Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: http://hdl.handle.net/1893/17112
Appears in Collections:Biological and Environmental Sciences Journal Articles
Peer Review Status: Refereed
Title: Geochemical modeling of evaporation processes on Mars: Insight from the sedimentary record at Meridiani Planum
Author(s): Tosca, Nicholas J
McLennan, Scott M
Clark, Benton C
Grotzinger, John
Hurowitz, Joel A
Knoll, Andrew H
Schröder, Christian
Squyres, Steven W
Contact Email: christian.schroeder@stir.ac.uk
Keywords: Mars
Mars exploration rovers
geochemistry
evaporites
weathering
sulfates
Issue Date: 30-Nov-2005
Date Deposited: 24-Oct-2013
Citation: Tosca NJ, McLennan SM, Clark BC, Grotzinger J, Hurowitz JA, Knoll AH, Schröder C & Squyres SW (2005) Geochemical modeling of evaporation processes on Mars: Insight from the sedimentary record at Meridiani Planum. Earth and Planetary Science Letters, 240 (1), pp. 122-148. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.epsl.2005.09.042
Abstract: New data returned from the Mars Exploration Rover (MER) mission have revealed abundant evaporites in the sedimentary record at Meridiani Planum. A working hypothesis for Meridiani evaporite formation involves the evaporation of fluids derived from the weathering of martian basalt and subsequent diagenesis. On Earth, evaporite formation in exclusively basaltic settings is rare. However, models of the evaporation of fluids derived from experimentally weathering synthetic martian basalt provide insight into possible formation mechanisms. The thermodynamic database assembled for this investigation includes both Fe2+ and Fe3+ in Pitzer’s ion interaction equations to evaluate Fe redox disequilibrium at Meridiani Planum. Modeling results suggest that evaporation of acidic fluids derived from weathering olivine-bearing basalt should produce Mg, Ca, and Fe-sulfates such as jarosite and melanterite. Calculations that model diagenesis by fluid recharge predict the eventual breakdown of jarosite to goethite as well as the preservation of much of the initial soluble evaporite component at modeled porosity values appropriate for relevant depositional environments (b0.30). While only one of several possible formation scenarios, this simple model is consistent with much of the chemical and mineralogical data obtained on Meridiani Planum outcrop.
DOI Link: 10.1016/j.epsl.2005.09.042
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