Estimated Minimum Life Span of the Jezero Fluvial Delta (Mars)

Francesco Salese; Maarten G. Kleinhans; Nicolas Mangold; Veronique Ansan; William McMahon; Tjalling De Haas; Gilles Dromart

doi:10.1089/ast.2020.2228

Estimated Minimum Life Span of the Jezero Fluvial Delta (Mars)

Francesco Salese^*, Maarten G. Kleinhans, Nicolas Mangold, Veronique Ansan, William McMahon, Tjalling De Haas, Gilles Dromart

^*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › Academic › peer-review

Abstract

The paleo-lake floor at the edge of the Jezero delta has been selected as the NASA 2020 rover landing site. In this article, we demonstrate the sequences of lake filling and delta formation and constrain the minimum life span of the Jezero paleo-lake from sedimentological and hydrological analyses. Two main phases of delta evolution can be recognized by utilizing imagery provided by the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (NASA Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter) and High Resolution Stereo Camera (ESA Mars Express): (1) basin infilling before the breaching of the Jezero rim and (2) the delta formation itself. Our results suggest that delta formation occurred over a minimum period of 90-550 years of hydrological activity. Breaching of the Jezero rim occurred in at least three distinct episodes, which spanned a far longer time-period than overall delta formation. This evolutionary history implies that the Jezero-lake floor would have been a haven for fine-grained sediment accumulation and hosted an active environment of significant astrobiological importance.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	977-993
Number of pages	17
Journal	Astrobiology
Volume	20
Issue number	8
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1089/ast.2020.2228
Publication status	Published - 6 Aug 2020

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
F.S. is supported by the Marie Curie Individual Postdoctoral Fellowship (WET_MARS, Grant Agreement No. 795192). M.G.K. is funded by the European Research Council (ERC Consolidator grant 647570). The data (HRSC, CTX, HiRISE, MOLA) that support the findings of this study were obtained freely from the Planetary Data System (PDS) and are publicly available online at https://pds.nasa.gov/ index.shtml. French authors are granted by the Centre National d’Etudes Spatiales (CNES). Région Pays de la Loire through the GeoPlaNet project (Convention No. 2016-10982) also supported this work.

Publisher Copyright:
© Copyright 2020, Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers 2020.

Copyright:
Copyright 2020 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.

Funding

F.S. is supported by the Marie Curie Individual Postdoctoral Fellowship (WET_MARS, Grant Agreement No. 795192). M.G.K. is funded by the European Research Council (ERC Consolidator grant 647570). The data (HRSC, CTX, HiRISE, MOLA) that support the findings of this study were obtained freely from the Planetary Data System (PDS) and are publicly available online at https://pds.nasa.gov/ index.shtml. French authors are granted by the Centre National d’Etudes Spatiales (CNES). Région Pays de la Loire through the GeoPlaNet project (Convention No. 2016-10982) also supported this work.

Keywords

Fluvial activity
Jezero fan-delta
Lake
Landing site
Mars
Neretva Vallis

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10.1089/ast.2020.2228

ast.2020.2228Final published version, 861 KBLicence: Taverne

Cite this

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title = "Estimated Minimum Life Span of the Jezero Fluvial Delta (Mars)",

abstract = "The paleo-lake floor at the edge of the Jezero delta has been selected as the NASA 2020 rover landing site. In this article, we demonstrate the sequences of lake filling and delta formation and constrain the minimum life span of the Jezero paleo-lake from sedimentological and hydrological analyses. Two main phases of delta evolution can be recognized by utilizing imagery provided by the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (NASA Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter) and High Resolution Stereo Camera (ESA Mars Express): (1) basin infilling before the breaching of the Jezero rim and (2) the delta formation itself. Our results suggest that delta formation occurred over a minimum period of 90-550 years of hydrological activity. Breaching of the Jezero rim occurred in at least three distinct episodes, which spanned a far longer time-period than overall delta formation. This evolutionary history implies that the Jezero-lake floor would have been a haven for fine-grained sediment accumulation and hosted an active environment of significant astrobiological importance.",

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note = "Funding Information: F.S. is supported by the Marie Curie Individual Postdoctoral Fellowship (WET_MARS, Grant Agreement No. 795192). M.G.K. is funded by the European Research Council (ERC Consolidator grant 647570). The data (HRSC, CTX, HiRISE, MOLA) that support the findings of this study were obtained freely from the Planetary Data System (PDS) and are publicly available online at https://pds.nasa.gov/ index.shtml. French authors are granted by the Centre National d{\textquoteright}Etudes Spatiales (CNES). R{\'e}gion Pays de la Loire through the GeoPlaNet project (Convention No. 2016-10982) also supported this work. Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} Copyright 2020, Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers 2020. Copyright: Copyright 2020 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.",

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AU - McMahon, William

AU - De Haas, Tjalling

AU - Dromart, Gilles

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N2 - The paleo-lake floor at the edge of the Jezero delta has been selected as the NASA 2020 rover landing site. In this article, we demonstrate the sequences of lake filling and delta formation and constrain the minimum life span of the Jezero paleo-lake from sedimentological and hydrological analyses. Two main phases of delta evolution can be recognized by utilizing imagery provided by the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (NASA Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter) and High Resolution Stereo Camera (ESA Mars Express): (1) basin infilling before the breaching of the Jezero rim and (2) the delta formation itself. Our results suggest that delta formation occurred over a minimum period of 90-550 years of hydrological activity. Breaching of the Jezero rim occurred in at least three distinct episodes, which spanned a far longer time-period than overall delta formation. This evolutionary history implies that the Jezero-lake floor would have been a haven for fine-grained sediment accumulation and hosted an active environment of significant astrobiological importance.

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Estimated Minimum Life Span of the Jezero Fluvial Delta (Mars)

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Funding

Keywords

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