Skip to main content Accessibility help

We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.

Close cookie message
×
Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-vdxz6 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-22T15:36:04.282Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

16 - Geochemical analogs and Martian meteorites

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 September 2009

By
Horton E. Newsom
Edited by
Mary Chapman
Horton E. Newsom
Affiliation:
Institute of Meteoritics and Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque
Mary Chapman
Affiliation:
United States Geological Survey, Arizona
Get access

Summary

Introduction

The formation and evolution of Mars involved both physical and chemical processes that are revealed in the chemistry of the Martian meteorites, and in the chemistry of the surface of Mars determined by remote sensing from spacecraft in orbit and on the surface. The interpretation of the chemistry revealed by these studies has been strongly influenced by our knowledge of geochemical processes on the Earth, Moon, and asteroidal parent bodies. In a sense, the entire Earth, Moon, and a number of asteroid parent bodies can be considered Mars analogs! The most studied differentiated body (melted and chemically evolved) from the asteroid belt is the parent body of the Howardite, Eucrite, and Diogenite (HED) igneous meteorite classes, thought to be the asteroid 4 Vesta (Mittlefehldt et al., 1998). These HED meteorites are igneous rocks that are basaltic in nature with slightly different mineral assemblages (McSween, 1999). In this chapter we use data from samples on the Earth including the meteorites from the HED parent body and the Martian meteorites to understand the chemical fractionations that have affected Martian rocks and surface materials. These chemical fractionations are the changes in chemistry due to the different behavior of particular groups of chemical elements according to their properties. We will begin by looking at the evidence for the formation of Mars, the early differentiation of the planet, the later formation of igneous rocks by mantle melting, and end with surface processes leading to formation of the Martian fine-grained regolith OR soils.

Type
Chapter
Information
The Geology of Mars
Evidence from Earth-Based Analogs
 , pp. 400 - 423
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2007

