Mars’ current rover, Curiosity, has explored the depths of Gale Crater and the heights of Mount Sharp, sending valuable data back to Earth. A team of researchers worked with NASA to use Curiosity’s samples to study the geological context of the Martian surface and find data on whether Mars could support life. Dr. Benjamin Tutolo is an associate professor in the Department of Geosciences at the University of Calgary — he applied to join the Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) mission and entered with the Canadian Space Agency (CSA), which provided most of the project’s funding. Tutolo was able to use data from the Mars rover to study samples taken from Gale Crater and Mount Sharp. “[The Mars rover is] climbing this mountain in the center of Gale Crater, and we run into more and more magnesium sulfate minerals. We’re going from clay-rich material from the crater floor, which means we had a liquid, what they call a fluviolaustrine environment — a river-fed lake,” Tutolo said. “My particular role was to understand the geochemistry and mineralogy, how it was recorded in the rock, and how we can interpret that rock record to tell us about the habitability of Mars in general.” Mount Sharp is located inside Gale Crater and was formed about 3.5 billion years ago, which contains the youngest sediments compared to the deeper parts of the crater. The time difference between the oldest and the youngest studied layer is estimated at 100 million years. Tutolo and his team aim to understand the sheet rock transition – these are the present-day rock layers found at the site. Photo by Qin Zhang “We have to interpret the things that happened after they were filed in the context of what’s really still there,” Tutolo said. “One of the goals of the mission is to understand the transition and whether the planet is still habitable after it becomes drier or not. We are finally at the point where we can see this transition to the rocks. That’s what we’re focused on and excited about right now.” The magnesium sulfates found as the rover ascends the mountain are commonly known as epsomites or epsom salts. This can also be found on Earth, specifically in Basque Lakes near Cache Creek, BC, where Tutolo had a team conducting field research to study how magnesium sulfate is deposited in the rock record. However, lakes on Earth contain brine shrimp and other biotic agents. “Whenever we look at the rock record, [we want to] understand the processes that give you the rocks,” Tutolo said. “You have to understand or look at analogous active environments to understand how they record themselves in the current rock record and then interpret older rocks on Mars. And of course, no analog is perfect. Can we use the principles of geochemistry and physics to understand how their effects are a kind of overprint and how can we remove them?” The project will last three years and will involve other researchers in the Department of Geosciences — Dr. Steve Larter and Dr. Rachel Lauer — as well as graduate and undergraduate students. If you need more information about the project, visit the university’s press release here.
