Sulphate clastic injectites at Sinus Meridiani on Mars

Based on stratigraphic sections, the 1500 m-thick sulphate-based “Sinus Meridiani complex” appears to be composed of a superposition of three lithologically similar stratigraphic units, each ending with a residual mesa caprock associated with planation surfaces. The three exposed plains display polygonal fault networks, nodular anydrite/gypsum dykes located along subvertical polygonal fractures, and presumed pipe-like fluid flow structures. Such vertically intrusive fluidized bodies are interpreted as indicative of subsurface evaporite remobilization and injection, which probably occurred near actively rising evaporite diapirs originating from an autochthonous “mother” layer situated underneath the Meridiani region. Renewal of diapirism is inferred to have caused repeated post-depositional cycles of uplift and erosional exhumation during relatively recent times.