OCEANID – The quest for oceanic sediments within the Ancient Martian sedimentary record

Le projet OCEANID permettra de documenter des traces de dépôts océaniques martiens.

L’existence d’un océan martien primitif reste l’une des questions scientifiques non-résolues les plus controversées. OCEANID propose d’y répondre en étudiant des données complémentaires (orbitales, in situ et expérimentales) à différentes échelles (globale, méso-échelle et micro-échelle).
Cathy Quantin-Nataf pourra s’appuyer sur une méthodologie innovante d’exploration des données orbitales (comme la reconnaissance d’objets géologiques par intelligence artificielle et les modèles d’évolution de l’érosion/déposition) afin de décrire les sédiments martiens accumulés. OCEANID pourra établir une chronologie fine des événements primitifs et contextualiser les missions Mars2020 et ExoMars dans le système hydrologique global ancien.

Key information / Informations

•    Funding programme / Programme de financement: Horizon Europe - ERC Consolidator Grant - 2021
•   Coordinator / Coordinateur: Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1 (UCBL), Pr Cathy QUANTIN-NATAF (LGLTPE)
•   Partners’ list / Liste des partenaires :

o Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)

•   Budget : 1 970 000 €
•   Grant / Subvention : 1 970 000 €
•   Début – Fin : 2023-2028

Context / Contexte

The Martian missions have gradually revealed that Mars abounds with evidence of a full ancient hydrological system favourable to life emergence. If so, there is reason to believe that Mars has hosted a hemispheric ocean covering the northern lowlands. This hypothesis is as old as Mars exploration but has been repeatedly challenged over the past two decades. The case of primitive Martian Ocean remains one of the planet’s most controversial and unsolved issue.
OCEANID will describe the early Martian sedimentary record accumulated below possible global ocean levels, to establish a fine-scale chronology of primitive events, to contextualize Mars2020 and ExoMars missions within the global ancient hydrological system and to correlate the oceanic context, the transient water cycle, and the mineralogy observed both from orbit and in situ.

Objectives / Objectifs

OCEANID objectives are i) identifying and mapping the early Martian sediments of the first 1 km of the Martian crust in the Martian dichotomy region both from orbital and in situ data, ii) characterizing the deposits: nature, texture, thickness and composition, iii) deciphering the fine scale chronology of the primitive events (thanks to absolute dating methods, crater degradation evolution models and relative stratigraphy, iiii) contextualizing the future Noachian in situ exploration of Mars2020 and ExoMars within the global context of Noachian sedimentary record, iiiii) understanding the signature of oceanic context and transient water cycle on the mineralogy detected from orbit or in situ.

Expected impact and results / Impact et résultats attendus

The project will document evidence of oceanic deposits. Using terrestrial ancient oceanic margins as potential analogs, OCEANID is looking for widespread clastic sediments (in agreement with a global water level), delta fans deposits of similar age (the precise timing is crucial as we can expect multiple episodes with different water levels), subaqueous mass wasting deposits (as olistostromal deposits, the chaotic deposits observed on ancient ocean margin) and evaporites (expected as the sign of standing body of water retreat).

LIP’s contribution / Rôle de LIP

LIP a accompagné le porteur de projet et son partenaire, le CNRS, dans toute la phase de montage, coordination du montage administratif et financier du projet, conseil à la rédaction. LIP accompagne l’Université Lyon 1 pour le suivi administratif et financier du projet.