Bounce Rock—A shergottite‐like basalt encountered at Meridiani Planum,Mars |
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| Authors: | Jutta ZIPFEL Bradley L JOLLIFF Ralf GELLERT Kenneth E HERKENHOFF Rudolf RIEDER Robert ANDERSON James F BELL III Johannes BRÜCKNER Joy A CRISP Philip R CHRISTENSEN Benton C CLARK Paulo A
De SOUZA Jr Gerlind DREIBUS Claude
D’USTON Thanasis ECONOMOU Steven P GOREVAN Brian C HAHN Göstar KLINGELHÖFER Timothy J McCOY Harry Y McSWEEN Jr Douglas W MING Richard V MORRIS Daniel S RODIONOV Steven W SQUYRES Heinrich WÄNKE Shawn P WRIGHT Michael B WYATT Albert S YEN |
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| Institution: | 1. Sektion Meteoritenforschung, Senckenberg Forschungsinstitut und Naturmuseum Frankfurt, Senckenberganlage 25, 60325 Frankfurt a. M., Germany;2. Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Washington University, St. Louis, Missouri 63130, USA;3. Department of Physics, University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario, Canada N1G 2W1;4. Astrogeology Science Center, U.S. Geological Survey, Flagstaff, Arizona 86001, USA;5. Abteilung Geochemie, Max‐Planck‐Institut für Chemie, Postfach 3060, 55020 Mainz, Germany;6. Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California 91109, USA;7. Department of Astronomy, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York 14853, USA;8. School of Earth and Space Exploration, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona 85287–6305, USA;9. Lockheed Martin Corporation, Littleton, Colorado 80127, USA;10. Tasmanian ICT Centre, CSIRO, GPO Box 1538, Hobart, Tasmania 7001, Australia;11. Centre d’Etude Spatiale des Rayonements, F‐31028 Toulouse, France;12. Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Research, Enrico Fermi Institute, Chicago, Illinois 60637, USA;13. Honeybee Robotics, New York, New York 10012, USA;14. Department of Geosciences, State University of New York, Stony Brook, New York 11794, USA;15. Institut für Anorganische Chemie und Analytische Chemie, Johannes Gutenberg‐Universit?t Mainz, Staudinger Weg 9, 55128 Mainz, Germany;16. Department of Mineral Sciences, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, District of Columbia 20560–0119, USA;17. Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Tennessee 37996, USA;18. Astromaterials Research and Exploration Science, NASA Johnson Space Center, Houston, Texas 77058, USA;19. Institute of Meteoritics, University of New Mexico, 1 University of New Mexico, MSC03‐2050, Albuquerque, New Mexico 87131, USA;20. Department of Geological Sciences, Brown University, Box 1846, Providence, Rhode Island 02912, USA |
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| Abstract: | Abstract– The Opportunity rover of the Mars Exploration Rover mission encountered an isolated rock fragment with textural, mineralogical, and chemical properties similar to basaltic shergottites. This finding was confirmed by all rover instruments, and a comprehensive study of these results is reported here. Spectra from the miniature thermal emission spectrometer and the Panoramic Camera reveal a pyroxene‐rich mineralogy, which is also evident in Mössbauer spectra and in normative mineralogy derived from bulk chemistry measured by the alpha particle X‐ray spectrometer. The correspondence of Bounce Rock’s chemical composition with the composition of certain basaltic shergottites, especially Elephant Moraine (EET) 79001 lithology B and Queen Alexandra Range (QUE) 94201, is very close, with only Cl, Fe, and Ti exhibiting deviations. Chemical analyses further demonstrate characteristics typical of Mars such as the Fe/Mn ratio and P concentrations. Possible shock features support the idea that Bounce Rock was ejected from an impact crater, most likely in the Meridiani Planum region. Bopolu crater, 19.3 km in diameter, located 75 km to the southwest could be the source crater. To date, no other rocks of this composition have been encountered by any of the rovers on Mars. The finding of Bounce Rock by the Opportunity rover provides further direct evidence for an origin of basaltic shergottite meteorites from Mars. |
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