Publications by authors named "Samantha R Jacob"
The Mars 2020 Perseverance rover landing site is located within Jezero crater, a ∼ 50 km diameter impact crater interpreted to be a Noachian-aged lake basin inside the western edge of the Isidis impact structure. Jezero hosts remnants of a fluvial delta, inlet and outlet valleys, and infill deposits containing diverse carbonate, mafic, and hydrated minerals. Prior to the launch of the Mars 2020 mission, members of the Science Team collaborated to produce a photogeologic map of the Perseverance landing site in Jezero crater.
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- The Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) mission has analyzed color variations in lacustrine sedimentary rocks on Vera Rubin Ridge, revealing changes from red to purple to gray due to diagenetic alteration.
- The research utilizes visible and near-infrared spectra from Mastcam and ChemCam to link these color variations to different mineralogical properties of hematite, suggesting a process of grain-size coarsening influenced by fluid interactions.
- Understanding these diagenetic processes is vital for assessing past habitability on Mars, as they may have altered sediments and potentially diminished the preservation of biosignatures in ancient Martian environments.