In Situ Radiometric and Exposure Age Dating of the Martian Surface
Kenneth A. Farley(California Institute of Technology), C. A. Malespin(Goddard Space Flight Center), Paul Mahaffy(Goddard Space Flight Center), J. P. Grotzinger(California Institute of Technology), Paulo Vasconcelos(The University of Queensland), R. E. Milliken(Brown University), M. C. Malin(Malin Space Science Systems (United States)), K. S. Edgett(Malin Space Science Systems (United States)), Alexander A. Pavlov(Goddard Space Flight Center), J. A. Hurowitz(Stony Brook University), J. A. Grant(Smithsonian Institution), Hayden Miller(California Institute of Technology), R. E. Arvidson(Washington University in St. Louis), L. W. Beegle(Jet Propulsion Laboratory), F. J. Calef(Jet Propulsion Laboratory), P. G. Conrad(Goddard Space Flight Center), W. E. Dietrich(Planetary Science Institute), J. L. Eigenbrode(Goddard Space Flight Center), R. Gellert(University of Guelph), Sanjeev Gupta(Imperial College London), V. E. Hamilton(Southwest Research Institute), Donald M. Hassler(Southwest Research Institute), K. W. Lewis(Princeton University), S. M. McLennan(Stony Brook University), D. W. Ming(Johnson Space Center), R. Navarro‐González(Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México), S. P. Schwenzer(The Open University), A. Steele(Carnegie Institution for Science), E. M. Stolper(California Institute of Technology), D. Y. Sumner(University of California, Davis), D. T. Vaniman(Planetary Science Institute), A. R. Vasavada(Jet Propulsion Laboratory), Kenneth H. Williford(Jet Propulsion Laboratory), R. F. Wimmer‐Schweingruber(Hochschule für Angewandte Wissenschaften Kiel), the MSL Science Team, David F. Blake, T. F. Bristow, David J. DesMarais, Laurence Edwards, Robert Haberle, Tori Hoehler, Jeff Hollingsworth, Melinda Kahre, Leslie Keely, Christopher P. McKay, Mary Beth Wilhelm, Lora Bleacher, W. B. Brinckerhoff, David S. Choi, Jason P. Dworkin, Melissa Floyd, Caroline Freissinet, James Garvin, D. P. Glavin, Daniel Harpold, David K. Martin, A. C. McAdam, E. Raaen, M. D. Smith, J. C. Stern, Florence Tan, M. G. Trainer, Michael A. Meÿer, A. Posner, Mary Voytek, Robert C. Anderson, A. D. Aubrey, Alberto Behar, Diana Blaney, D. E. Brinza, L. E. Christensen, Joy A. Crisp, Lauren DeFlores, Jason Feldman, Sabrina Feldman, Gregory J. Flesch(State University of New York), J. A. Hurowitz(Stony Brook University), I. Jun, Didier Keymeulen, Justin Maki, Michael Mischna, John Michael Morookian, T. J. Parker, Betina Pavri, Marcel Schoppers, Aaron Sengstacken, John J. Simmonds, N. Spanovich, Manuel de la Torre Juárez, Christopher R. Webster, Albert Yen, P. D. Archer, Francis A. Cucinotta, J. H. Jones, Richard V. Morris, P. B. Niles, Elizabeth Rampe, Thomas Nolan, Martin Fisk, Leon J. Radziemski, Bruce Barraclough, Steve Bender, Daniel Berman, Eldar Noe Dobrea, R. L. Tokar, R. M. E. Williams, Aileen Yingst, L. A. Leshin, T. Cleghorn, Wesley T. Huntress, Gérard Manhès, Judy Hudgins, T. Olson, Noel Stewart, Philippe Sarrazin, Edward P. Vicenzi, Sharon A. Wilson, Mark Bullock, Bent Ehresmann, Joseph Peterson, Scot Rafkin, Cary Zeitlin, F. Fedosov, Dmitry Golovin, Natalya Karpushkina, Alexander Kozyrev, M. L. Litvak, A. Malakhov, И. Г. Митрофанов, Maxim Mokrousov, Sergey Nikiforov, В. А. Прохоров, Anton Sanin, V. I. Tretyakov, Alexey Varenikov, Andrey Vostrukhin, Ruslan Kuzmin, Benton Clark, M. J. Wolff, Oliver Botta, Darrell Drake, Keri Bean, M. T. Lemmon, Ryan B. Anderson, K. E. Herkenhoff, Ella Mae Lee, Robert Sucharski, Miguel Ángel de Pablo Hernández, J. J. Blanco, Miguel Ramos, Myung-Hee Kim, Ianik Plante, Jan‐Peter Müller, R. C. Ewing, W. V. Boynton, Robert Downs, Mike Fitzgibbon, K. Harshman, Shaunna M. Morrison, Onno Kortmann, M. C. Palucis, Amy J. Williams, Günter Lugmair, Michael Wilson, David Rubin, B. M. Jakosky, T. Balić-Žunić, Jens Frydenvang, Jaqueline Kløvgaard Jensen, K. M. Kinch, Asmus Koefoed, Morten Bo Madsen, S. L. S. Stipp, Nick Boyd, John L. Campbell, G. M. Perrett, Irina Pradler, Scott VanBommel, Samantha Jacob, Tobias Owen, Scott K. Rowland, Hannu Savijärvi, Eckart Boehm, Stephan Böttcher, S. Burmeister, Jingnan Guo, Jan Köhler, César Martín García, Reinhold Mueller-Mellin, John C. Bridges, Timothy McConnochie, M. Benna, H. B. Franz, Hannah Bower, Anna Brunner, Hannah Blau, Thomas Boucher, Marco Carmosino, Sushil Atreya, Harvey Elliott, Douglas Halleaux, N. O. Rennó, Michael Wong, Robert Pepin, Beverley Elliott, John Spray, Lucy Thompson, Suzanne Gordon, H. E. Newsom, A. Ollila, Joshua Williams, Jennifer Bentz, Kenneth H. Nealson, Radu Popa, Linda C. Kah, J. E. Moersch, Christopher Tate, Mackenzie Day, Gary Kocurek, B. Hallet, R. S. Sletten, Raymond Francis, Emily McCullough(University of California, Berkeley), Ed Cloutis, I. L. ten Kate, Ruslan Kuzmin, A. A. Fraeman, Daniel Scholes, S. Slavney, Thomas Stein, Jennifer Ward, Jeffrey A. Berger, John E. Moores
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Abstract
We determined radiogenic and cosmogenic noble gases in a mudstone on the floor of Gale Crater. A K-Ar age of 4.21 ± 0.35 billion years represents a mixture of detrital and authigenic components and confirms the expected antiquity of rocks comprising the crater rim. Cosmic-ray-produced (3)He, (21)Ne, and (36)Ar yield concordant surface exposure ages of 78 ± 30 million years. Surface exposure occurred mainly in the present geomorphic setting rather than during primary erosion and transport. Our observations are consistent with mudstone deposition shortly after the Gale impact or possibly in a later event of rapid erosion and deposition. The mudstone remained buried until recent exposure by wind-driven scarp retreat. Sedimentary rocks exposed by this mechanism may thus offer the best potential for organic biomarker preservation against destruction by cosmic radiation.
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