A possible anorthositic continent of early Mars and the role of planetary size for the inception of Earth-like life

A possible anorthositic continent of early Mars and the role of planetary size for the inception of Earth like life Accepted Manuscript A possible anorthositic continent of early Mars and the role of[.]

A possible anorthositic continent of early Mars and the role of planetary size for the

inception of Earth-like life

James M Dohm, Shigenori Maruyama, Motoyuki Kido, Victor R Baker

PII: S1674-9871(16)30215-8

DOI: 10.1016/j.gsf.2016.12.003

Reference: GSF 521

To appear in: Geoscience Frontiers

Received Date: 2 March 2016

Revised Date: 3 December 2016

Accepted Date: 11 December 2016

Please cite this article as: Dohm, J.M., Maruyama, S., Kido, M., Baker, V.R., A possible anorthositic

continent of early Mars and the role of planetary size for the inception of Earth-like life, Geoscience

Frontiers (2017), doi: 10.1016/j.gsf.2016.12.003.

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4 Mars Exploration Rover Spirit

5 Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity

6 Mars Science Laboratory, Curiosity Rover

7 Phoenix Landing Site

Utopia Planitia

3 Pathfinder Lander and Sojourner Rover

225.990°W

Possible granite Crater floor of Noachis Terra 21.56°S,

41.10°E Wray et al (2013)Possible granite Caldera floor of Nili Patera 8.86°N,

67.28°E Wray et al (2013)

1/2 TTG

(granite/andesite) and/or

anorthosite

Possible granite and/or anorthosite

Peace Vallis alluvial fan materials along the floor of Gale crater sourcing from the northern rim of Gale (possibly primordial crustal materials exposed by the Gale impact event)

4.5895°S, 137.4417°E Sautter et al (2015)

2 Anorthosite Possible anorthosite

Hellas rim materials (possibly primordial crustal materials exposed by the giant Hellas impact event)

29.7°S, 86.78°E;

25.2°S, 66.5°E;

28.9°S, 79.4°E;

63.0°E, 16.3°S;

Carter and Poulet (2013), Poulet and Carter (2013)

57.496° Michalski and Niles (2010)Crater superposed on Huygens

crater

(~14°S, 55°E) J.J Wray et al (2010)carbonate Jezero crater 18.855°N,

77.519°E Ehlmann et al (2008)

Earth-Life Science Institute, Tokyo Institute of Technology, 2-12-1-IE-1 Ookayama,

Merugo-ku, Tokyo 152-8550, Japan

c

International Research Institute of Disaster Science, Tohoku University, 468-1, Aza Aoba, Aramaki, Aoba-ku, Sendai 980-0845, Japan

d Lunar and Planetary Laboratory, The University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85721-0092, USA

* Corresponding author E-mail address: jmd@um.u-tokyo.ac.jp

Highlights

• A logic to identify habitable planet is proposed

• Difference in the presence of an anorthositic primordial continent is due to the size of planet

• The presence of the primordial continent is the essential and most significant factor as it determines the fate of the planet to be habitable or not

• There is very little chance for life to emerge on a super-Earth