{"178761":{"#nid":"178761","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Clays on Mars: More Plentiful Than Expected","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EA new study co-authored by the Georgia Institute of Technology indicates that clay minerals, rocks that usually form when water is present for long periods of time, cover a larger portion of Mars than previously thought. In fact, Assistant Professor James Wray and the research team say clays were in some of the rocks studied by Opportunity when it landed at Eagle crater in 2004. The rover only detected acidic sulfates and has since driven about 22 miles to Endeavour Crater, an area of the planet Wray pinpointed for clays in 2009.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe study is \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.agu.org\/pubs\/crossref\/2012\/2012GL053180.shtml\u0022\u003Epublished online\u003C\/a\u003E in the current edition of Geophysical Research Letters.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe project, which was led by Eldar Noe Dobrea of the Planetary Science Institute, identified the clay minerals using a spectroscopic analysis from the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. The research shows that clays also exist in the Meridiani plains that Opportunity rolled over as it trekked toward its current position.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cIt\u2019s not a surprise that Opportunity didn\u2019t find clays while exploring,\u201d said Wray, a faculty member in the School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences. \u201cWe didn\u2019t know they existed on Mars until after the rover arrived. Opportunity doesn\u2019t have the same tools that have proven so effective for detecting clays from orbit.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe clay signatures near Eagle crater are very weak, especially compared to those along the rim and inside Endeavour crater. Wray believes clays could have been more plentiful in the past, but Mars\u2019 volcanic, acidic history has probably eliminated some of them. \u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u0022It was also surprising to find clays in geologically younger terrain than the sulfates,\u201d said Dobrea. Current theories of Martian geological history suggest that clays, a product of aqueous alteration, actually formed early on when the planet\u0027s waters were more alkaline. As the water acidified due to volcanism, the dominant alteration mineralogy became sulfates. \u0022This forces us to rethink our current hypotheses of the history of water on Mars,\u0022 he added.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EEven though Opportunity has reached an area believed to contain rich clay deposits, the odds are still stacked against it. Opportunity was supposed to survive for only three months. It\u2019s still going strong nine years later, but the rover\u2019s two mineralogical instruments don\u2019t work anymore. Instead, Opportunity must take pictures of rocks with its panoramic camera and analyze targets with a spectrometer to try and determine the composition of rock layers. \u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u201cSo far, we\u2019ve only been able to identify areas of clay deposits from orbit,\u201d said Wray. \u201cIf Opportunity can find a sample and give us a closer look, we should be able to determine how the rock was formed, such as in a deep lake, shallow pond or volcanic system.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EAs for the other rover on the other side of Mars, Curiosity\u2019s instruments are better equipped to search for signs of past or current conditions for habitable life, thanks in part to Opportunity. Wray is a member of Curiosity\u2019s science team.\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EA new study co-authored by the Georgia Institute of Technology indicates that clay minerals, rocks that usually form when water is present for long periods of time, cover a larger portion of Mars than previously thought.\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"A new study indicates that clay minerals cover a larger portion of Mars than previously thought."}],"uid":"27560","created_gmt":"2012-12-20 14:58:06","changed_gmt":"2016-10-08 03:13:26","author":"Jason Maderer","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2012-12-20T00:00:00-05:00","iso_date":"2012-12-20T00:00:00-05:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"175481":{"id":"175481","type":"image","title":"James Wray","body":null,"created":"1449179022","gmt_created":"2015-12-03 21:43:42","changed":"1475894816","gmt_changed":"2016-10-08 02:46:56","alt":"James Wray","file":{"fid":"195846","name":"james.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/james_0.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/james_0.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":208720,"path_740":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/james_0.jpg?itok=0zoK3QQg"}}},"media_ids":["175481"],"related_links":[{"url":"http:\/\/www.agu.org\/pubs\/crossref\/2012\/2012GL053180.shtml","title":"Published Article"},{"url":"http:\/\/www.cos.gatech.edu\/","title":"College of Sciences"},{"url":"http:\/\/www.eas.gatech.edu\/","title":"School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences"},{"url":"http:\/\/www.eas.gatech.edu\/people\/%5Brealname-alt%5D_20","title":"James Wray Website"}],"groups":[{"id":"1183","name":"Home"}],"categories":[{"id":"135","name":"Research"}],"keywords":[{"id":"53641","name":"clays"},{"id":"4896","name":"College of Sciences"},{"id":"52181","name":"James Wray"},{"id":"7057","name":"Mars"}],"core_research_areas":[{"id":"39541","name":"Systems"}],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EJason Maderer\u003Cbr \/\u003EMedia Relations\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022mailto:maderer@gatech.edu\u0022\u003Emaderer@gatech.edu\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E404-385-2966\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["maderer@gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}