SEARCH · Search NASA

Results for “layered rocks”

Search indexed NASA NTRS and DOE OSTI research on propulsion, heat transfer, battery materials and energy systems. Follow report and document links to the original sources.

SourceResearch connectionFrom yearThrough year

Quote a phrase for an exact phrase match. Source license links do not imply unrestricted reuse.

At least 37 records · Page 2

All sources NASA NTRS DOE OSTI

NASA NTRS2008

A Simplified View of the Geochemical Diversity Surrounding Home Plate

The Home Plate feature (Fig. 1) within the Inner Basin of the Columbia Hills consists of layered rocks and has been interpreted as an accumulation of pyroclastic deposits [1]. Samples analyzed by the Alpha Particle X-ray Spectrometer within ~25 meters of the eastern margin of Home Plate exhibit a strikingly diverse range of geochemical compositions, including the highest levels of Mg, Si, K, Zn, and Ni measured at Gusev Crater. This wide range of chemical variability across the 40+ samples analyzed on and near Home Plate can be represented by contributions from only six primary components. This reconstruction is not reflected in the M ssbauer mineralogy suggesting that significant alteration of the contributing components has occurred.

Yen, A. S.↗

NASA NTRS2010

Fluvial Channel Networks as Analogs for the Ridge-Forming Unit, Sinus Meridiani, Mars

Fluvial models have been generally discounted as analogs for the younger layered rock units of Sinus Meridiani. A fluvial model based on the large fluvial fan provides a possibly close analog for various features of the sinuous ridges of the etched, ridge-forming unit (RFU) in particular. The close spacing of the RFU ridges, their apparently chaotic orientations, and their organization in dense networks all appear unlike classical stream channel patterns. However, drainage patterns on large fluvial fans low-angle, fluvial aggradational features, 100s of km long, documented worldwide by us provide parallels. Some large fan characteristics resemble those of classical floodplains, but many differences have been demonstrated. One major distinction relevant to the RFU is that channel landscapes of large fans can dominate large areas (1.2 million km2 in one S. American study area). We compare channel morphologies on large fans in the southern Sahara Desert with ridge patterns in Sinus Meridiani (fig 1). Stream channels are the dominant landform on large terrestrial fans: they may equate to the ubiquitous, sinuous, elongated ridges of the RFU that cover areas region wide. Networks of convergent/divergent and crossing channels may equate to similar features in the ridge networks. Downslope divergence is absent in channels of terrestrial upland erosional landscapes (fig. 1, left), whereas it is common to both large fans (fig. 1, center) and RFU ridge patterns (fig 1, right downslope defined as the regional NW slope of Sinus Meridiani). RFU ridge orientation, judged from those areas apparently devoid of impact crater control, is broadly parallel with the regional slope (arrow, fig. 1, right), as is mean orientation of major channels on large fans (arrow, fig. 1, center). High densities per unit area characterize fan channels and martian ridges reaching an order of magnitude higher than those in uplands just upstream of the terrestrial study areas fig. 1. In concert with several other regional features, these morphological similarities argue for the RFU as a possibly fluvial unit.

Wilkinson, M. J.↗

NASA NTRS2014

Single Piezo-Actuator Rotary-Hammering (SPaRH) Drill

A Single Piezo-Actuator Rotary-Hammering (SPaRH) Drill includes a horn actuator having high power piezoelectric materials and a flexure pre-stress to increase the actuators effectiveness. The drill is a low mass, low power, compact coring drill measuring 20-cm high by 7-cm diameter and having a total weight of 2 kg including drive electronics. Using an average power of 50-Watts, the drill basalt is expected to cut basalt at a rate of 0.2 cm/min down to depth of 10-cm and create cuttings and an intact core. The drill is expected to operate under different environments including Martian ambient (6 Torr and down to -50 degree C), and liquid nitrogen temperatures (77 K) and low pressure (<<1 Torr) to simulate lunar polar and Europa conditions. Materials expected to be sampled include Kaolinite, Saddleback Basalt, Limestone, Volcanic Breccia, Siltstone, ice, permafrost and layered rocks with different hardness.

