Alteration minerals in Martian surface rocks: a comparative study of Martian meteorites and in-situ exploration in the Gale crater

doi:10.13745/j.esf.sf.2019.8.21

Abstract

Abstract:

Alteration minerals record the aqueous conditions and climate changes in Mars geological history. They are key to revealing the habitable environments on Mars, as well as the most signification objects of Mars exploration mission and Martian meteorite investigations. We present here detailed studies of alteration minerals in a Martian regolith breccia NWA7034, a Nakhlite meteorite MIL03346, and Sheepbed mudstone detected by Mars Curiosity rover. We compared the inventory of hydrous minerals in these rocks, and determined the formation mechanisms and conditions of smectite, Fe-oxides/hydroxides, and CaSO₄ found in these rocks. We concluded that NWA7034, MIL03346, and Sheepbed mudstone were all altered during diagenesis or after lithification. However, the secondary alteration processes they experienced are distinct with each other. NWA7034 were mostly altered by oxidization and heating. For the meteorite MIL03346, secondary minerals are mostly present in veining within brittle fractures in the mafic minerals and mesostasis. This indicates the vein-filling alteration products result from hydrothermal fluid introduced by an impact event. Compared with two Martian meteorites, the Sheepbed mudstone in Gale crater is more altered with Chemical Index of Alteration (CIA) of 47 and 50. The original debris with basaltic mineral composition experienced at least two stages of secondary alterations: olivine altered to smectite and magnetite during diagenetic processes, and CaSO₄ veins formation after lithification. This result suggests aqueous conditions in various geological setting are different, and chemical weathering under different climate conditions could produce diverse alteration mineral assemblages. This study summarized the secondary mineral found by Mars missions and in Martian meteorites and their possible origins. It could help understand the formation of secondary minerals and future data interpretation in the China Tianwen-1 Mars mission.

Key words: secondary minerals, alteration process, Martian meteorite, Mars Curiosity rover

CLC Number:

FU Xiaohui, LING Zongcheng, ZHOU Qin, Bradley L.JOLLIFF, YIN Qingzhu, WANG Alian, LI Bo, WU Zhongchen, ZHANG Jiang. Alteration minerals in Martian surface rocks: a comparative study of Martian meteorites and in-situ exploration in the Gale crater[J]. Earth Science Frontiers, 2020, 27(4): 340-354.

Figures/Tables 11

References 75

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样品	w_B/%															资料来源
样品	SiO₂	Al₂O₃	TiO₂	Cr₂O₃	MgO	MnO	CaO	FeO	NiO	Na₂O	K₂O	P₂O₅	Cl	SO₃	Total	资料来源
NWA7034熔壳	47.49	10.81	1.03	—	10.68	0.5	7.38	17.52	—	2.34	0.42	1.73	—	—	99.9	本研究
NWA7034 全岩	47.55	11.21	0.98	0.18	7.81	0.28	8.93	13	0.05	3.74	0.34	0.76	0.22	0.1	95.11	据文献[21]
NWA7475全岩	48.3	10.7	1.02	0.26	10.9	0.36	7.04	16.6	—	2.8	0.47	1.29	—	0.07	99.81	据文献[28]
NWA7533 CLIMR	45.7	10.31	1.13	—	11.9	0.38	6.72	19.09	—	2.69	0.43	1.56	—	—	99.91	据文献[29]
MIL03346全岩	49.2	3.59	0.07	0.13	9.33	0.45	15	19.23	0.06	1.01	0.29	0.22	—	—	98.58	据文献[30]
MIL03346全岩	49.5	4.09	0.68	0.19	9.26	0.46	14.4	19.1	—	0.96	0.2	0.23	—	0.06	99.2	据文献[31]
John Klein	42.07	8.67	0.97	0.42	9.06	0.27	7.76	19.86	—	3.01	0.57	0.93	0.56	5.61	99.76	NASA PDS
Cumberland	43.02	8.57	0.97	0.43	9.41	0.27	6.29	22.35	—	2.98	0.5	0.95	1.39	2.57	99.7	NASA PDS

样品	w_B/%															资料来源
样品	SiO₂	Al₂O₃	TiO₂	Cr₂O₃	MgO	MnO	CaO	FeO	NiO	Na₂O	K₂O	P₂O₅	Cl	SO₃	Total	资料来源
NWA7034熔壳	47.49	10.81	1.03	—	10.68	0.5	7.38	17.52	—	2.34	0.42	1.73	—	—	99.9	本研究
NWA7034 全岩	47.55	11.21	0.98	0.18	7.81	0.28	8.93	13	0.05	3.74	0.34	0.76	0.22	0.1	95.11	据文献[21]
NWA7475全岩	48.3	10.7	1.02	0.26	10.9	0.36	7.04	16.6	—	2.8	0.47	1.29	—	0.07	99.81	据文献[28]
NWA7533 CLIMR	45.7	10.31	1.13	—	11.9	0.38	6.72	19.09	—	2.69	0.43	1.56	—	—	99.91	据文献[29]
MIL03346全岩	49.2	3.59	0.07	0.13	9.33	0.45	15	19.23	0.06	1.01	0.29	0.22	—	—	98.58	据文献[30]
MIL03346全岩	49.5	4.09	0.68	0.19	9.26	0.46	14.4	19.1	—	0.96	0.2	0.23	—	0.06	99.2	据文献[31]
John Klein	42.07	8.67	0.97	0.42	9.06	0.27	7.76	19.86	—	3.01	0.57	0.93	0.56	5.61	99.76	NASA PDS
Cumberland	43.02	8.57	0.97	0.43	9.41	0.27	6.29	22.35	—	2.98	0.5	0.95	1.39	2.57	99.7	NASA PDS

样品	w_B/%
样品	透长石	斜长石	铁橄榄石	普通辉石	易变辉石	斜方辉石	磁铁矿	硬石膏	烧石膏	石英	赤铁矿	钛铁矿	四方纤铁矿	石盐	黄铁矿	磁黄铁矿	蒙皂石	非晶质相
John Klein	1.2	22.4	2.8	3.8	5.6	3	3.8	2.6	1	0.4	0.6	0.7	1.1	0.1	0.3	1	22	28
Cumberland	1.6	22.2	0.9	4.1	8	4.1	4.4	0.8	0.7	0.1	0.7	0.5	1.7	0.1		1	18	31

样品	w_B/%
样品	透长石	斜长石	铁橄榄石	普通辉石	易变辉石	斜方辉石	磁铁矿	硬石膏	烧石膏	石英	赤铁矿	钛铁矿	四方纤铁矿	石盐	黄铁矿	磁黄铁矿	蒙皂石	非晶质相
John Klein	1.2	22.4	2.8	3.8	5.6	3	3.8	2.6	1	0.4	0.6	0.7	1.1	0.1	0.3	1	22	28
Cumberland	1.6	22.2	0.9	4.1	8	4.1	4.4	0.8	0.7	0.1	0.7	0.5	1.7	0.1		1	18	31

矿物类型	矿物名称	MIL03346	NWA7034	Sheepbed
含水硅酸盐	Fe/Mg蒙脱石	√	√	√
	伊丁石	√
	水合二氧化硅	√
铁氧化物和氢氧化物	赤铁矿	√	√	√
	磁铁矿	√	√	√
	水铁矿	√	√	√
	四方纤铁矿		√	√
硫酸盐	石膏	√		√
	烧石膏	√		√
	γ-CaSO₄	√
	黄钾铁矾	√		√
碳酸盐	方解石
碳酸盐	菱铁矿
氯化物	氯盐	√		√
氯化物	高氯酸盐
弱结晶相		√	√