiguously attributed to calcium-rich sulfates, most likely gypsum. This region corresponds to the dark longitudinal dunes of Olympia Planitia. These observations reveal that water alteration played a major role in the formation of the constituting minerals of northern circumpolar terrains.

Institut d'Astrophysique Spatiale (IAS), Bâtiment 121, 91405 Orsay Campus, France.

* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: yves.langevin{at}ias.u-psud.fr

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Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)