Sherrit, Stewart↗

NASA NTRS2017

Surveying Clay Mineral Diversity in the Murray Formation, Gale Crater, Mars

One of the primary science goals of Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) is to investigate layered clay mineral-bearing deposits outcropping in the lower NW slopes of Aeolis Mons (Mt. Sharp) detected from orbit. Martian clay mineral-bearing layered rocks are of particular interest because they are potential markers of sedimentary deposits formed in habitable aqueous environments. The CheMin X-ray diffraction (XRD) instrument aboard MSL has documented clay minerals in various drill samples during its traverse of Gale Crater's floor and ascent of Mt. Sharp. Previously, the high concentrations of clay minerals (approximately 20 wt.%) detected in drill powders of mudstone (Sheepbed member) at Yellowknife Bay (YKB) allowed their detailed characterization. Drill powders recovered from lacustrine mudstones of the Sheepbed member at YKB contain smectite clay minerals. Based on the position of 02l reflections in XRD patterns, which serve as an indicator of octahedral occupancy, the smectites are Fe-bearing, trioctahedral species analogous to ferrian saponites from terrestrial deposits. The smectites are thought to have been formed through a process of isochemical aqueous alteration of detrital olivine close to the time of sediment deposition under anoxic to poorly oxidizing conditions. The clay minerals are key indicators that the lake waters were benign and habitable at the time. Clay minerals were detected at other locations during MSL's traverse, including samples from the Pahrump Hills, but lower abundances and overlapping peaks from crystalline phases in XRD patterns hamper in-depth analysis.

Bristow, T. F.↗

NASA NTRS1978

Miniregoliths. I - Dusty lunar rocks and lunar soil layers

A detailed Monte-Carlo model for rock surface evolution shows that erosion processes alone cannot account for the shapes of the solar flare particle track profiles generally observed at depths of about 100 microns and less in rocks. The observed profiles are easily explained by a steady accumulation of fine dust at a rate of 0.3 to 3 mm per m.y., depending on the micrometeoroid impact rate which controls the dust cover and results in maximum dust thicknesses on the order of 100 microns to 1 mm. The commonly used lunar soil track parameters are derived in terms of parameters characterizing the exposure of soil grains in the few-millimeter-thick surface mixing and maturation zone which is one form of miniregolith. Correlation plots permit determining the degree of mixing in soil samples and the amount of processing (maturation) in surface miniregoliths. It is shown that the sampling process often artificially mixes together finer distinct layers, and that ancient miniregolith layers on the order of a millimeter thick are probably common in the lunar soil.

Comstock, G. M.↗

NASA NTRS2005

Weathering of Basaltic Rocks from the Gusev Plains up into the Columbia Hills from the Perspective of the MER Mossbauer Spectrometer

Rocks on the ejecta blanket of Bonneville crater and along Spirit s traverse over the Gusev plains towards the Columbia Hills are angular and strewn across the surface. They have a basaltic composition [1,2], and their Mossbauer spectra are dominated by an olivine doublet [1]. The ubiquitous presence of abundant olivine in rocks and in surrounding soil suggests that physical rather than chemical weathering processes currently dominate the plains at Gusev crater [1]. However, MB spectra of rocks and outcrops in the Columbia Hills suggest more aggressive alteration processes have occurred. Ascending into the hills, Spirit encountered outcrop and rocks exhibiting layered structures. Some scattered rocks at the foot of the Columbia Hills appeared "rotten" or highly altered by physical and/or chemical processes (fig. 1). Mossbauer spectra of those rocks show a decrease in olivine accompanied by an increase in the Fe-oxides magnetite, hematite, and nanophase Fe3+ -oxides (fig. 2), suggesting that chemical weathering processes in the presence of water have altered these rocks and outcrops.

