The Meteoritical Bulletin, No. 113

Jérôme Gattacceca1 et al. (>10)
Meteoritics & Planetary Science (in Press) Link to Article [https://doi.org/10.1111/maps.14374]
1CNRS, Aix Marseille Univ, IRD, INRAE, CEREGE, Aix-en-Provence, France
Published by arrangement with John Wiley & Sons

Meteoritical Bulletin 113 contains the 3646 meteorites approved by the Nomenclature Committee of the Meteoritical Society in 2024. It includes 17 falls, 2964 ordinary chondrites, 218 HED, 158 carbonaceous chondrites (including 7 ungrouped), 59 lunar meteorites, 38 iron meteorites (9 ungrouped), 30 ureilites, 31 primitive achondrites (3 ungrouped), 28 mesosiderites, 24 enstatite chondrites, 21 martian meteorites, 24 ungrouped stony achondrites, 20 Rumuruti chondrites, 17 pallasites, 8 angrites, 5 enstatite achondrites (one ungrouped), and 1 ungrouped chondrite. Of the meteorites approved in 2024, 1250 were collected in Antarctica, 1102 in Africa, 689 in Asia, 575 in South America, 17 in North America, 11 in Europe, and 2 in Oceania.

Simulating evaporative wet and dry cycles in Gale crater, Mars using thermochemical modeling techniques

D. Das1 et al. (>10)
Meteoritics & Planetary Science (in Press) Link to Article [https://doi.org/10.1111/maps.14375]
1Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, New Mexico, USA
Published by arrangement with John Wiley & Sons

The aim of this work is to provide a model-backed hypothesis for the formation of evaporites—sulfates, borates—in Gale crater using thermochemical modeling to determine constraints on their formation. We test the hypothesis that primary evaporites required multiple wet–dry cycles to form, akin to how evaporite assemblages form on Earth. Starting with a basalt-equilibrated Mars fluid, Mars-relevant concentrations of B and Li were added, and then equilibrated with Gale lacustrine bedrock. We simulated the cycles of evaporation followed by groundwater recharge/dilution to establish an approximate minimum number of wet–dry cycles required to form primary evaporites. We determine that a minimum of 250 wet–dry cycles may be required to start forming primary evaporites that consist of borates and Ca-sulfates. We estimate that ~14,250 annual cycles (~25.6 k Earth years) of wet and dry periods may form primary borates and Ca-sulfates in Gale crater. These primary evaporites could have been remobilized during secondary diagenesis to form the veins that the Curiosity rover observes in Gale crater. No Li salts form after 14,250 cycles modeled for the Gale-relevant scenario (approximately 106 cycles would be needed) which implies Li may be leftover in a groundwater brine after the time of the lake. No major deposits of borates are observed to date in Gale crater which also implies that B may be leftover in the subsequent groundwater brine that formed after evaporites were remobilized into Ca-sulfate veins.