¹Deze Liu,¹Frédéric Moynier,^1,2Julien Siebert,^1,3Paolo A.Sossi,¹Yan Hu,¹Edith Kubik
Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta (in Press) Link to Article [https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gca.2022.09.043]
¹Université Paris Cité, Institut de Physique du Globe de Paris, 1 Rue Jussieu, 75005 Paris, France
²Institut Universitaire de France, Paris, France
³Institute of Geochemistry and Petrology, ETH Zürich, Sonneggstrasse 5, CH-8092 Zürich, Switzerland
Copyright Elsevier

In comparison with the Sun and CI chondrites, moderately volatile elements (MVEs) are depleted in terrestrial planets and other small, rocky differentiated bodies in the inner solar system. The abundances of most MVEs in the bulk silicate Earth (BSE) fall on a trend that defines a near log-linear decrease with their 50% nebular condensation temperature (). This temperature scale has traditionally been used to infer elemental volatility during planetary formation and accretion, however, indium (In) deviates from this correlation. Despite being a siderophile element that could have been depleted by core formation, In is overabundant for its calculated in the BSE, as well as in the silicate portions of other small bodies (e.g., Moon and Vesta). This overabundance of In indicates that , calculated under nebular conditions, may not be applicable to planetary evaporation that occurs at much higher oxygen fugacity (fO2) and pressure than nominal nebular conditions. Here, we conduct a series of evaporation experiments for basaltic melts to quantify the volatility of In under conditions relevant to planetary evaporation. Our results show that, when using the evaporation temperature , refers to the temperature at which 1% of element i has evaporated from liquid to gas phase under equilibrium) as the volatility scale, the abundances of volatile elements, including In, of the Moon and Vesta display a progressive depletion with increasing volatility (decreasing ). This smooth depletion pattern contrasts with the overabundance of In shown on the scale, suggesting that volatile depletion on small bodies occurred under non-nebular environment instead of during nebular condensation. On the other hand, the volatile element composition of the BSE (including In) could be explained by integrating i) early accreted precursor materials of the proto-Earth that underwent volatile loss under conditions more oxidizing than those of the solar nebula with ii) late added volatile-rich materials.

¹Kvasnytsya, Victor M.,²Wirth, Richard
Mineralogy and Petrology 116, 169 – 187 Link to Article [DOI
10.1007/s00710-022-00778-y]
¹Semenenko Institute of Geochemistry, Mineralogy and Ore Formation, National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, pr. Akademika Palladina 34, Kyiv, 03142, Ukraine
²Helmholtz Center Potsdam and German Research Center for Geosciences, Section 3.5 Interface Geochemistry, Telegrafenberg, Potsdam, 14473, Germany

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¹Laura C. Chaves,¹Michelle S. Thompson
Earth, Planets and Space 74, 124 Open Access Link to Article [DOI
https://doi.org/10.1186/s40623-022-01683-6]
¹Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences, 550 Stadium Mall Drive, West Lafayette, IN, 47907, USA

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¹Tack, Peter et al. (>10)
Earth, Planets and Space 74, 146 Open Access Link to Article [DOI
10.1186/s40623-022-01705-3]
¹Dept. of Chemistry, XMI, Ghent University, Krijgslaan 281 S12, Ghent, 9000, Belgium

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^1,2Chen Li,¹Zhuang Guo,¹Yang Li,¹Kairui Tai,²Kuixian Wei,^1,3Xiongyao Li,^1,3Jianzhong Liu,^2,4Wenhui Ma
Nature Astronomy (in Press) Link to Article [DOI https://doi.org/10.1038/s41550-022-01763-3]
¹Center for Lunar and Planetary Sciences, Institute of Geochemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guiyang, China
²Faculty of Metallurgical and Energy Engineering, Kunming University of Science and Technology, Kunming, China
³Center for Excellence in Comparative Planetology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Hefei, China
⁴National Engineering Research Center of Vacuum Metallurgy, Kunming University of Science and Technology, Kunming, China

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¹Samuel W. Courville,¹Joseph G. O’Rourke,²Julie C. Castillo-Rogez,³Roger R. Fu,⁴Rona Oran,⁴Benjamin P. Weiss,¹Linda T. Elkins-Tanton
Nature Astronomy (in Press) Link to Article [DOI https://doi.org/10.1038/s41550-022-01802-z]
¹School of Earth and Space Exploration, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, USA
²Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, USA
³Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA
⁴Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences, MIT, Cambridge, MA, USA

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¹Lowry, Vanessa C.,¹V.C.Donaldson Hanna, Kerri L.,¹Campins, Humberto,²Bowles, Neil,³Hamilton, Victoria E.,²Brown, Eloïse C.
Earth and Space Science 9, e2021EA002146 Link to Article [DOI
10.1029/2021EA002146]
¹University of Central Florida, Orlando, FL, United States
²University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom
³Southwest Research Institute, Boulder, CO, United States

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^1,2S. Sarkar,³H. Moitra,^1,3S. Bhattacharya,¹A. Dagar,⁴D. Ray,³S. Gupta,³A. Chavan,⁴A. D. Shukla,²S. Bhandari
Journal of Geophysical Research (Planets)(in Press) Link to Article [https://doi.org/10.1029/2022JE007299]
¹Space Applications Centre, Indian Space Research Organisation, Ahmedabad, 380015 Gujarat, India
²Department of Earth and Environment Science, Krantiguru Shyamji Krishna Verma Kachchh University, Bhuj, 370001 Gujarat, India
³Department of Geology and Geophysics, Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur, Kharagpur, 721302 India
⁴Physical Research Laboratory, Ahmedabad, 380 009 Gujarat, India
Published by arrangement with John Wiley & Sons