Schroeder, C.↗

NASA NTRS1979

Constraints on the origins of lunar magnetism from electron reflection measurements of surface magnetic fields

The paper describes a new method of detecting lunar surface magnetic fields, summarizes electron reflection measurements and correlations of surface field anomalies to moon geologic features, and discusses the constraints on the origin of lunar magnetism. Apollo 15 and 16 measurements of lunar surface magnetic fields by the electron reflection method show patches of strong surface fields distributed over the lunar surface, and a positive statistical correlation is found in lunar mare regions between the surface field strength and the geologic age of the surface. However, there is a lack of correlation of surface field with impact craters indicating that the mare does not have a strong large-scale uniform magnetization as may be expected from an ancient lunar dynamo. Fields were found in lunar highlands which imply that the rille has a strong magnetization associated with it as intrusive, magnetized rock or as a gap in a uniformly magnetic layer of rock.

Lin, R. P.↗

NASA NTRS1977

Linear magnetization feature associated with Rima Sirsalis

Measurements of the magnetic fields by the electron reflection method in the neighborhood of the long structural rille Rima Sirsalis show that a magnetic field with a strength of at least 100 nT (100 gammas) is present over a region of the order of 10 km in width and at least 300 km long. The center of the magnetized region closely parallels and is centered on the rille. The linear magnetization feature extends at least to latitude 8 deg S, 60 km beyond the place where the rille disappears at the edge of Oceanus Procellarum. This extension is coincident with the extrapolation of the rille based on photographs. However, the magnetization is much weaker or entirely absent at 5 deg S and has vanished at 0 deg latitude. These results suggest that the rille is indeed a structural feature and has associated with it magnetization, either in the form of intrusive magnetized rock or of a gap in an otherwise more or less uniformly magnetized layer of rock of large extent in two dimensions. Furthermore, the rille structure evidently is present for some distance beneath the lava flows of the Oceanus Procellarum basin.

Anderson, K. A.↗

NASA NTRS2010

Rapid Active Sampling Package

A field-deployable, battery-powered Rapid Active Sampling Package (RASP), originally designed for sampling strong materials during lunar and planetary missions, shows strong utility for terrestrial geological use. The technology is proving to be simple and effective for sampling and processing materials of strength. Although this originally was intended for planetary and lunar applications, the RASP is very useful as a powered hand tool for geologists and the mining industry to quickly sample and process rocks in the field on Earth. The RASP allows geologists to surgically acquire samples of rock for later laboratory analysis. This tool, roughly the size of a wrench, allows the user to cut away swaths of weathering rinds, revealing pristine rock surfaces for observation and subsequent sampling with the same tool. RASPing deeper (.3.5 cm) exposes single rock strata in-situ. Where a geologist fs hammer can only expose unweathered layers of rock, the RASP can do the same, and then has the added ability to capture and process samples into powder with particle sizes less than 150 microns, making it easier for XRD/XRF (x-ray diffraction/x-ray fluorescence). The tool uses a rotating rasp bit (or two counter-rotating bits) that resides inside or above the catch container. The container has an open slot to allow the bit to extend outside the container and to allow cuttings to enter and be caught. When the slot and rasp bit are in contact with a substrate, the bit is plunged into it in a matter of seconds to reach pristine rock. A user in the field may sample a rock multiple times at multiple depths in minutes, instead of having to cut out huge, heavy rock samples for transport back to a lab for analysis. Because of the speed and accuracy of the RASP, hundreds of samples can be taken in one day. RASP-acquired samples are small and easily carried. A user can characterize more area in less time than by using conventional methods. The field-deployable RASP used a Ni/Cad rechargeable battery. Power usage was less than 1 Wh/ cm3 even when sampling strong basalts, so many samples could be taken on a single battery charge.

