ePrints

Hydration state of zeolites, clays, and hydrated salts under present-day martian surface conditions: Can hydrous minerals account for Mars Odyssey observations of near-equatorial water-equivalent hydrogen?

Lookup NU author(s): Dr Claire Fialips

Downloads

Full text for this publication is not currently held within this repository. Alternative links are provided below where available.

Abstract

Thermodynamic data for several clays, zeolites, and MgSO4 salts were combined with calculated yearly mean temperatures and watervapor pressures on the martian surface to predict mineral hydration states from low to middle latitudes. These predictions were used to evaluate whether the necessary amount and distribution of hydrous minerals were compatible with the Mars Odyssey observations of waterequivalent hydrogen (WEH). Our results indicate that zeolites like chabazite or clay minerals like Ca-montmorillonite would have to be unrealistically abundant in the martian soil (as much as 55 wt%) while Mg-sulfate hydrates at concentrations between 2 and 11 wt% could account for the WEH. However, the geographic distribution of WEH is incompatible with a uniformly distributed mineralogy in equilibrium with the annual mean P–T environment. A heterogeneous distribution of a mixture of different hydrous minerals, reflecting a heterogeneous Mars surface geology, may better explain a significant portion of the observed near-equatorial WEH.

Publication metadata

Author(s): Fialips CI, Carey JW, Vaniman DT, Bish DL, Feldman WC, Mellon MT

Publication type: Article

Publication status: Published

Journal: Icarus

Year: 2005

Volume: 178

Issue: 1

Pages: 74-83

Print publication date: 05/07/2005

ISSN (print): 0019-1035

ISSN (electronic): 1090-2643

Publisher: Academic Press

URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.icarus.2005.04.020

DOI: 10.1016/j.icarus.2005.04.020

Altmetrics

Share