A Low Albedo, Thin, Resistant Unit in Oxia Planum, Mars: Evidence for an Airfall Deposit and Late-Stage Groundwater Activity at the ExoMars Rover Landing Site

Abstract

Oxia Planum, Mars, is the future landing site of the ExoMars Rosalind Franklin rover mission, which will search for preserved biosignatures in a phyllosilicate-bearing unit. Overlying the mission-important phyllosilicate-bearing rocks is a dark, capping unit—known here as the Low albedo, Thin, Resistant (LTR) unit—which may have protected the phyllosilicate-bearing unit over geologic time from solar insolation and radiation. However, little is known about the origin of the LTR unit. Here, we map the LTR unit and investigate its distribution and morphology across 50,000 km² using a variety of orbital remote sensing data sets. The characteristics of the LTR unit include draping palaeo-topographic surfaces, deposition over a wide elevation range, and a consistent vertical thickness that can be best explained by airfall deposition including a primary or reworked volcanic palaeo-ashfall. Previous research suggests that the LTR unit was not significantly buried, and we find it to be preferentially preserved with a high mechanical strength in discrete deposits representing palaeo-topographic lows. We suggest this could be attributed to localized cementation via upwelling groundwater. This scenario suggests that most of the phyllosilicate-bearing exposures may not have been protected over geologic time, as the uncemented LTR sediment would have easily been removed by erosion. However, our observations indicate that the scarped margins of the LTR unit deposits probably exposed regions of the once protected phyllosilicate-bearing unit. These areas could be key science targets for the ExoMars Rosalind Franklin rover mission.