Pediment formation and subsequent erosion in Gale crater: Clues to the climate history of Mars

Creators: Bryk, A.B.¹; Dietrich, W.E.¹; Bennett, K.A.; Fox, V.K.²; Fedo, C.M.³; Lamb, Michael P.⁴; Kite, E.S.⁵; Thompson, L.M.⁶; Banham, S.G.⁷; Schieber, J.⁸; Grant, J.A.⁹; Vasavada, A.R.¹⁰; Fraeman, A.A.¹⁰; Edgar, L.A.; Gasda, P.J.¹¹; Wiens, R.C.¹²; Grotzinger, John P.⁴; Stack-Morgan, K.¹⁰; Arvidson, R.E.¹³; Gasnault, O.¹⁴; Le Mouélic, S.¹⁴; Gupta, S.⁷; Williams, R.M.E.¹⁵; Sheppard, R.Y.^{15, 16}; Lewis, K.W.¹⁷; Rubin, D.M.¹⁸; Rapin, W.¹⁹; Hughes, M.N.¹³; Turner, M.¹⁷; Wilson, S.A.⁹; Davis, J.M.⁷; Kronyak, R.E.¹⁰; Le Deit, L.¹⁴; Kah, L.C.³; Frydenvang, J.²⁰; Sullivan, R.J.²¹; Bedford, C.C.¹²; Dehouck, E.²²; Newsom, H.E.²³; Malin, M.C.²⁴

1. University of California, Berkeley
2. Carleton College
3. University of Tennessee at Knoxville
4. California Institute of Technology
5. University of Chicago
6. University of New Brunswick
7. Imperial College London
8. Indiana University Bloomington
9. National Air and Space Museum
10. Jet Propulsion Lab
11. Los Alamos National Laboratory
12. Purdue University West Lafayette
13. Washington University in St. Louis
14. University of Nantes
15. Planetary Science Institute
16. Institut d'Astrophysique Spatiale
17. Johns Hopkins University
18. University of California, Santa Cruz
19. Institut de Recherche en Planétologie et Géodynamique, Toulouse, France
20. University of Copenhagen
21. Cornell University
22. Laboratoire de Géologie de Lyon : Terre, Planètes et Environnement
23. University of New Mexico
24. Malin Space Science Systems (United States)

Abstract

Evidence of paleo-rivers, fans, deltas, lakes, and channel networks across Mars has prompted much debate about what climate conditions would permit the formation of these surface water derived features. Pediments, gently sloping erosional surfaces of low relief developed in bedrock, have also been identified on Mars. On Earth, these erosional landforms, often thought to be created by overland flow and shallow channelized runoff, are typically capped by fluvial sediments, and thus in exceptionally arid regions, pediments are interpreted to record past wet periods. Here we document the Greenheugh pediment in Gale crater, exploiting the observational capability of the Curiosity rover. The absence of a fluvial cap suggests that the pediment was likely cut by wind erosion, not fluvial processes. The pediment was then buried by an aeolian deposit (Stimson sandstone) that mantled the lower footslopes of Aeolis Mons (informally known as Mt. Sharp). This burial terminated active wind erosion, preserving the pediment surface (as an angular unconformity). Groundwater was present prior-to, during, and shortly after Stimson deposition, perhaps contributing to lithification and certainly to early diagenesis. Post lithification, wind erosion first cut canyons in the northern most footslopes (north of Vera Rubin ridge). Unlithified gravels were deposited in these canyons, likely due to runoff from Mt. Sharp. Boulder-rich fluvial and debris flow deposits built a > 70 m thick sequence (Gediz Vallis ridge) on the southern Greenheugh pediment. Continued wind erosion left elevated patches of gravel on the northern footslopes, and exposure age dating shows that erosion essentially ceased before 1 Ga (but possibly much earlier). Erosion to the south led to emergence of Vera Rubin ridge, retreat of the Greenheugh pediment, and the formation of Glen Torridon valley. Hence, this footslope environment of Mt. Sharp records climate-driven periods of wind erosion, aeolian deposition (and groundwater activity), surface runoff and sediment deposition, followed by further significant wind erosion that declined to present very slow rates. This likely occurred during the late Hesperian and possibly into the Amazonian.

