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1.
Thomas M Donahue 《Icarus》2004,167(1):225-227
A recently published model for accretion of water by Mars from asteroids and comets beyond 2.5 AU calls for Mars to have accreted 6-27% of Earth's ocean (equivalent to 600-2700 meters depth on Mars' surface) with a D/H ratio 1.2-1.6 times Standard Mean Ocean Water. This model is shown to provide enough outgassed water to account for the subsequent evolution of D/H because of loss of hydrogen and the D/H ratio in water of hydration found in martian meteoric minerals, but enhanced rate loss of hydrogen from early Mars is necessary to permit adequate fractionation to occur during the lifetime of the planet.  相似文献   

2.
F.P. Fanale 《Icarus》1976,28(2):179-202
Observations of Mars and cosmochemical considerations imply that the total inventory of degassed volatiles on Mars is 102 to 103 times that present in Mars' atmosphere and polar caps. The degassed volatiles have been physically and chemically incorporated into a layer of unconsolidated surface rubble (a “megaregolith”) up to 2km thick. Tentative lines of evidence suggest a high concentration (～5g/cm2) of 40 Ar in the atmosphere of Mars. If correct, this would be consistent with a degassing model for Mars in which the Martian “surface” volatile inventory is presumed identical to that of Earth but scaled to Mars' smaller mass and surface area. The implied inventory would be: (40Ar) = 4g/cm2, (H2O) = 1 × 105g/cm2, (CO2) = 7 × 103g/cm2, (N2) = 3 × 102g/cm2, (Cl) = 2 × 103g/cm2, and (S) = 2 × 102g/cm2. Such a model is useful for testing, but differences in composition and planetary energy history may be anticipated between Mars and Earth on theoretical grounds. Also, the model demands huge regolith sinks for the volatiles listed.If the regolith were in physical equilibrium with the atmosphere, as much as 2 × 104g/cm2 of H2O could be stored in it as hard-frozen permafrost, or 5 × 104g/cm2 if equilibrium with the atmosphere were inhibited. Spectral measurements of Martian regolith material and laboratory measurement of weathering kinetics on simulated regolith material suggest large amounts of hydrated iron oxides and clay minerals exist in the regolith; the amount of chemically bound H2O could be from 1 × 104 to 4 × 104g/cm2. In an Earth-analogous model, a 2 km mixed regolith must contain the following concentrations of other volatile-containing compounds by weight: carbonates = 1.5%, nitrates = 0·3%, chlorides = 0.6%, and sulfates = 0.1%. Such concentrations would be undetectable by current Earth-based spectral reflectance measurements, and (except the nitrates) formation of the “required” amounts of these compounds could result from interaction of adsorbed H2O and ice with primary silicates expected on Mars. Most of the CO2 could be physically adsorbed on the regolith.Thus, maximum amounts of H2O and other volatiles which could be stored in the Mars regolith are marginally compatible with those required by an Earth-analogous model, although a lower atmospheric 40Ar concentration and regolith volatile inventory would be easier to reconcile with observational constraints. Differences in the ratios of H2O and other volatiles to 40Ar between surface volatiles on the real Mars and on an Earth-analogous Mars could result from and reflect differences in bulk composition and time history of degassing between Mars and Earth. Models relating Viking-observable parameters, e.g., (40Ar) and (36Ar), to the time history and overall intensity of Mars degassing are given.  相似文献   

