Soil-like deposits observed by Sojourner, the Pathfinder rover
Abstract
Most of the soil‐like materials at the Pathfinder landing site behave like moderately dense soils on Earth with friction angles near 34°–39° and are called cloddy deposits. Cloddy deposits appear to be poorly sorted with dust‐sized to granule‐sized mineral or rock grains; they may contain pebbles, small rock fragments, and clods. Thin deposits of porous, compressible drifts with friction angles near 26°–28° are also present. Drifts are fine grained. Cohesions of both types of deposits are small. There may be indurated soil‐like deposits and/or coated or crusted rocks. Cloddy deposits may be fluvial sediments of the Ares‐Tiu floods, but other origins, such as ejecta from nearby impact craters, should be considered. Drifts are probably dusts that settled from the Martian atmosphere. Remote‐sensing signatures of the deposits inferred from rover observations are consistent with those observed from orbit and Earth.
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Soils at the Pathfinder landing site had an estimated bulk density of 1.07-1.64 g/cm3.
“soils at the Pathfinder landing site had an estimated bulk density of 1.07-1.64/cm 3 (Moore et al., 1999)”
From Mars global simulant MGS-1: A Rocknest-based open standard for basaltic martian regolith simulants (2019) · cites this paper as Moore et al., 1999
Cites
Chemical composition of Martian fines
Clark, B. C., Baird, A. K., Weldon, R. J., Tsusaki, D. M., Schnabel, L., & Candelaria, M. P. (1982) · Journal of Geophysical Research: Solid Earth · doi:10.1029/jb087ib12p10059 · Cited by 409 · see citing works
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Mars global simulant MGS-1: A Rocknest-based open standard for basaltic martian regolith simulants
Cannon, K. M., Britt, D. T., Smith, T. M., Fritsche, R. F., & Batcheldor, D. (2019) · Icarus · doi:10.1016/j.icarus.2018.08.019 · Cited by 243 · see citing works
Duri, L. G., Caporale, A. G., Rouphael, Y., Vingiani, S., Palladino, M., De Pascale, S., & Adamo, P. (2022) · Frontiers in Astronomy and Space Sciences · doi:10.3389/fspas.2021.747821 · Cited by 107 · see citing works
- Authors
- Moore, H. J., Bickler, D. B., Crisp, J. A., Eisen, H. J., Gensler, J. A., Haldemann, A. F. C., Matijevic, J. R., Reid, L. K., & Pavlics, F.
- Venue
- Journal of Geophysical Research: Planets
- Publisher
- American Geophysical Union (AGU)
- Published
- 1999-04
- Volume
- 104
- Issue
- E4
- Pages
- 8729-8746
- ISSN
- 0148-0227 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W2093703258
- Cited by
- 166
- References
- 1
- Citations by year
- 2026: 5 · 2025: 5 · 2024: 4 · 2023: 8 · 2022: 5 · 2021: 12 · 2020: 5 · 2019: 2 · 2018: 6 · 2017: 1 · 2016: 7 · 2015: 4 · 2014: 3 · 2013: 3 · 2012: 6
- FWCI
- 9.03
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Journal of Geophysical Research Atmospheres (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Physics and Astronomy › Astronomy and Astrophysics › Planetary Science and Exploration
- Physical Sciences › Physics and Astronomy › Astronomy and Astrophysics › Astro and Planetary Science
- Physical Sciences › Engineering › Civil and Structural Engineering › Soil Mechanics and Vehicle Dynamics
- Keywords
- Martian soil, drift, Sojourner rover, internal friction angle, cohesion, fluvial deposits, impact ejecta, atmospheric dust
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