Peters, Gregory↗

NASA NTRS1979

Preliminary results of penetrator field test program, Tonopah, Nevada, 16-28 April 1979

Subscale (0.63 scale) penetrators impacted various sizes of volcanic rocks resting on and within compacted plays sediments. All penetrators were identical in size, shape, weight, and impact velocity. Although minor variations in impact angle were documented, the final orientation of the buried penetrators was primarily a consequence of the size, shape, and depth of the rocks encountered during impact. In situ measurements of impacted penetrators revealed that surface and buried layers of rocks having diameters up to 3 times the penetrator diameter caused only small ( 10 deg) angles of deflection. Only large single rocks greater than 10 times the penetrator diameter caused deflections appreciably greater than 10 deg. The large deflection angles followed by the penetrator were strongly influenced by fracture planes that developed in the rock as it broke apart. No catastrophic failure of the penetrator occurred during these tests. A cross section of the path of each penetrator through the ground is shown together with details on orientation before, during, and after the tests. Comparisons are made with results of previous subscale penetrator tests, and conclusions are drawn with respect to full-scale Mars penetrator performance.

Blanchard, M. B.↗

NASA NTRS2006

Radar Probing of Planetary Regoliths: An Example from the Northern Rim of Imbrium Basin

Imaging radar measurements at long wavelengths (e.g., >30 cm) allow deep (up to tens of meters) probing of the physical structure and dielectric properties of planetary regoliths. We illustrate a potential application for a Mars orbital synthetic aperture radar (SAR) using new Earth-based 70-cm wavelength radar data for the Moon. The terrae on the northern margin of Mare Imbrium, the Montes Jura region, have diffuse radar backscatter echoes that are 2-4 times weaker at 3.8-cm, 70-cm, and 7.5-m wavelengths than most other lunar nearside terrae. Possible geologic explanations are (1) a pyroclastic deposit associated with sinuous rilles in this region, (2) buried mare basalt or a zone of mixed highland/basaltic debris (cryptomaria), or (3) layers of ejecta associated with the Iridum and Plato impacts that have fewer meter-sized rocks than typical highlands regolith. While radar data at 3.8-cm to 7.5-m wavelengths suggest significant differences between the Montes Jura region and typical highlands, the surface geochemistry and rock abundance inferred from Clementine UV-VIS data and eclipse thermal images are consistent with other lunar terrae. There is no evidence for enhanced iron abundance, expected for basaltic pyroclastic deposits, near the source vents of the sinuous rilles radial to Plato. The regions of low 70-cm radar return are consistent with overlapping concentric ''haloes'' about Iridum and Plato and do not occur referentially in topographically low areas, as is observed for radar-mapped cryptomaria. Thus we suggest that the extensive radar-dark area associated with the Montes Jura region is due to overlapping, rock-poor ejecta deposits from Iridum and Plato craters. Comparison of the radial extent of low-radar-return crater haloes with a model for ejecta thickness shows that these rock-poor layers are detected by 70-cm radar where they are on the order of 10 m and thicker. A SAR in orbit about Mars could use similar deep probing to reveal the nature of crater - and basin-related deposits.