3.
The depletion of volatile siderophile elements (VSE) Sn, Ag, Bi, Cd, and P in mantles of differentiated planetary bodies can be attributed to volatile‐depleted precursor materials (building blocks), fractionation during core formation, fractionation into and retention in sulfide minerals, and/or volatile loss associated with magmatism. Quantitative models to constrain the fractionation due to core formation have not been possible due to the lack of activity and partitioning data. Interaction parameters in Fe‐Si liquids have been measured at 1 GPa, 1600 °C and increase in the order Cd (~6), Ag (~10), Sn (~28), Bi (~46), and P (~58). These large and positive values contrast with smaller and negative values in Fe‐S liquids indicating that any chalcophile behavior exhibited by these elements will be erased by dissolution of a small amount of Si in the metallic liquid. A newly updated activity model is applied to Earth, Mars, and Vesta. Five elements (P, Zn, Sn, Cd, and In) in Earth's primitive upper mantle can largely be explained by metal‐silicate equilibrium at high PT conditions where the core‐forming metal is a Fe‐Ni‐S‐Si‐C metallic liquid, but two other—Ag and Bi—become overabundant during core formation and require a removal mechanism such as late sulfide segregation. All of the VSE in the mantle of Mars are consistent with core formation in a volatile element depleted body, and do not require any additional processes. Only P and Ag in Vesta's mantle are consistent with combined core formation and volatile‐depleted precursors, whereas the rest require accretion of chondritic or volatile‐bearing material after core formation. The concentrations of Zn, Ag, and Cd modeled for Vesta's core are similar to the concentration range measured in magmatic iron meteorites indicating that these volatile elements were already depleted in Vesta's precursor materials.  相似文献   

4.
《Icarus》1987,71(2):225-240
Based on our new and previous determinations of halogens in SNC meteorites, the bulk concentrations of halogens in the SPB, which is thought to be Mars, are estimated. The two-component model for the formation of terrestrial planets as proposed byA. E. Ringwood (Geochem. J. 11, 111–135 (1977) andOn the Origin of the Earth and Moon, Springer-Verlag, New York, 1979) andH. Wa¨nke (Philos. Trans. Roy. Soc. London, Ser. A 303, 287–302 (1981) is further substantiated. It is argued that almost all of the H2O added to Mars during its homogeneous accretion was converted on reaction with metallic Fe to H2, which escaped. By comparing the solubilities of H2O and HCl in molten silicates, the amount of H2O left in the mantle of Mars at the end of accretion can be related to the abundance of Cl. In this way an H2O content in the Martian mantle of 36 ppm is obtained, corresponding to an ocean covering the whole planet to a depth of about 130 m.The huge quantities of H2 produced by the reaction of H2O with metallic iron should also have removed other volatile species by hydrodynamic escape. Thus it is postulated that the present atmospheres of Venus, Earth, and Mars were formed by degassing the interiors of the planets, after the production of H2 had ceased, i.e., after metallic iron was no longer available. It is also postulated that the large differences in the amounts of primordial rare gases in the atmospheres of Venus, Earth, and Mars are due mainly to different loss factors.Except for gaseous species, Mars is found to be richer in volatile (halogens) and moderately volatile elements than the Earth. The resulting low release factor of40Ar for Mars is attributed to a low degree of fractionation, leading to a relatively small crustal enrichment of even the most incompatible elements like K.  相似文献   

5.
Exchange of CO2 and H2O between the Mars regolith and the atmosphere-cap system plays an important role in governing the evolution of the martian atmosphere and the martian climate. Most of the exchangeable CO2 (perhaps one or two orders of magnitude more than the atmospheric inventory) is currently adsorbed on the deep regolith, and can be “cryopumped” to a large quasipermanent CO2 cap (not now present) during lowest Mars obliquity (θ). During the obliquity driven regolith-cap CO2 exchange cycle, the atmospheric pressure varies harmonically between ~0.1 mb (lowest Θ) and ? 20 mb (highest Θ). The regolith buffer plays only a small or negligible role in the seasonal CO2 pressure variations caused by atmosphere-cap exchange because adsorption greatly inhibits diffusion of the seasonal “pressure wave” into the regolith. In contrast, thermally driven H2O seasonal exchange between the atmosphere and regolith appears to be in large part responsible for observed seasonal variations in the small atmospheric H2O inventory. Long term exchange of H2O may be dominated by transfer between the polar caps and ice in the regolith. Available and potential tests of regolith-atmospheric-cap volatile exchange models using ground-based and spacecraft-based techniques are discussed.  相似文献   

