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Originally published in Science Express on 2 August 2007
Science 31 August 2007:
Vol. 317. no. 5842, pp. 1206 - 1210
DOI: 10.1126/science.1144174
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Reports

Coupled Ferric Oxides and Sulfates on the Martian Surface

J.-P. Bibring,1* R. E. Arvidson,2 A. Gendrin,1 B. Gondet,1 Y. Langevin,1 S. Le Mouelic,3 N. Mangold,4 R. V. Morris,5 J. F. Mustard,6 F. Poulet,1 C. Quantin,4 C. Sotin3

The Mars Exploration Rover (MER), Opportunity, showed that layered sulfate deposits in Meridiani Planum formed during a period of rising acidic ground water. Crystalline hematite spherules formed in the deposits as a consequence of aqueous alteration and were concentrated on the surface as a lag deposit as wind eroded the softer sulfate rocks. On the basis of Mars Express Observatoire pour la Minéralogie, l'Eau, les Glaces et l'Activité (OMEGA) orbital data, we demonstrate that crystalline hematite deposits are associated with layered sulfates in other areas on Mars, implying that Meridiani-like ground water systems were indeed widespread and representative of an extensive acid sulfate aqueous system.

1 Institut d'Astrophysique Spatiale, Batiment 121, 91405 Orsay Campus, France.
2 Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Washington University, St. Louis, MO 63130, USA.
3 Université de Nantes, 2 rue Houssinière, Boîte Postale 92208, 44322 Nantes Cedex 03, France.
4 Interactions et Dynamique des Environnement de Surface, Batiment 509, 91405 Orsay Campus, France.
5 NASA Johnson Space Center, 2101 NASA Parkway, Houston, TX 77058, USA.
6 Geological Sciences, Brown University, Providence, RI02912, USA.

* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: bibring{at}ias.fr

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