Iridum crater↗

NASA NTRS1999

Autonomous Onboard Science Image Analysis for Future Mars Rover Missions

To explore high priority landing sites and to prepare for eventual human exploration, future Mars missions will involve rovers capable of traversing tens of kilometers. However, the current process by which scientists interact with a rover does not scale to such distances. Specifically, numerous command cycles are required to complete even simple tasks, such as, pointing the spectrometer at a variety of nearby rocks. In addition, the time required by scientists to interpret image data before new commands can be given and the limited amount of data that can be downlinked during a given command cycle constrain rover mobility and achievement of science goals. Experience with rover tests on Earth supports these concerns. As a result, traverses to science sites as identified in orbital images would require numerous science command cycles over a period of many weeks, months or even years, perhaps exceeding rover design life and other constraints. Autonomous onboard science analysis can address these problems in two ways. First, it will allow the rover to transmit only "interesting" images, defined as those likely to have higher science content. Second, the rover will be able to anticipate future commands. For example, a rover might autonomously acquire and return spectra of "interesting" rocks along with a high resolution image of those rocks in addition to returning the context images in which they were detected. Such approaches, coupled with appropriate navigational software, help to address both the data volume and command cycle bottlenecks that limit both rover mobility and science yield. We are developing fast, autonomous algorithms to enable such intelligent on-board decision making by spacecraft. Autonomous algorithms developed to date have the ability to identify rocks and layers in a scene, locate the horizon, and compress multi-spectral image data. Output from these algorithms could be used to autonomously obtain rock spectra, determine which images should be transmitted to the ground, or to aid in image compression. We will discuss these and other algorithms and demonstrate their performance during a recent rover field test.

Gulick, V. C.↗

NASA NTRS1999

Autonomous Image Analysis for Future Mars Missions

To explore high priority landing sites and to prepare for eventual human exploration, future Mars missions will involve rovers capable of traversing tens of kilometers. However, the current process by which scientists interact with a rover does not scale to such distances. Specifically, numerous command cycles are required to complete even simple tasks, such as, pointing the spectrometer at a variety of nearby rocks. In addition, the time required by scientists to interpret image data before new commands can be given and the limited amount of data that can be downlinked during a given command cycle constrain rover mobility and achievement of science goals. Experience with rover tests on Earth supports these concerns. As a result, traverses to science sites as identified in orbital images would require numerous science command cycles over a period of many weeks, months or even years, perhaps exceeding rover design life and other constraints. Autonomous onboard science analysis can address these problems in two ways. First, it will allow the rover to preferentially transmit "interesting" images, defined as those likely to have higher science content. Second, the rover will be able to anticipate future commands. For example, a rover might autonomously acquire and return spectra of "interesting" rocks along with a high-resolution image of those rocks in addition to returning the context images in which they were detected. Such approaches, coupled with appropriate navigational software, help to address both the data volume and command cycle bottlenecks that limit both rover mobility and science yield. We are developing fast, autonomous algorithms to enable such intelligent on-board decision making by spacecraft. Autonomous algorithms developed to date have the ability to identify rocks and layers in a scene, locate the horizon, and compress multi-spectral image data. We are currently investigating the possibility of reconstructing a 3D surface from a sequence of images acquired by a robotic arm camera. This would then allow the return of a single completely in focus image constructed only from those portions of individual images that lie within the camera's depth of field. Output from these algorithms could be used to autonomously obtain rock spectra, determine which images should be transmitted to the ground, or to aid in image compression. We will discuss these algorithms and their performance during a recent rover field test.

Gulick, V. C.↗

NASA NTRS1964

Packing properties of fine powders and the depth of the lunar dust layer

Previous experimental and theoretical studies by Hapke and Van Horn [1963] and Hapke [1963] of surfaces which reflect light like the moon support the hypothesis that the lunar surface is covered with a layer of fine rock dust. The material in this layer appears to be in an extremely unconsolidated state, having a bulk density of the order of one-eighth that of solid rock. Such photometric studies can give information concerning only the upper few millimeters of the lunar soil. However, analyses of radiofrequency observations indicate that extensive areas of the moon may be covered to depths of the order of a meter or greater by a substance which is also much less dense than solid rock. From the radar reflectivity of the lunar surface at meter wavelengths Evans [1962] infers a dielectric constant of K = 2.7; Troitsky [1962] estimates K = 1.6 on the basis of radio-thermal observations at centimeter wavelengths. Since the RF dielectric constants of stony meteorites and of terrestrial rocks range from about 4 to 45 [Fensler et al., 1962] it is clear that the density of the lunar soil is unusually low at least to depths to which RF radiation can penetrate; Troitsky estimates this depth to be of the order of 20 wavelengths or greater in the 3-cm-wavelength range.