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Allen, C. C., Gooding, J. L., Jercinovic, M., and Keil, K. (1981). Altered basaltic glass: a terrestrial analog to the soil of Mars. Icarus, 45, 347–69.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Allen, C. D., Albert, F. G., Chafetz, H. S., et al. (2000). Physical biomarkers in carbonate thermal springs: implications in the search for life on Mars. Icarus, 147, 49–67.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bandfield, J. L. (2002). Global mineral distributions on Mars. Journal of Geophysical Research, 107(E6), doi:10. 1029/2002JE001510.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bandfield, J. L., Hamilton, V.E., and Christensen, P. R. (2000). A global view of Martian surface compositions from MGS-TES. Science 287, 1626–30.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Banin, A., Clark, B. C., and Wänke, H. (1992). Surface chemistry and mineralogy. In Mars, ed. Kieffer, H. H., Jakosky, B. M., Snyder, C. W., and Matthews, M. S.. Tucson: Univ. Arizona Press, pp. 594–625.Google Scholar
Banin, A., Han, F. X., Kan, I, and Cicelsky, A. (1997). Acidic volatiles and the Mars soil. Journal of Geophysical Research, 102, 13341–56.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bell, J. F. III, McSween, H. Y., Crisp, J. A.et al. (2000). Mineralogic and compositional properties of Martian soil and dust: results from Mars Pathfinder. Journal of Geophysical Research, 105, 1721–55.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bishop, J. L., Murchie, S. L., Pieters, C. M., and Zent, A. P. (2002). A model for the formation of dust, soil, and rock coatings on Mars: physical and chemical processes on the Martian surface. Journal of Geophysical Research, 107, E11, 5097, doi:10.1029/2001JE001581.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Blaney, D.L. (1998). Mars dust formation by impact craters into volatile materials and aerosol formation of sulfate duricrust. Abstracts of Papers Submitted to the 29th Lunar and Planetary Science Conference. Houston: Lunar and Planetary Institute, CD 29, Abstract 1655.Google Scholar
Borg, L. E. and Draper, D.S. (2003). A petrogenetic model for the origin and compositional variation of the Martian basaltic meteorites. Meteoritics and Planetary Science, 38, 1713–31.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Borg, L. E., Connelly, J. N., Nyquist, L. E.et al. (1999). The age of the carbonates in Martian meteorite ALH84001. Science, 286, 90–4.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Borg, L. E., Nyquist, L. E., Reese, Y., and Wiesmann, H. (2003). The age of Dar al Gani 476 and the differentiation history of the Martian meteorities inferred from the Rb-Sr, Sm-Nd, and Lu-Hf isotopic systematics. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta, 67, 3519–36.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Borg, L. E., Nyquist, L. E., Wiesmann, H., and Reese, Y. (2002). Constraints on the petrogenesis of Martian meteorites from the Rb-Sr and Sm-Nd isotopic systematics of the lherzolitic shergottites ALH77005 and LEW88516. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta, 66(11), 2037–53.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Boslough, M. B. and Cygan, R. T. (1988). Shock-enhanced dissolution of silicate minerals and chemical weathering on planetary surfaces. Proceedings of the 18th Lunar and Planetary Science Conference. Houston: Lunar and Planetary Institute, pp. 443–54.Google Scholar
Bouska, V. and Bell, J. F. III (1993). Assumptions about the presence of natural glasses on Mars. Journal of Geophysical Research, 98, 18719–25.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Boynton, W., Janes, D., Kerry, K., et al. (2004). The distribution of non-volatile elements on Mars: Mars Odyssey GRS results. Abstracts of Papers Submitted to the 35th Lunar and Planetary Science Conference. Houston: Lunar and Planetary Institute, CD 35, Abstract 1950.Google Scholar
Brearley, A. J. and Jones, R. H. (1998). Chondritic meteorites. In Planetary Materials, Reviews in Mineralogy, vol. 36. Washington, DC: Mineralogical Society of America.Google Scholar
Bridges, J. C., Catling, D. C., Saxton, J. M.et al. (2001). Alteration assemblages in Martian meteorites: implications for near-surface processes. Space Science Reviews, 96, 365–92.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Christensen, P. R., Bandfield, J. L., Hamilton, V. E., et al. (2001). Mars Global Surveyor Thermal Emission Spectrometer experiment: investigation description and surface science results. Journal of Geophysical Research, 106, 23823–71.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Christensen, P. R., Bandfield, J. L., Bell, J. F. I., et al. (2003). Morphology and composition of the surface of Mars: Mars Odyssey THEMIS results. Science, 300, 2056–61, doi:10.1126/science.1080885.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Clark, B. C. (1993). Geochemical components in Martian soil. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta, 57, 4575–81.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Clark, B. C. and Baird, A. K. (1979). Volatiles in the Martian regolith. Geophysical Research Letters, 6, 811–14.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Clark, B. C., Baird, A. K., Weldon, R. J.et al. (1982). Chemical composition of Martian fines. Journal of Geophysical Research, 87, 10059–67.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Clifford, S. M. (1993). A model for the hydrologic and climatic behavior of water on Mars. Journal of Geophysical Research, 98, 10973–11016.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dreibus, G. and Wänke, H. (1980). The bulk composition of the eucrite parent asteroid and its bearing on planetary evolution. Zeitschrift fur Naturforschung a-a 35, 204–16.Google Scholar
Dreibus, G. and Wänke, H. (1982). Parent body of the SNC-meteorites, chemistry, size and formation. 45th Annual Meteoritical Society, pp. 207–8.Google Scholar
