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Fluorine and Lithium at the Kimberley Outcrop, Gale CraterChemCam is an active remote sensing instrument which has operated successfully on MSL since landing in August, 2012. Its laser pulses remove dust and to profile through weathering coatings of rocks up to 7 m away. Laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) produces emission spectra of materials ablated from the samples in electronically excited states. As the plasma cools, elements can recombine and molecular emission lines are observed. Recent experiments have shown that some of these molecular emissions can be much brighter than the associated atomic lines, especially when halo-gens and rare earth elements are present. We observed these molecular emissions in some of the ChemCam spectra and report the first detection of chlorine and fluorine with ChemCam. It is also the first time ever that fluorine has been detected on the surface of Mars. Among all the F-bearing observations, one third are observed in the Kimberley outcrop. We will dis-cuss the potential mineralogies related to these observations as well as the related elemental correlations and propose interpretations.
Document ID
20150003051
Acquisition Source
Johnson Space Center
Document Type
Conference Paper
Authors
Forni, O.
(Institut de Recherches en Astrophysique et Planetologie Toulouse, France)
Vaniman, D. T.
(Planetary Science Inst. Tucson, AZ, United States)
Le Deit, L.
(Nantes Univ. France)
Clegg, S. M.
(Los Alamos National Lab. Albuquerque, NM, United States)
Lanza, N. L.
(Los Alamos National Lab. Albuquerque, NM, United States)
Lasue, J.
(Institut de Recherches en Astrophysique et Planetologie Toulouse, France)
Bish, D. L.
(Indiana Univ. Bloomington, IN, United States)
Mangold, N.
(Nantes Univ. France)
Wiens, R. C.
(Los Alamos National Lab. Albuquerque, NM, United States)
Meslin, P.-Y.
(Institut de Recherches en Astrophysique et Planetologie Toulouse, France)
Gasnault, O.
(Institut de Recherches en Astrophysique et Planetologie Toulouse, France)
Maurice, S.
(Institut de Recherches en Astrophysique et Planetologie Toulouse, France)
Cousin, A.
(Institut de Recherches en Astrophysique et Planetologie Toulouse, France)
Toplis, M. J.
(Institut de Recherches en Astrophysique et Planetologie Toulouse, France)
Newsom, H.
(New Mexico Univ. Albuquerque, NM, United States)
Rampe, E. B.
(NASA Johnson Space Center Houston, TX, United States)
Date Acquired
March 17, 2015
Publication Date
March 16, 2015
Subject Category
Lunar And Planetary Science And Exploration
Report/Patent Number
JSC-CN-33045
Meeting Information
Meeting: Lunar and Planetary Science Conference
Location: The Woodlands, TX
Country: United States
Start Date: March 16, 2015
End Date: March 20, 2015
Sponsors: Lunar and Planetary Inst.
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Public Use Permitted.
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