Meteorites at Meridiani Planum provide evidence for significant amounts of surface and near‐surface water on early Mars

Abstract– Six large iron meteorites have been discovered in the Meridiani Planum region of Mars by the Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity in a nearly 25 km‐long traverse. Herein, we review and synthesize the available data to propose that the discovery and characteristics of the six meteorites could be explained as the result of their impact into a soft and wet surface, sometime during the Noachian or the Hesperian, subsequently to be exposed at the Martian surface through differential erosion. As recorded by its sediments and chemical deposits, Meridiani has been interpreted to have undergone a watery past, including a shallow sea, a playa, an environment of fluctuating ground water, and/or an icy landscape. Meteorites could have been encased upon impact and/or subsequently buried, and kept underground for a long time, shielded from the atmosphere. The meteorites apparently underwent significant chemical weathering due to aqueous alteration, as indicated by cavernous features that suggest differential acidic corrosion removing less resistant material and softer inclusions. During the Amazonian, the almost complete disappearance of surface water and desiccation of the landscape, followed by induration of the sediments and subsequent differential erosion and degradation of Meridiani sediments, including at least 10–80 m of deflation in the last 3–3.5 Gy, would have exposed the buried meteorites. We conclude that the iron meteorites support the hypothesis that Mars once had a denser atmosphere and considerable amounts of water and/or water ice at and/or near the surface.     

Controlling factors of volumetrically important marine carbonate cementation in deep slope settings

The controlling parameters of early marine carbonate cementation in shoal water and hemipelagic to pelagic domains are well‐studied. In contrast, the mechanisms driving the precipitation of early marine carbonate cements at deeper slope settings have received less attention, despite the fact that considerable volumes of early marine cement are present at recent and fossil carbonate slopes in water depths of several hundreds of metres. In order to better understand the controlling factors of pervasive early marine cementation at greater water depths, marine carbonate cements observed along time‐parallel platform to basin transects of two intact Pennsylvanian carbonate slopes are compared with those present in the slope deposits of the Permian Capitan Reef and Neogene Mururoa Atoll. In all four settings, significant amounts of marine cements occlude primary pore spaces downslope into thermoclinal water depths, i.e. in a bathymetric range between some tens and several hundreds of metres. Radial, radiaxial and fascicular optic fibrous calcites, and radiaxial prismatic calcites are associated with re‐deposited facies, boundstones and rudstones. Botryoidal (formerly) aragonitic precipitates are common in microbially induced limestones. From these case studies, it is tentatively concluded that sea water circulation in an extensive, near‐sea floor pore system is a first‐order control on carbonate ion supply and marine cementation. Coastal upwelling and internal or tidal currents are the most probable mechanisms driving pore water circulation at these depths. Carbonate cements precipitated under conditions of normal to elevated alkalinity, locally elevated nutrient levels and variable sea water temperatures. The implications of these findings and suggestions for future work are discussed.     

An EPR study of native radiation-induced paramagnetic defects in sudoite (di–trioctahedral Al–Mg chlorite) from the alteration halo related to unconformity-type uranium deposits

Natural radiation-induced defects were identified in specimens of sudoite (Al–Mg di-trioctahedral chlorite) related to unconformity-type uranium deposits at the base of the Athabasca Group (Saskatchewan, Canada), using electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) spectroscopy at X- and Q-band frequencies. X-band spectra indicate the presence of a main native defect, named the A_s-center, whose EPR signal is dominated by an axially distorted spectrum with apparent principal components as follows: g _// = 2,051 and g _⊥ = 2,005, and a secondary defect with apparent component g = 2,025. The study of oriented specimens shows that the main defect has its g _// component perpendicular to the (ab) plane of sudoite. The A_s-center corresponds to an electron hole located on oxygen atoms of the structure and is likely associated with Si, according to the lack of hyperfine structure. The A_s-center in sudoite has EPR parameters similar to the A-center in kaolinite and dickite, and the A_i-center in illite. The saturation behavior of EPR spectra as a function of power demonstrates that native defects of sudoite are different from those known in other clays, such as kaolinite, dickite or smectite, but are similar to those of illite. The isochronal annealing data suggest that the main defect in sudoite is stable to more than 300°C. The corresponding defects characterized in sudoite may have the potential for tracing past radionuclide migration around unconformity-type uranium deposits.     