Economou, T.E., Foley, C.N., and Clayton, R.N. (2003). The chemical composition of Martian samples: final results from the pathfinder alpha proton x-ray spectrometer. Sixth International Conference on Mars. Lunar and Planetary Institute, Abstract 3155.Google Scholar
Ellis, A. J. (1979). Explored geothermal systems. In Geochemistry of Hydrothermal Systems, ed. Barnes, H. L.. New York: John Wiley & Sons.Google Scholar
Farmer, J. D. (2000). Hydrothermal systems: doorways to early biosphere evolution. Geological Society of America Today, 10, 1–9.Google Scholar
Fulignati, P., Malfitano, G., and Sbrana, A. (1997) The Pantelleria caldera geothermal system; data from the hydrothermal minerals. Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal Research, 75, 251–70.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Flynn, G. J. and McKay, D. S. (1990). An assessment of the meteoritic contribution to the Martian soil. Journal of Geophysical Research, 95, 14497–509.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Frey, H.V. (2003). Buried impact basins and the earliest history of Mars. Sixth International Conference on Mars. Lunar and Planetary Institute, Abstract 3104.Google Scholar
Geissler, P. E., Singer, R. B., Komatsu, G., Murchie, S., and Mustard, J. (1993). An unusual spectral unit in West Candor Chasma: evidence for aqueous or hydrothermal alteration in the Martian canyons. Icarus, 106, 380–91.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Goff, F. and Janik, C. J. (2000). Geothermal systems. In Encyclopedia of Volcanoes, ed. Sigurdsson, H.et al. Academic Press, pp. 817–34.Google Scholar
Gooding, J. L. and Keil, K. (1978). Alteration of glass as a possible source of clay minerals on Mars. Geophysical Research Letters, 5, 727–30.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Griffith, L. L. and Shock, E. L. (1997). Hydrothermal hydration of Martian crust: illustration via geochemical model and calculations. Journal of Geophysical Research, 102, 9135–43.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Griffith, L. L. and Shock, E. L. (2002). A geochemical model for the formation of hydrothermal carbonates on Mars. Nature, 377, 406–8.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gulick, V. C. (1998). Magmatic intrusions and a hydrothermal origin for fluvial valleys on Mars. Journal of Geophysical Research, 103, 19365–88.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hagerty, J. J. and Newsom, H.E. (1998). Potential toxicity of the Martian soil. Lunar and Planetary Science, XXIX, 1697.Google Scholar
Hagerty, J. J. and Newsom, H. E. (2003). Evidence for impact-induced hydrothermal alteration at the Lonar crater, India. Meteoritics and Planetary Science, 38, 365–81.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Halliday, A. N., Wänke, H., Birck, J.-L., and Clayton, R. N. (2001). The accretion, composition, and early differentiation of Mars. Space Science Reviews, 96, 197–230.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Harrison, K. P. and Grimm, R. E. (2002). Controls on Martian hydrothermal systems: application to valley network and magnetic anomaly formation. Journal of Geophysical Research, 107(E5), doi:10. 1029/2001JE001616.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Heiken, G., Vaniman, D., and French, B. M. (1991). Lunar Sourcebook, A User's guide to the Moon. Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Herd, C. D. K. (2003). The oxygen fugacity of olivine-phyric Martian basalts and the components within the mantle and crust of Mars. Meteoritics and Planetary Science, 38, 1793–805.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kleine, T., Munker, C., Mezger, K., and Palme, H. (2002). Rapid accretion and early core formation on asteroids and the terrestrial planets from Hf-W chronometry. Nature, 418, 952–5.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lodders, K. and Fegley, B. (1997). An oxygen isotope model for the composition of Mars. Icarus, 126, 373–94.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lodders, K. and Fegley, B. (1998). The Planetary Scientist's Companion. Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Lunine, J. I., Chambers, J., Morbidelli, A., and Leshin, L. A. (2003). The origin of water on Mars. Icarus, 165, 1–8.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mason, B. (1992). Victor Moritz Goldschmidt: Father of Modern Geochemistry. The Geochemical Society, Special Publication 4.Google Scholar
Masson, P., Carr, M. H., Costard, F.et al. (2001). Geomorphologic evidence for liquid water on Mars. Space Science Reviews, 96, 333–64.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McDonough, W. F. and Sun, S. S. (1995). The composition of the Earth. Chemical Geology, 120, 223–53.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McSween, H. Y. (1999). Meteorites and their Parent Planets. Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
McSween, H. Y. Jr. and Keil, K. (2000). Mixing relationships in the Martian regolith and the composition of globally homogeneous dust. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta, 64, 2155–66.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McSween, H. Y. and Treiman, A. H. (1998). Martian meteorites. In Planetary Materials, Reviews in Mineralogy, vol. 36. Washington, DC: Mineralogical Society of America.Google Scholar
Mittlefehldt, D. W., McCoy, T. J., Goodrich, C. A., and Kracher, A. (1998). Non-chondritic meteorites from asteroidal bodies. In Planetary Materials, Reviews in Mineralogy, vol. 36. Washington, DC: Mineralogical Society of America.Google Scholar
