Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of contributors
- Foreword
- Acknowledgments
- Part I Introduction and historical perspective
- Part II Elemental Composition: Orbital and in situ Surface Measurements
- Part III Mineralogy and Remote Sensing of Rocks, Soil, Dust, and Ices
- 7 Mineralogy of the Martian surface from Mars Express OMEGA observations
- 8 Visible to near-IR multispectral orbital observations of Mars
- 9 Global mineralogy mapped from the Mars Global Surveyor Thermal Emission Spectrometer
- 10 The compositional diversity and physical properties mapped from the Mars Odyssey Thermal Emission Imaging System
- 11 Mars' crustal magnetization: a window into the past
- 12 Multispectral imaging from Mars Pathfinder
- 13 Mars Exploration Rover Pancam multispectral imaging of rocks, soils, and dust at Gusev crater and Meridiani Planum
- 14 The mineralogy of Gusev crater and Meridiani Planum derived from the Miniature Thermal Emission Spectrometers on the Spirit and Opportunity rovers
- 15 Iron mineralogy and aqueous alteration on Mars from the MER Mössbauer spectrometers
- 16 Magnetic properties of Martian surface materials
- 17 Martian meteorites as crustal samples
- Part IV Physical Properties of Surface Materials
- Part V Synthesis
- Part VI Summary, Upcoming Missions, and New Measurement Needs
- Index
- Plate section
- References
15 - Iron mineralogy and aqueous alteration on Mars from the MER Mössbauer spectrometers
from Part III - Mineralogy and Remote Sensing of Rocks, Soil, Dust, and Ices
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 10 December 2009
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of contributors
- Foreword
- Acknowledgments
- Part I Introduction and historical perspective
- Part II Elemental Composition: Orbital and in situ Surface Measurements
- Part III Mineralogy and Remote Sensing of Rocks, Soil, Dust, and Ices
- 7 Mineralogy of the Martian surface from Mars Express OMEGA observations
- 8 Visible to near-IR multispectral orbital observations of Mars
- 9 Global mineralogy mapped from the Mars Global Surveyor Thermal Emission Spectrometer
- 10 The compositional diversity and physical properties mapped from the Mars Odyssey Thermal Emission Imaging System
- 11 Mars' crustal magnetization: a window into the past
- 12 Multispectral imaging from Mars Pathfinder
- 13 Mars Exploration Rover Pancam multispectral imaging of rocks, soils, and dust at Gusev crater and Meridiani Planum
- 14 The mineralogy of Gusev crater and Meridiani Planum derived from the Miniature Thermal Emission Spectrometers on the Spirit and Opportunity rovers
- 15 Iron mineralogy and aqueous alteration on Mars from the MER Mössbauer spectrometers
- 16 Magnetic properties of Martian surface materials
- 17 Martian meteorites as crustal samples
- Part IV Physical Properties of Surface Materials
- Part V Synthesis
- Part VI Summary, Upcoming Missions, and New Measurement Needs
- Index
- Plate section
- References
Summary
ABSTRACT
The twin Mars Exploration Rovers (MER) Spirit (Gusev crater) and Opportunity (Meridiani Planum) used miniaturized Mössbauer spectrometers (MIMOS II) to analyze Martian surface materials in the first application of extraterrestrial Mössbauer (MB) spectroscopy. The instruments acquired spectra that identified the speciation of Fe according to oxidation state, coordination state, and mineralogical composition and provided quantitative information about the distribution of Fe among oxidation states, coordination states, and Fe-bearing phases. A total of 12 unique Fe-bearing phases were identified: Fe2 + in olivine, pyroxene, and ilmenite; Fe2 + and Fe3 + in magnetite and chromite; Fe3 + in nanophase ferric oxide (npOx), hematite, goethite, jarosite, an unassigned Fe3 + sulfate, and an unassigned Fe3 + phase associated with jarosite; and Fe0 in kamacite. Weakly altered basalts at Gusev crater (SO3 = 2.5 ± 1.4 wt.% and Fe3 +/FeT = 0.24 ± 0.11) are widespread on the Gusev plains and occur in less abundance on West Spur and Husband Hill in the Columbia Hills. Altered low-S rocks (SO3 = 5.2 ± 2.0 wt.% and Fe3 +/FeT = 0.63 ± 0.18) are the most common type of rock in the Columbia Hills. Ilm-bearing, weakly altered basalts were detected only in the Columbia Hills, as was the only occurrence of chromite in an altered low-S rock named Assemblee. Altered high-S rocks (SO3 > 14.2 wt.% and Fe3 +/FeT = 0.83 ± 0.05) are the outcrop rocks of the ubiquitous Burns formation at Meridiani Planum.
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- Information
- The Martian SurfaceComposition, Mineralogy and Physical Properties, pp. 339 - 365Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2008
References
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