6.
An intense impact flux upon a planet having a CO2 + N2 atmosphere, such as Mars, provides energy to synthesize nitric oxide, NO, which is likely converted into nitrate minerals. The same impact flux can decompose nitrate minerals if present in the crust. We build a numerical model to study the effects of early impact processes on the evolution of nitrogen in a dominantly CO2 atmosphere. We model the period of intense post-accretionary bombardment, the roughly 500 Myr period after crustal stabilization that locks in previously accreted volatiles. A best-guess, “fiducial” set of parameters is chosen, with a fixed “veneer” of post-accretionary impactors (δR=950 m thick), assumed to contain carbon at 1 wt% (fg=0.01), with a molar C/N ratio of 18, an initial atmospheric pressure of 1 bar (with CO2/N2 = 36), and a power law impactor mass distribution slope b=0.75. This model produces a nitrate reservoir RNO3?0.5×1019 moles, equivalent to ∼30 mbars of N2, during the intense impact phase. Starting with 1 bar, the atmosphere grows to 2.75 bars. Results of models with variations of parameter values show that RNO3 responds sluggishly to changes in parameter values. To significantly limit the size of this reservoir, one is required to limit the initial total atmospheric pressure be less than about 0.5 bars, and the impactor volatile content fg to be less than 0.003. The value of fg substantially determines whether the atmosphere grows or not; when fg=0.01, the atmosphere gains about 1.7 bars, while for fg=0.003, the atmosphere gains less than 200 mbars, and for fg=0.001, it loses about 400 mbars. Impact erosion is a minor sink of N, constituting generally less than 10% of the total supply. The loss of impactor volatile plumes can take almost 50% of incoming N and C under fiducial parameters, when atmospheric pressures are low. This nitrogen does not significantly interact with Mars, and hence is not properly delivered. When the initial N is greater than the delivered N, most of the nitrogen ends up as nitrates; when delivered N is larger, most nitrogen ends up in the atmosphere. The reason for this dichotomy seems to be that initial nitrogen is present during the whole bombardment, while delivered N, on average, only experiences half the bombardment. The operating caveat here is that the above results are all conditioned on the assumption that impact processes dominate this period of Mars atmospheric evolution.  相似文献   

7.
Abstract– The successful return of the Stardust spacecraft provides a unique opportunity to investigate the nature and distribution of organic matter in cometary dust particles collected from comet 81P/Wild 2. Analysis of individual cometary impact tracks in silica aerogel using the technique of two‐step laser mass spectrometry demonstrates the presence of complex aromatic organic matter. While concerns remain as to the organic purity of the aerogel collection medium and the thermal effects associated with hypervelocity capture, the majority of the observed organic species appear indigenous to the impacting particles and are hence of cometary origin. While the aromatic fraction of the total organic matter present is believed to be small, it is notable in that it appears to be N rich. Spectral analysis in combination with instrumental detection sensitivies suggest that N is incorporated predominantly in the form of aromatic nitriles (R–C≡N). While organic species in the Stardust samples do share some similarities with those present in the matrices of carbonaceous chondrites, the closest match is found with stratospherically collected interplanetary dust particles. These findings are consistent with the notion that a fraction of interplanetary dust is of cometary origin. The presence of complex organic N containing species in comets has astrobiological implications as comets are likely to have contributed to the prebiotic chemical inventory of both the Earth and Mars.  相似文献   

8.
E. PierazzoC.F. Chyba 《Icarus》2002,157(1):120-127
Jupiter's moon Europa may harbor an ocean beneath its ice cover, but the composition of that ocean and the overlying ice is nearly entirely unknown. Regardless of uncertainties in models for Europa's formation, we estimate lower limits for Europa's inventory of biogenic elements (such as C, N, O, and P) by investigating the contribution to the inventory of impact events over Europa's geologic history. A series of high-resolution hydrocode simulations were carried out over a range of comet densities (1.1, 0.8, and 0.6 g/cm3, corresponding to porosities between 0 and 45%) and impact velocities (16, 21.5, 26.5, and 30.5 km/s). We found that at typical impact velocities on Europa most impactor material reaches escape velocity, and it is assumed to be lost from Europa. For a nonporous comet, some fraction (20% or higher) of the projectile is retained by Europa even at the highest impact velocity modeled, 30.5 km/s. For porous comets, however, a significant fraction of the projectile (above 25%) is retained only for the lowest impact velocity modeled, 16 km/s. Integrated over solar system history, this suggests that 1 to 10 Gt of carbon could have been successfully delivered to Europa's surface by impacts of large comets (around 1 km in diameter). This is a few times more carbon than is contained in the procaryotic biomass of the upper 200 meters of the Earth's oceans, but about 2 orders of magnitude less if the whole depth of the oceans is considered. Therefore, regardless of its initial formation conditions, Europa should have a substantial inventory of “biogenic” elements, with implications for the chemistry of its oceans, ice cover, and the possibility of life.  相似文献   