Morris, R. V., Golden, D. C., Bell, J. F. III, et al. (2000). Mineralogy, composition, and alteration of Mars Pathfinder rocks and soils: evidence from multispectral, elemental, and magnetic data on terrestrial analogue, SNC meteorite, and Pathfinder samples. Journal of Geophysical Research, 105, 1757–817.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Morris, R. V., Golden, D. C., Ming, D. W., et al. (2001). Phyllosilicate-poor palagonitic dust from Mauna Kea Volcano (Hawaii): a mineralogical analogue for magnetic Martian dust?Journal of Geophysical Research, 106, 5057–83.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nelson, M.J. and Newsom, H.E. (2003). Impact hydrothermal alteration of terrestrial basalts: explaining the rock component of the Martian soil. Third International Conference on Large Meteorite Impacts. Lunar and Planetary Institute, Abstract 4099.Google Scholar
Newsom, H. E. (1980). Hydrothermal alteration of impact melt sheets with implications for Mars. Icarus, 44, 207–16.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Newsom, H. E. and Hagerty, J. J. (1997). Chemical components of the Martian soil: melt degassing, hydrothermal alteration, and chondritic debris. Journal of Geophysical Research, 102, 19345–56.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Newsom, H. E., Brittelle, G. E., Crossey, L. J., and Kudo, A. M. (1996). Impact cratering and the formation of crater lakes on Mars. Journal of Geophysical Research, 101, 14951–5.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Newsom, H. E., Hagerty, J. J., and Goff, F. (1999). Mixed hydrothermal fluids and the origin of the Martian soil. Journal of Geophysical Research, 104, 8717–28.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nyquist, L. E., Bogard, D. D., Shih, C. Y.et al. (2001a). Ages and geologic histories of Martian meteorites. Space Science Reviews, 96, 105–164.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nyquist, L. E., Bogard, D. D., Shih, C.-Y. et al. (2001b). Ages and histories of Martian meteorites. In Chronology and Evolution of Mars 96, ed. Kalenback, R., Geiss, J., and Hartmann, W. K.. Kluwer, pp. 105–64.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nyquist, L. E., Reese, Y., Wiesmann, H., Shih, C.-Y., and Takeda, H. (2003). Fossil 26Al and 53Mn in the Asuka 881394 eucrite: evidence of the earliest crust on asteroid 4 Vesta. Earth and Planetary Science Letters, 214, 11–25.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nyquist, L. E. and Shih, C. -Y. (1992). The isotopic record of lunar volcanism. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta, 56, 2213–34.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Papike, J. J., Karner, J. M., and Shearer, C. K. (2003). Determination of planetary basalt parentage: a simple technique using the electron microprobe. American Mineralogist, 88, 469–72.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rao, M. N., Borg, L. E., McKay, D. S., and Wentworth, S. J. (1999). Martian soil component in impact glasses in a Martian meteorite. Geophysical Research Letters, 26, 3265–8.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Righter, K. and Drake, M. J. (1996). Core formation in Earth's Moon, Mars, and Vesta. Icarus, 124, 513–29.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Singer, R. B. (1982). Spectral evidence for the mineralogy of high-albedo soils and dust on Mars. Journal of Geophysical Research, 87, 10159–68.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stoker, C.R., Lemke, L.G., Mandell, H., et al. (2003). Mars Analog Research and Technology Experiment (MARTE): a simulated Mars drilling mission to search for subsurface life at the Rio Tinto, Spain. Abstracts of Papers Submitted to the 34th Lunar and Planetary Science Conference. Houston: Lunar and Planetary Institute, CD 34, Abstract 1076.Google Scholar
Symonds, R. B., Rose, W. I., Reed, M. H., Lichte, F. E., and Finnegan, D. L. (1987). Volatilization, transport and sublimation of metallic and non-metallic elements in high temperature gases at Merapi Volcano, Indonesia. Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta, 51, 2083.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Thorsos, I. E., Newsom, H.E., and Davies, A. D. (2001). Availability of heat to drive hydrothermal systems in large Martian impact craters. Abstracts of Papers Submitted to the 32nd Lunar and Planetary Science Conference. Houston: Lunar and Planetary Institute, CD 32, Abstract 2011.Google Scholar
Walter, M. J., Newsom, H. E., Erterl, W., and Holzheid, A. (2000). Siderophile elements in the Earth and Moon: metal/silicate partitioning and implications for core formation. In The Origin of the Earth and Moon, ed. Canup, R. M., and Righter, K.. Tucson: Univ. of Arizona Press, pp. 265–89.Google Scholar
Wänke, H. and Dreibus, G. (1988). Chemical composition and accretion history of terrestrial planets. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A, 325, 545–57.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wänke, H., Brückner, J., Dreibus, G., Rieder, R., and Ryabchikov, I. (2001). Chemical composition of rocks and soils at the Pathfinder site. Space Science Reviews, 96, 317–30.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wilde, S. A., Valley, J. W., Peck, W. H., and Graham, C. M. (2001). Evidence from detrital zircons for the existence of continental crust and oceans on the Earth 4.4 Gyr ago. Nature, 409, 175–8.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Wilson, L. and Head, J. W. III (1997). Mars geothermal and volcanic evolution: volcanic intrusions as heat sources to maintain viable ecosystems? In Conference on Early Mars. Houston: Lunar and Planetary Institute, pp. 85–6.Google Scholar
Wyatt, M. B. and McSween, H. Y. Jr. (2003). Volcanism or aqueous alteration on Mars?Nature (London), 421, 712–13.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Yin, Q. Z., Jacobsen, S. B., Yamashita, K.et al. (2002). A short timescale for terrestrial planet formation from Hf-W chronometry of meteorites. Nature, 418, 949–52.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure [email protected] is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×