Infrared stimulated luminescence dating of an Eemian (MIS 5e) site in Denmark using K‐feldspar

Buylaert, J.‐P., Huot, S., Murray, A.S. & Van den haute, P.: Infrared stimulated luminescence dating of an Eemian (MIS 5e) site in Denmark using K‐feldspar. Boreas, 10.1111/j.1502‐3885.2010.00156.x. ISSN 0300‐9483. Infrared stimulated luminescence (IRSL) dating of K‐feldspars may be an alternative to quartz optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) dating when the quartz OSL signal is too close to saturation or when the quartz luminescence characteristics are unsuitable. In this paper, Eemian (MIS 5e) coastal marine sands exposed in a cliff section on the coast of southern Jutland (Denmark) are used to test the accuracy and precision of IRSL dating using K‐feldspars. This material has been used previously to test quartz OSL dating ( Murray & Funder 2003 ): a small systematic underestimation of <10% compared to the expected age of ～130 ka was reported. In our study, a single‐aliquot regenerative‐dose (SAR) IRSL protocol is used to determine values of equivalent dose (D_e) and the corresponding fading rates (g values). A significant age underestimation (of up to ～35%) is observed; this is attributed to anomalous fading. Using a single site‐average fading rate of 3.66 ± 0.09%/decade to correct the IRSL ages for all samples provides good agreement between the average fading‐corrected K‐feldspar age (119 ± 6 ka) and the independent age control (132–125 ka). This is despite the reservations of Huntley & Lamothe (2001) that their fading correction method is not expected to work on samples older than ～20–50 ka. This fading‐corrected feldspar result is not significantly different from the overall revised quartz age (114 ± 7 ka) also presented here. We conclude that fading‐corrected IRSL ages measured using K‐feldspar may be both precise and accurate over a greater age range than might be otherwise expected.     

The late Miocene to Pleistocene ice-rafting history of southeast Greenland

Analysis of a Miocene-Pleistocene ice-rafted debris (IRD) record from the western Irminger Basin provides evidence for the initiation and long-term behavior of the SE portion of the Greenland Ice Sheet. In the late Miocene (~7.3 Ma), IRD supply to Ocean Drilling Program site 918 increased significantly indicating that glaciers large enough to reach sea level were present in SE Greenland long before the onset of widespread Northern Hemisphere glaciation. IRD accumulated at this site throughout the Pliocene and Pleistocene, supporting the hypothesis that SE Greenland was a key nucleation area for the formation of the Greenland Ice Sheet. Since glacial onset, the western Irminger Basin IRD record is characterized by a succession of episodes with high IRD mass accumulation rates (MARs). The site 918 IRD record indicates that greatest iceberg production in SE Greenland occurred during major climatic transitions (e.g. widespread Northern Hemisphere glacial expansion at 2.7 Ma and the mid-Pleistocene climate shift at 0.9 Ma), and that SE Greenland sometimes also led the northern North Atlantic region in glacial response to climatic forcing (e.g. glacial intensification at ~4.8 and, along with NE Greenland, at ~3.5 Ma).     

An Overview of the Second Generation Adjusted Daily Precipitation Dataset for Trend Analysis in Canada

A second generation adjusted precipitation daily dataset has been prepared for trend analysis in Canada. Daily rainfall and snowfall amounts have been adjusted for 464 stations for known measurement issues such as wind undercatch, evaporation and wetting losses for each type of rain-gauge, snow water equivalent from ruler measurements, trace observations and accumulated amounts from several days. Observations from nearby stations were sometimes combined to create time series that are longer; hence, making them more useful for trend studies. In this new version, daily adjustments are an improvement over the previous version because they are derived from an extended dataset and enhanced metadata knowledge. Datasets were updated to cover recent years, including 2009. The impact of the adjustments on rainfall and snowfall total amounts and trends was examined in detail. As a result of adjustments, total rainfall amounts have increased by 5 to 10% in southern Canada and by more than 20% in the Canadian Arctic, compared to the original observations, while the effect of the adjustments on snowfall were larger and more variable throughout the country. The slope of the rain trend lines decreased as a result of the larger correction applied to the older rain-gauges while the slope of the snow trend lines increased, mainly along the west coast and in the Arctic. Finally, annual and seasonal rainfall and snowfall trends based on the adjusted series were computed for 1950–2009 and 1900–2009. Overall, rainfall has increased across the country while a mix of non-significant increasing and decreasing trends was found during the summer in the Canadian Prairies. Snowfall has increased mainly in the north while a significant decrease was observed in the southwestern part of the country for 1950–2009.