9.
Joel S. Levine 《Icarus》1976,28(2):165-169
The presence of 28% argon on Mars as calculated by Levine and Riegler and indirectly inferred from Soviet Mars-6 lander data has important implications for the outgassing history of H2O, CO2, and N2 on Mars. Even if the terrestrial volatile outgassing ratio is only approximately valid for Mars, then large quantities of H2O [of the order of 105 gcm?2 (about 108 more H2O than is currently present in the Martian atmosphere)] and about 104 gcm?2 of CO2 (about 103 times more CO2 than found at present in the Martian atmosphere) and some 450 gcm?2 of N2 may have outgassed over the history of Mars.  相似文献   

10.
We investigated the parent volatile composition of the Oort cloud Comet C/2000 WM1 (LINEAR) on 23-25 November 2001, using the Near Infrared Echelle Spectrograph on the Keck II telescope. Flux-calibrated spectra, absolute production rates, and mixing ratios are presented for H2O, HCN, CH4, C2H2, C2H6, H2CO, CH3OH and CO. Compared with “organics-normal” comets, WM1 is moderately depleted in HCN, CH4 and CH3OH, and is even more depleted in C2H2 and CO. Its composition is thus intermediate to comets that are severely depleted in their organic volatile composition and those that exhibit “normal” organic volatile abundances. We argue that WM1 may have formed closer to the young Sun than “organics-normal” comets, but at greater distance than the severely depleted comets, before its ejection to the Oort cloud. The mixing ratios of the above-listed organic volatiles agree day-by-day for 23-25 November 2001. Thus, there is no evidence of macroscopic heterogeneity in chemistry of this comet’s nucleus at the achieved measurement accuracy. As the first comet to show moderate organic depletion in parent volatiles, WM1 represents an important addition to the emerging taxonomic classification based on chemical composition.  相似文献   

11.
The presence of water-bearing minerals on Mars has long been discussed, but little or no data exist showing that minerals such as smectites and zeolites may be present on the surface in a hydrated state (i.e., that they could contain H2O molecules in their interlayer or extra-framework sites, respectively). We have analyzed experimental thermodynamic and X-ray powder diffraction data for smectite and the most common terrestrial zeolite, clinoptilolite, to evaluate the state of hydration of these minerals under martian surface conditions. Thermodynamic data for clinoptilolite show that water molecules in its extra-framework sites are held very strongly, with enthalpies of dehydration for Ca-clinoptilolite up to three times greater than that for liquid water. Using these data, we calculated the Gibbs free energy of hydration of clinoptilolite and smectite as a function of temperature and pressure. The calculations demonstrate that these minerals would indeed be hydrated under the very low-P (H2O) conditions existing on Mars, a reflection of their high affinities for H2O. These calculations assuming the partial pressure of H2O and the temperature range expected on Mars suggest that, if present on the surface, zeolites and Ca-smectites could also play a role in affecting the diurnal variations in martian atmospheric H2O because their calculated water contents vary considerably over daily martian temperature ranges. The open crystal structure of clinoptilolite and existing hydration and kinetic data suggest that hydration/dehydration are not kinetically limited. Based on these calculations, it is possible that hydrated zeolites and clay minerals may explain some of the recent observations of significant amounts of hydrogen not attributable to water ice at martian mid-latitudes.  相似文献   

