title: Reconstructing the transport history of pebbles on Mars.
abstract: The discovery of remarkably rounded pebbles by the rover Curiosity, within an exhumed alluvial fan complex in Gale Crater, presents some of the most compelling evidence yet for sustained fluvial activity on Mars. While rounding is known to result from abrasion by inter-particle collisions, geologic interpretations of sediment shape have been qualitative. Here we show how quantitative information on the transport distance of river pebbles can be extracted from their shape alone, using a combination of theory, laboratory experiments and terrestrial field data. We determine that the Martian basalt pebbles have been carried tens of kilometres from their source, by bed-load transport on an alluvial fan. In contrast, angular clasts strewn about the surface of the Curiosity traverse are indicative of later emplacement by rock fragmentation processes. The proposed method for decoding transport history from particle shape provides a new tool for terrestrial and planetary sedimentology.
authors.affiliation: Department of Earth and Environmental Science, University of Pennsylvania, 251 Hayden Hall, 240 South 33rd Street, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19104, USA.|Department of Mechanics, Materials and Structures, Budapest University of Technology and Economics, Műegyetem rkp. 1-3. K261, Budapest 1111, Hungary.
authors.forename: Tímea
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Szabó
authors.affiliation: Department of Mechanics, Materials and Structures, Budapest University of Technology and Economics, Műegyetem rkp. 1-3. K261, Budapest 1111, Hungary.
authors.forename: Gábor
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Domokos
authors.affiliation: Division of Geological and Planetary Sciences, California Institute of Technology, 1200 East California Boulevard, Pasadena, California 91125, USA.
authors.forename: John P
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: Grotzinger
authors.affiliation: Department of Earth and Environmental Science, University of Pennsylvania, 251 Hayden Hall, 240 South 33rd Street, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19104, USA.
authors.forename: Douglas J
authors.initials: DJ
authors.lastname: Jerolmack