1. Evidence for marine sedimentary rocks in Utopia Planitia: Zhurong rover observations.
- Author
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(肖龙), Long Xiao, (黄俊), Jun Huang, Kusky, Timothy, Head, James W, (赵健楠), Jiannan Zhao, (王江), Jiang Wang, (王乐), Le Wang, (余文超), Wenchao Yu, (史语桐), Yutong Shi, (吴波), Bo Wu, (钱煜奇), Yuqi Qian, (黄倩), Qian Huang, and (肖潇), Xiao Xiao
- Subjects
SEDIMENTARY structures ,MARINE sediments ,MARS (Planet) ,SURFACE structure ,OCEAN - Abstract
Decades of research using remotely sensed data have extracted evidence for the presence of an ocean in the northern lowlands of Mars in the Hesperian (∼3.3 Ga), but these claims have remained controversial due to the lack of in situ analysis of the associated geologic unit, the Vastitas Borealis Formation (VBF). The Tianwen-1/Zhurong rover was targeted to land within the VBF near its southern margin and has traversed almost 2 km southward toward the interpreted shoreline. We report here on the first in situ analysis of the VBF that reveals sedimentary structures and features in surface rocks that suggest that the VBF was deposited in a marine environment, providing direct support for the existence of an ancient (Hesperian) ocean on Mars. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2023
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