PIA05467: History Leaves Salts Behind


History Leaves Salts Behind

Caption:

These plots, or spectra, show that a rock dubbed "McKittrick" near the Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity's landing site at Meridiani Planum, Mars, has higher concentrations of sulfur and bromine than a nearby patch of soil nicknamed "Tarmac." These data were taken by Opportunity's alpha particle X-ray spectrometer, which uses curium-244 to assess the elemental composition of rocks and soil. Only portions of the targets' full spectra are shown to highlight the significant differences in elemental concentrations between "McKittrick" and "Tarmac." Intensities are plotted on a logarithmic scale.

A nearby rock named Guadalupe similarly has extremely high concentrations of sulfur, but very little bromine. This "element fractionation" typically occurs when a watery brine slowly evaporates and various salt compounds are precipitated in sequence.

Cataloging Keywords:

Name Value Additional Values
Target Mars
System
Target Type Planet
Mission Mars Exploration Rover (MER) Mars Science Laboratory (MSL)
Instrument Host Opportunity (MER-B) Curiosity Rover
Host Type Rover
Instrument Alpha Particle X-Ray Spectrometer (APXS)
Detector
Extra Keywords Color, Water
Acquisition Date
Release Date 2004-03-02
Date in Caption
Image Credit NASA/JPL/Cornell/Max Planck Institute
Source photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA05467
Identifier PIA05467