Hot spring localities on continents may represent the most probable locales for the formation of early life constituents on Earth. Apart from liquid water and carbohydrates, these components also include elements like boron that are crucial for stabilization of the complex organic molecules that constitute life. Many of these life sustaining ingredients are commonly found in the vicinity of terrestrial hot springs. Analogously, similar existing or extinct hot spring localities on other planets may constitute prospective astrobiological sites. In the present study, we have characterized the complete mineralogical assemblage of the Puga hot spring deposit, Ladakh, India, using detailed spectroscopic and X-ray diffraction studies. The spectroscopic characterization was done using both field as well as lab based visible/near-infrared (VNIR; 400-2500 nm) and lab measured mid-infrared (MIR, 4000-400 cm-1) hyperspectral data. The identified mineral phases include Na-borates, such as borax and tincalconite, and hydrous sulfates such as jarosite, alunite, copiapite, tamarugite and gypsum, in conjunction with native sulfur, halite and opaline silica. Borate minerals have been identified from the valley-fill material along with halite and opaline silica, whereas sulfates occur alongside crystalline sulfur deposits. We have compared mineral assemblages found in Puga with other hot spring/hydrothermal deposits on Earth identified as martian analog sites, and also with mineral assemblages identified in situ on Mars. We argue that the spectral characterization of hydrated borates in natural association with hydrous sulfates can be used for identification of fossil/paleo hydrothermal settings on Mars that are prospective in the search for extinct/extant extra-terrestrial life.

¹S. Czarnecki,¹C. Hardgrove,²R. E. Arvidson,²M. N. Hughes,³M. E. Schmidt,³T. Henley,⁴L. M. Martinez Sierra,⁴I. Jun,⁵M. Litvak,⁵I. Mitrofanov
Journal of Geophysical (Planets)(in Press) Link to Article [https://doi.org/10.1029/2021JE007104]
¹School of Earth and Space Exploration, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, USA
²Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, MO, USA
³Department of Earth Sciences, Brock University, St. Catharines, ON, Canada
⁴Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, USA
⁵Space Research Institute, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russia
Published by arrangement with John Wiley & Sons

Glen Torridon (GT) is a geomorphic feature of Aeolis Mons (informally Mt. Sharp) in Gale crater, Mars, variably covered by local regolith and wind-blown basaltic sands. The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter’s Compact Imaging Spectrometer for Mars (CRISM) detected clay minerals in GT, making GT a target of investigation by the Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) rover, Curiosity, which confirmed a large abundance of clays. The MSL Dynamic Albedo of Neutrons (DAN) instrument observed enrichments in bulk subsurface ( < 50 cm) hydration along the rover traverse compared to lower stratigraphic sections of Mt. Sharp. Here, we investigate the relationship between the CRISM 3 μm hydration index and DAN results, taking into consideration the different spatial scales and effective depths of these two instruments. We show that the elevated hydration observed by CRISM in one area of GT corresponds to elevated DAN-derived hydration, while the lower CRISM hydration in another area of GT does not correspond to a significantly lower DAN-derived hydration. We find that CRISM measured lower hydration in areas with rough surface texture and sand cover, while DAN bulk hydration is relatively insensitive to these characteristics. DAN active neutron results also show that the stratigraphically higher section of GT has significantly higher neutron absorption, which could be due to Fe- and Mn-rich diagenetic features. Additionally, DAN results show that GT is enriched in hydrogen with respect to other, less clay-rich units observed throughout the traverse, suggesting that subsurface clay minerals could be a significant reservoir for the hydration measured by DAN in GT.

¹Michael T. Thorpe et al. (>10)
Journal of Geophysical Research (Planets)(in Press) Link to Article [https://doi.org/10.1029/2021JE007099]
¹Texas State University, JETS, at NASA Johnson Space Center, Houston, TX, 77058 USA
Published by arrangement with John Wiely & Sons

The Glen Torridon (GT) region in Gale crater, Mars is a region with strong clay mineral signatures inferred from orbital spectroscopy. The CheMin X-ray diffraction (XRD) instrument onboard the Mars Science Laboratory rover, Curiosity, measured some of the highest clay mineral abundances to date within GT, complementing the orbital detections. GT may also be unique because in the XRD patterns of some samples, CheMin identified new phases, including: (i) Fe-carbonates, and (ii) a phase with a novel peak at 9.2 Å. Fe-carbonates have been previously suggested from other instruments onboard, but this is the first definitive reporting by CheMin of Fe-carbonate. This new phase with a 9.2 Å reflection has never been observed in Gale crater and may be a new mineral for Mars, but discrete identification still remains enigmatic because no single phase on Earth is able to account for all of the GT mineralogical, geochemical, and sedimentological constraints. Here, we modeled XRD profiles and propose an interstratified clay mineral, specifically greenalite-minnesotaite, as a reasonable candidate. The coexistence of Fe-carbonate and Fe-rich clay minerals in the GT samples supports a conceptual model of a lacustrine groundwater mixing environment. Groundwater interaction with percolating lake waters in the sediments is common in terrestrial lacustrine settings, and the diffusion of two distinct water bodies within the subsurface can create a geochemical gradient and unique mineral front in the sediments. Ultimately, the proximity to this mixing zone may have controlled the secondary minerals preserved in sedimentary rocks exposed in GT.