An integrated view of the chemistry and mineralogy of martian soils

Albert S. Yen (), Ralf Gellert, Christian Schröder, Richard V. Morris, James F. Bell, Amy T. Knudson, Benton C. Clark, Douglas W. Ming, Joy A. Crisp, Raymond E. Arvidson, Diana Blaney, Johannes Brückner, Philip R. Christensen, David J. DesMarais, Paulo A. de Souza, Thanasis E. Economou, Amitabha Ghosh, Brian C. Hahn, Kenneth E. Herkenhoff, Larry A. Haskin, Joel A. Hurowitz, Bradley L. Joliff, Jeffrey R. Johnson, Göstar Klingelhöfer, Morten Bo Madsen, Scott M. McLennan, Harry Y. McSween, Lutz Richter, Rudi Rieder, Daniel Rodionov, Larry Soderblom, Steven W. Squyres, Nicholas J. Tosca, Alian Wang, Michael Wyatt and Jutta Zipfel
Additional contact information
Albert S. Yen: California Institute of Technology
Ralf Gellert: Max Planck Institut für Chemie
Christian Schröder: Johannes Gutenberg University
Richard V. Morris: NASA Johnson Space Center
James F. Bell: Department of Astronomy
Amy T. Knudson: Arizona State University
Benton C. Clark: Lockheed Martin Corporation
Douglas W. Ming: NASA Johnson Space Center
Joy A. Crisp: California Institute of Technology
Raymond E. Arvidson: Washington University
Diana Blaney: California Institute of Technology
Johannes Brückner: Max Planck Institut für Chemie
Philip R. Christensen: Arizona State University
David J. DesMarais: NASA Ames Research Center
Paulo A. de Souza: Companhia Vale do Rio Doce
Thanasis E. Economou: University of Chicago
Amitabha Ghosh: University of Tennessee
Brian C. Hahn: Department of Geosciences
Kenneth E. Herkenhoff: US Geological Survey
Larry A. Haskin: Washington University
Joel A. Hurowitz: Department of Geosciences
Bradley L. Joliff: Washington University
Jeffrey R. Johnson: US Geological Survey
Göstar Klingelhöfer: Johannes Gutenberg University
Morten Bo Madsen: University of Copenhagen
Scott M. McLennan: Department of Geosciences
Harry Y. McSween: University of Tennessee
Lutz Richter: DLR Institut für Raumsimulation
Rudi Rieder: Max Planck Institut für Chemie
Daniel Rodionov: Johannes Gutenberg University
Larry Soderblom: US Geological Survey
Steven W. Squyres: Department of Astronomy
Nicholas J. Tosca: Department of Geosciences
Alian Wang: Washington University
Michael Wyatt: Arizona State University
Jutta Zipfel: Max Planck Institut für Chemie

Nature, 2005, vol. 436, issue 7047, 49-54

Abstract: Abstract The mineralogical and elemental compositions of the martian soil are indicators of chemical and physical weathering processes. Using data from the Mars Exploration Rovers, we show that bright dust deposits on opposite sides of the planet are part of a global unit and not dominated by the composition of local rocks. Dark soil deposits at both sites have similar basaltic mineralogies, and could reflect either a global component or the general similarity in the compositions of the rocks from which they were derived. Increased levels of bromine are consistent with mobilization of soluble salts by thin films of liquid water, but the presence of olivine in analysed soil samples indicates that the extent of aqueous alteration of soils has been limited. Nickel abundances are enhanced at the immediate surface and indicate that the upper few millimetres of soil could contain up to one per cent meteoritic material.

Date: 2005
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.nature.com/articles/nature03637 Abstract (text/html)
Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:nat:nature:v:436:y:2005:i:7047:d:10.1038_nature03637

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://www.nature.com/

DOI: 10.1038/nature03637

Access Statistics for this article

Nature is currently edited by Magdalena Skipper

More articles in Nature from Nature
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().