1Alexander Rogaski,1,2Gokce K. Ustunisik,3Shuying Yang,3Munir Humayun,4Kevin Righter,5Jeff A. Berger,6Nicholas DiFrancesco
Meteoritics & Planetary Science (in Press) Open Access Link to Article [https://doi.org/10.1111/maps.14000]
1Department of Geology and Geological Engineering, South Dakota School of Mines and Technology, Rapid City, South Dakota, USA
2Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, American Museum of Natural History, New York, New York, USA
3National High Magnetic Field Laboratory, Department of Earth, Ocean and Atmospheric Science, Florida State University, Tallahassee, Florida, USA
4National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center, Houston, Texas, USA
5Jacobs JETSII, NASA Johnson Space Center, Houston, Texas, USA
6Department of Geology, University at Buffalo, Buffalo, New York, USA
Published by arrangement with John Wiley & Sons
The surface of Mars is enriched in Cl and S which is linked to volcanic activity and degassing. Similarly, elevated Ge and Zn levels in Gale crater sedimentary bedrock indicate a magmatic source for these elements. To constrain the relative effects of Cl and S on the outgassing of these trace metals and chemical characteristics of primary magmatic vapor deposits incorporated to Martian surface, we conducted a set of degassing and fumarolic alteration experiments. Ge is found to be more volatile than Zn in all experiments. In S-bearing runs, the loss of Ge and Zn was less than any other experiments. In Cl-only runs, degassing of Zn was more than twice that of Ge within the first 10 min and percent loss increased for both elements with increasing time. In Cl + S runs, S-induced reduction of GeO2 and ZnO to metallic Ge and Zn switches the preference of chloride formation from Zn to Ge. Up to 90% of Ge and Zn loss in the 1-h no volatile-added (NVA) experiments might be due to the small amounts of Cl contamination in NVA mixes via other oxides used for synthesis. Alteration experiments show different phases between 1-h and 24-/72-h runs. In 1-h runs, anhydrite and langbeinite dominate while in 24-/72-h runs halite and sylvite dominate the condensate assemblages. S-bearing phases form as the intermediate products of fumarolic deposition, while chlorides are common when the system is allowed to cool gradually. One-hour exposure was sufficient to form alteration phases and vapor deposits such as NaCl, KCl, CaSO4, and langbeinites on the Martian analog minerals. These salts were identified in Martian meteorites and in situ measurements. Our results provide evidence that volcanic degassing along with fumarolic alteration could be a potential source for the enrichment and varying abundances of Cl, S, Fe, Zn, Ge in Martian surface, as well as a cause for Ge depletion in shergottites.
Day: June 22, 2023
Magnetic characterization of the Daule chondrite (Ecuador’s first meteorite fall): The case of elusive tetrataenite?
1K.E. Bristol,1,2A.V. Smirnov,3E.J. Piispa,4M.R. Ramirez Navas,5A. Kosterov,6,7E.V. Kulakov
Icarus (in Press) Link to Article [https://doi.org/10.1016/j.icarus.2023.115684]
1Department of Geological and Mining Engineering and Sciences, Michigan Technological University, Houghton, MI, USA
2Department of Physics, Michigan Technological University, Houghton, MI, USA
3Institute of Earth Sciences, University of Iceland, Reykjavík, Iceland
4Instituto Geografico Militar, Quito, Ecuador
5Department of Earth Physics, Saint Petersburg University, Saint Petersburg, Russia
6Centre for Earth Evolution and Dynamics (CEED), University of Oslo, Norway
7Northland Pioneer College, Show Low, AZ, USA
Copyright Elsevier
We investigated the magnetic properties of Ecuador’s first reported meteorite fall (March 23, 2008), the Daule ordinary chondrite (L5, S4, W0) using thermomagnetic analyses at high and cryogenic temperatures, analyses of magnetic hysteresis and first-order reversal curves, and thermal and alternating field (AF) demagnetization of natural remanent magnetization (NRM). The mineralogical and chemical composition of Daule was examined using scanning electron microscopy with energy-dispersive x-ray spectroscopy. Most methods indicate that the magnetic properties of Daule are dominated by multidomain FeNi alloys (kamacite) with Ni content varying between ~4% and ~ 17%. However, backfield demagnetization (BFD) analyses revealed the presence of high-coercivity tetrataenite that survived shock metamorphism. The differential survival of tetrataenite at the millimeter scale indicates heterogeneity of the impact-related temperature and pressure fields within the Daule meteorite. BFD curves may serve as an efficient tool for identifying minor amounts of tetrataenite that otherwise cannot be discerned from the signal from magnetically-soft FeNi mineral phases by methods based on induced magnetization. Thermal demagnetization experiments unveiled the presence of a well-defined characteristic component of NRM, which remains resistant to AF demagnetization. We interpret this component as a pre-impact thermochemical remanence carried by tetrataenite and acquired during the thermal metamorphism of the parent body. At cryogenic temperatures, the magnetic properties of Daule are dominated by low-Mg magnesiochromite with the Curie temperature at 60–70 K.