Copyright and License

© 2025 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons CC-BY license, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Acknowledgement

The authors would like to thank the Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) team for all their effort in this research. Mastcam and MAHLI images/mosaics included in figures were produced by the Mastcam science and operations team at Malin Space Science Systems. ChemCam RMI mosaics used in figures were produced by the ChemCam science and operations team at Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, New Mexico, USA, and the Institut de Recherche en Astrophysique et Planétologie in Toulouse, France. Any use of trade, firm, or product names is for descriptive purposes only and does not imply endorsement by the U.S. Government. Funding to conduct this work was also in part provided through Malin Space Science Systems. Some of the research was carried out at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, under a contract (80NM0018D0004) with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), as well as under NASA MSL Participating Scientist Program award NNH22OB34A.

Data Availability

Image data are available on NASA's Planetary Data System

Contributions

A.B. Bryk: Writing – review & editing, Writing – original draft, Visualization, Software, Project administration, Methodology, Investigation, Formal analysis, Conceptualization. W.E. Dietrich: Writing – review & editing, Supervision, Project administration, Methodology, Investigation, Funding acquisition, Conceptualization. K.A. Bennett: Writing – review & editing, Investigation, Conceptualization. V.K. Fox: Writing – review & editing, Investigation, Conceptualization. C.M. Fedo: Writing – review & editing, Supervision, Investigation, Conceptualization. M.P. Lamb: Writing – review & editing, Investigation, Conceptualization. E.S. Kite: Writing – review & editing. Lucy M. Thompson: Writing – review & editing, Visualization, Investigation. S.G. Banham: Writing – review & editing, Methodology, Investigation, Conceptualization. Juergen Schieber: Writing – review & editing, Investigation. J.A. Grant: Writing – review & editing, Investigation. A.R. Vasavada: Writing – review & editing, Supervision, Project administration, Methodology, Investigation, Funding acquisition, Conceptualization. A.A. Fraeman: Conceptualization, Investigation, Supervision. L.A. Edgar: Investigation, Writing – review & editing. P.J. Gasda: Writing – review & editing, Investigation. R.C. Wiens: Writing – review & editing, Resources, Investigation. J.P. Grotzinger: Supervision, Investigation, Conceptualization. R.E. Arvidson: Supervision, Investigation, Conceptualization. O. Gasnault: Resources, Investigation. S. Le Mouélic: Writing – review & editing, Investigation. S. Gupta: Supervision, Investigation. R.M.E. Williams: Writing – review & editing, Investigation. R.Y. Sheppard: Writing – review & editing, Investigation. K.W. Lewis: Writing – review & editing, Methodology, Investigation. D.M. Rubin: Methodology, Investigation, Formal analysis, Conceptualization. W. Rapin: Resources, Investigation. M.N. Hughes: Investigation. M. Turner: Visualization, Investigation. S.A. Wilson: Writing – review & editing. J.M. Davis: Writing – review & editing. R.E. Kronyak: Resources, Investigation. Laetitia Le Deit: Resources, Investigation. Linda C. Kah: Writing – review & editing, Investigation. Jens Frydenvang: Visualization, Resources, Methodology, Investigation. Robert J. Sullivan: Resources, Investigation. Candice C. Bedford: Investigation, Conceptualization. Erwin Dehouck: Resources, Investigation. Horton E. Newsom: Resources, Investigation, Conceptualization. Michael C. Malin: Supervision, Software, Resources, Project administration, Methodology, Investigation, Funding acquisition, Formal analysis, Data curation, Conceptualization.

Supplemental Material

Supplementary data related to this article.
Supplementary video S11.

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