Powder↗

NASA NTRS2012

The Gale Crater Mound in a Regional Geologic Setting

The Mars Science Laboratory Rover Curiosity is commencing a two-year investigation of Gale crater and Mt. Sharp, the crater s prominent central mound. Gale is a 155 km, late Noachian / early Hesperian impact crater located near the dichotomy boundary separating the southern highlands from the northern plains. The central mound is composed of layered sedimentary rock, with upper and lower mound units separated by a prominent erosional unconformity (Milliken et al., 2010). The lower mound is of particular interest, as it contains secondary minerals indicative of a striking shift from water-rich to water-poor conditions on early Mars. A key unknown in the history of Gale is the relationship between the sedimentary units in the mound and sedimentary sequences in the surrounding region. We employed orbital remote sensing data to determine if areas within a 1,000 km radius of Gale match the characteristics of sedimentary units in Mt. Sharp. Regions of interest were defined based on: the mound s inferred age (late Noachian to early Hesperian), altitude range (-4,600 m to +400 m), and THEMIS nighttime brightness (a proxy for thermal inertia). This combination of characteristics is matched by two extensive units, the late Noachian subdued cratered unit Npl2 and Noachian / Hesperian undivided material HNu (Greeley and Guest, 1987), located along the dichotomy. Geomorphic units have been mapped within the Gale mound by Thomson et al. (2011) based on albedo, layering and erosional characteristics. Using orbital CTX, MOC and HiRISE images we examined all areas within our regions of interest for analogous geomorphic units in the same altitude ranges as the corresponding units in Mt. Sharp. The most convincing geomorphic analogs to lower mound units, dominated by fine-scale layering and prominent yardangs, were located approximately 200 km northeast and southeast of Gale in late Noachian unit Npl2. The most convincing geomorphic analogs to upper mound layered units are located 250 900 km northwest of Gale in unit HNu, estimated to span the Noachian / Hesperian boundary.

Allen, Carlton C.↗

NASA NTRS1972

Craters formed in mineral dust by hypervelocity microparticles.

As a simulation of erosion processes on the lunar surface, impact craters were formed in dust targets by 2- to 5-micron-diameter polystyrene spheres with velocities between 2.5 and 12 km/sec. For weakly cohesive, thick targets of basalt dust with a maximum grain size comparable to the projectile diameter, the craters had an average projectile-to-diameter diameter ratio of 25, and the displaced mass was 3 orders of magnitude greater than the projectile mass. In a simulation of the effect of a dust covering on lunar rocks, a layer of cohesive, fine-grained basalt dust with a thickness nearly twice the projectile diameter protected a glass substrate from damage, but an area about 50 times the cross-sectional area of the projectile was cleared of all but a few grains. Impact damage was produced in glass under a thinner dust layer.

Vedder, J. F.↗

NASA NTRS1986

Organic S13C values vary slightly with salinity in microbial mats at Guerrero Negro, Baja California Sur, Mexico: Implications for stromatolite S13C values

Stromatolites, layered sedimentary rock structures produced by communities of microorganisms, constitute the most abundant early evidence of life on Earth. Microbial mats, which are found most frequently in hypersaline marine or hot spring environments, serve as useful modern analogs of stromatolitic communities. Biochemical studies of mats were conducted to assist in the interpretations of stromatolites. The data suggest that salinity effects are insufficient by themselves to cause the C-13 differences observed betwwen Precambrain stromatolites and modern microbial mats.

Desmarais, D. J.↗

NASA NTRS1992

The canyon system on Mars

Individual Martian equatorial troughs are described, and their stratigraphy, geomorphology and structure are discussed. Possible origins and the overall sequence of events are addressed. Wall rock, interior layered deposits, irregular floor deposits, fractured floor material, and surficial deposits are examined. Chasma walls, wall stability, pits and pit chains, tributary canyons, and the transition from troughs to channels are also discussed.

Lucchitta, B. K.↗