Martian mineral association analysis: Applying the Earth Med Model to mineral predictions in gale crater, mars.

Minerals on Mars have recorded the planet’s geologic history, environmental change, and aqueous activity. Recently, Morrison et al. (2023) used Mineral Association Analysis (MAA) to predict previously unknown localities of several economic mineral species and at Mars analog sites by analyzing patterns in the Mineral Evolution Database, many of which were later ground truthed (MED: rruff.info/evolution)1. Here, we apply the MED MAA model to Mars by predicting minerals in Gale crater with data from the NASA Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) CheMin (Chemistry and Mineralogy) X-ray diffraction instrument. The shared physical and chemical fundamentals of mineral formation throughout the solar system support the model’s viability on Mars and allow for nuanced interpretation related to the distinctions in geologic history between the planetary bodies. In this study, we apply the MED MAA model to predict previously unknown mineral occurrences of known martian minerals and hypothesize species not yet found on the red planet. The model successfully generated statistically strong mineral predictions for Mars, including igneous minerals, hydrothermal minerals, and secondary alteration minerals. Notably, the MAA analysis yielded repeated high-confidence predictions of opal; phyllosilicates; sulfates including gypsum, baryte, alunite; carbonates including calcite, dolomite, siderite; and sulfides including pyrite, galena, sphalerite, chalcopyrite. These results demonstrate that mineral association rules generate statistically robust and geologically plausible predictions and indicate that mineral diversity at Gale Crater localities is likely greater than currently recognized.