Composition and thermal inertia of the Mawrth Vallis region of Mars from TES and THEMIS data

Mineralogical characterization of Mars Science Laboratory candidate landing sites from THEMIS and TES data

“…Thus the TES index and deconvolution analyses indicate that, in addition to the phyllosilicates detected by OMEGA/CRISM, the phyllosilicate regions also contain significant concentrations of a high-silica phase (>15%, possibly up to $40%) that does not exhibit a smectite doublet, such as zeolite or amorphous silica. These conclusions are consistent with an independent assessment by Michalski and Fergason (2009). Trioctahedral smectites, such as saponite, are also candidate minerals for the strong 465 cm À1 feature.…”

“…Thermal Inertia Maps of Candidate MSL Landing Sites, presentation at the 3rd MSL Landing Site Workshop, Monrovia, CA. Available from: <http://marsoweb.nas.nasa.gov/ landingsites/msl2009/workshops/3rd_workshop/program.html/>; Seelos et al, 2008;Michalski and Fergason, 2009).…”

Laboratory reflectance spectra of clay minerals mixed with Mars analog materials: Toward enabling quantitative clay abundances from Mars spectra

“…Interpretation of Thermal Emission Spectrometer (TES) data obtained by Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) provided clear evidence for abundant mafic minerals, including pyroxenes, and altered basalt across the martian surface and some suggestions, at the limit of quantitative interpretation, for phyllosilicates and/or glasses (e.g. Bandfield, 2002;Wyatt and McSween, 2002;Michalski et al, 2006;Rogers and Bandfield, 2009;Michalski and Fergason, 2009). Data obtained at visible and near-to mid-infrared wavelengths (0.35-5.1 lm), especially in the 1.4-2.5 lm wavelength region, and higher spatial resolution (down to a few hundred meters), by the Observatoire pour la Minéralogie, ľEau, les Glaces et ľActivité (OMEGA) from Mars Express (MEx) provided more definitive evidence for the presence of mafic silicates (e.g.…”

Mineral abundances and different levels of alteration around Mawrth Vallis, Mars

“…Viviano and Moersch (2013) used multispectral THermal Emission Imaging System (THEMIS) data to derive the phyllosilicate abundance distribution map on light-toned phyllosilicate-bearing materials in Mawrth Vallis, which shows maximum phyllosilicate abundance is about 63%. It is obvious that there are significant discrepancies on the modal mineralogy derived by the visible and near-infrared spectra and by the thermal infrared spectra, the potential factors that may account for this discrepancy (e.g., sub-pixel temperature differences, low absolute phyllosilicate abundance, and surface textures) are described (Michalski and Fergason, 2009) and tested (Viviano and Moersch, 2013) by previous works.…”

“…Not only the near infrared spectra observed at this region are utilized to derive the modal mineralogy, thermal infrared data are also used. Spectral unmixing of Thermal Emission Spectrometer (TES) data on light-toned units from Michalski and Fergason (2009) showed phyllosilicate abundances are about 10e20%, which is near the TES threshold of detectability. Viviano and Moersch (2013) used multispectral THermal Emission Imaging System (THEMIS) data to derive the phyllosilicate abundance distribution map on light-toned phyllosilicate-bearing materials in Mawrth Vallis, which shows maximum phyllosilicate abundance is about 63%.…”