Compositionally and density stratified igneous terrain in Jezero crater, Mars

• DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.abo3399
• Publication Date: 2022-08-25T17:58:10Z
• Authors: Roger C. Wiens; Arya Udry; Olivier Beyssac; Cathy Quantin-Nataf; Nicolas Mangold; Agnès Cousin; Lucia Mandon; Tanja Bosak; Olivier Forni; Scott M. McLennan; Violaine Sautter; Adrian Brown; Karim Benzerara; Jeffrey R. Johnson; Lisa Mayhew; Sylvestre Maurice; Ryan B. Anderson; Samuel M. Clegg; Larry Crumpler; Travis S. J. Gabriel; Patrick Gasda; James Hall; Briony H. N. Horgan; Linda Kah; Carey Legett; Juan Manuel Madar...; Pierre-Yves Meslin; Ann M. Ollila; Francois Poulet; Clement Royer; Shiv K. Sharma; Sandra Siljeström; Justin I. Simon; Tayro E. Acosta-M...; Cesar Alvarez-Llamas; S. Michael Angel; Gorka Arana; Pierre Beck; Sylvain Bernard; Tanguy Bertrand; Bruno Bousquet; Kepa Castro; Baptiste Chide; Elise Clavé; Ed Cloutis; Stephanie Connell; Erwin Dehouck; Gilles Dromart; Woodward Fischer; Thierry Fouchet; Raymond Francis; Jens Frydenvang; Olivier Gasnault; Erin Gibbons; Sanjeev Gupta; Elisabeth M. Haus...; Xavier Jacob; Hemani Kalucha; Evan Kelly; Elise Knutsen; Nina Lanza; Javier Laserna; Jeremie Lasue; Stéphane Le Mouélic; Richard Leveille; Guillermo Lopez R...; Ralph Lorenz; Jose Antonio Manr...; Jesus Martinez-Frias; Tim McConnochie; Noureddine Melikechi; David Mimoun; Franck Montmessin; Javier Moros; Naomi Murdoch; Paolo Pilleri; Cedric Pilorget; Patrick Pinet; William Rapin; Fernando Rull; Susanne Schröder; David L. Shuster; Rebecca J. Smith; Alexander E. Stott; Jesse Tarnas; Nathalie Turenne; Marco Veneranda; David S. Vogt; Benjamin P. Weiss; Peter Willis; Kathryn M. Stack; Kenneth H. Williford; Kenneth A. Farley
• Keywords: Pyroxene; Lithology

Before Perseverance, Jezero crater's floor was variably hypothesized to have a lacustrine, lava, volcanic airfall, or aeolian origin. SuperCam observations in the first 286 Mars days on revealed and intrusive terrain with compositional density stratification. The dominant lithology along traverse is basaltic, plagioclase enrichment stratigraphically higher locations. Stratigraphically lower, layered rocks are richer normative pyroxene. lowest observed unit has highest inferred olivine-rich coarse (1.5 millimeters) euhedral, relatively unweathered grains, suggesting cumulate This martian shows similarities meteorites, which also express olivine disequilibrium. Alteration materials including carbonates, sulfates, perchlorates, hydrated silicates, iron oxides pervasive but low abundance, brief lacustrine conditions. Orbital link broader Nili-Syrtis region, that density-driven stratification regional characteristic.