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EAS Planetary & Astrobiology Seminar - Dr. Madison Turner

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Understanding the sedimentary rock record of Mars is an essential tool in understanding the planet’s evolving climate. Mars’ sedimentary record is broadly categorized into three units identified from orbit (the Clays, Laterally Continuous Sulfates, and Rhythmites) and hypothesized to span from warmer, wetter periods early in Mars’ history (Clays), to colder, dryer ones (Rhythmites). However, this model for Mars’ planetary evolution hosts many uncertainties around the post-3.5 Gyr portion of Mars’ history where water was scare, but sedimentary rock formation persisted. Thus far, we have been unable to resolve the spatial and temporal shifts recorded within and between Mars’ major geologic units. This limits our ability to distinguish between unidirectional and diachronous, localized transitions from warm and wet to cold and dry depositional environments. We address these unknowns by analyzing the post-3.5 Ga sedimentary record. We quantify Mars’ sedimentary rock production by measuring regional deposit volumes and ages. Additionally, we test against different global formation hypotheses (e.g. ash, dust) using layer thickness trends and locations of sedimentary depocenters. Lastly, we calculate the detailed aggradation rate of deposits to better understand when Mars was actively producing sedimentary rocks, how that evolved over time, and how it relates back to Mars’ climate and stratigraphic evolution. We found that Mars’ global sedimentary record shows intra-regional, rather than global, trends in layer thickness, disfavoring global formation mechanisms despite globally consistent stratigraphy. Furthermore, we show that Mars’ global stratigraphic transitions are diachronous. We also find evidence that aggradation during different time periods was relatively constant. Together, these data provide a time integrated view of the macrostratigraphy of Mars’ young (post 3.5 Ga) sedimentary rocks.

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  • Workflow status: Published
  • Created by: tbuchanan9
  • Created: 01/16/2026
  • Modified By: tbuchanan9
  • Modified: 01/16/2026

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