SPECTRA OF CEMENTED, HEMATITE-RICH MATERIAL AND TES SPECTRA OF SINUS MERIDIANI, MARS. L. E. Kirkland1, K. C. Herr2, P. M. Adams2, F. Westall1,3, J. W. Salisbury4; 1Lunar and Planetary Institute, Houston,

Introduction. Lane et al. [1] and Christensen et al.
[2] conclude that 1996 Global Surveyor Thermal Emission
Spectrometer (TES, ~1700–200 cm-1) spectra of
regions in Sinus Meridiani are consistent with hematite.
The observed band strengths are inconsistent with
unconsolidated, nanophase hematite dust, but are consistent
with laboratory spectra of pure, coarselyparticulate
hematite.
We seek to extend hematite samples studied past
pure end-members to include materials such as naturally
occurring hematite-rich cemented materials (e.g.
duricrust and desert varnish) in order to determine
whether they may match the spectra recorded of Mars.
Here we discuss why cemented finely particulate materials
can also exhibit good spectral contrast, and we
present an interesting spectral signature of a hematiterich
patch on a ferricrete hand sample.
http://www.lpi.usra.edu/science/kirkland/Papers/lpsc02_abs1218.pdf