12.
The evolution of the martian atmosphere with regard to its H2O inventory is influenced by thermal loss processes of H, H2, nonthermal atmospheric loss processes of H+, H2+, O, O+, CO2, and O2+ into space, as well as by chemical weathering of the surface soil. The evolution of thermal and nonthermal escape processes depend on the history of the intensity of the solar XUV radiation and the solar wind density. Thus, we use actual data from the observation of solar proxies with different ages from the Sun in Time program for reconstructing the Sun's radiation and particle environment from the present to 3.5 Gyr ago. The correlation between mass loss and X-ray surface flux of solar proxies follows a power law relationship, which indicates a solar wind density up to 1000 times higher at the beginning of the Sun's main sequence lifetime. For the study of various atmospheric escape processes we used a gas dynamic test particle model for the estimation of the pick up ion loss rates and considered pick up ion sputtering, as well as dissociative recombination. The loss of H2O from Mars over the last 3.5 Gyr was estimated to be equivalent to a global martian H2O ocean with a depth of about 12 m, which is smaller than the values reported by previous studies. If ion momentum transport, a process studied in detail by Mars Express is significant on Mars, the water loss may be enhanced by a factor of about 2. In our investigation we found that the sum of thermal and nonthermal atmospheric loss rates of H and all nonthermal escape processes of O to space are not compatible with a ratio of 2:1, and is currently close to about 20:1. Escape to space cannot therefore be the only sink for oxygen on Mars. Our results suggest that the missing oxygen (needed for the validation of the 2:1 ratio between H and O) can be explained by the incorporation into the martian surface by chemical weathering processes since the onset of intense oxidation about 2 Gyr ago. Based on the evolution of the atmosphere-surface-interaction on Mars, an overall global surface sink of about 2×1042 oxygen particles in the regolith can be expected. Because of the intense oxidation of inorganic matter, this process may have led to the formation of considerable amounts of sulfates and ferric oxides on Mars. To model this effect we consider several factors: (1) the amount of incorporated oxygen, (2) the inorganic composition of the martian soil and (3) meteoritic gardening. We show that the oxygen incorporation has also implications for the oxidant extinction depth, which is an important parameter to determine required sampling depths on Mars aimed at finding putative organic material. We found that the oxidant extinction depth is expected to lie in a range between 2 and 5 m for global mean values.  相似文献   

13.
We used chemical equilibrium calculations to model thermal outgassing of ordinary chondritic material as a function of temperature, pressure, and bulk composition and use our results to discuss outgassing on asteroids and the early Earth. The calculations include ∼1000 solids and gases of the elements Al, C, Ca, Cl, Co, Cr, F, Fe, H, K, Mg, Mn, N, Na, Ni, O, P, S, Si, and Ti. The major outgassed volatiles from ordinary chondritic material are CH4, H2, H2O, N2, and NH3 (the latter at conditions where hydrous minerals form). Contrary to widely held assumptions, CO is never the major C-bearing gas during ordinary chondrite metamorphism. The calculated oxygen fugacity (partial pressure) of ordinary chondritic material is close to that of the quartz-fayalite-iron (QFI) buffer. Our results are insensitive to variable total pressure, variable volatile element abundances, and kinetic inhibition of C and N dissolution in Fe metal. Our results predict that Earth's early atmosphere contained CH4, H2, H2O, N2, and NH3; similar to that used in Miller—Urey synthesis of organic compounds.  相似文献   

14.
The study of the elements and molecules of astrobiological interest on the Moon can be made with the Gas Analysis Package (GAP) and associated instruments developed for the Beagle 2 Mars Express Payload. The permanently shadowed polar regions of the Moon may offer a unique location for the “cold-trapping” of the light elements (i.e. H, C, N, O, etc.) and their simple compounds. Studies of the returned lunar samples have shown that lunar materials have undergone irradiation with the solar wind and adsorb volatiles from possible cometary and micrometeoroid impacts. The Beagle 2’s analytical instrument package including the sample processing facility and the GAP mass spectrometer can provide vital isotopic information that can distinguish whether the lunar volatiles are indigenous to the moon, solar wind derived, cometary in origin or from meteoroids impacting on the Moon. As future Lunar Landers are being considered, the suite of instruments developed for the Mars Beagle 2 lander can be consider as the baseline for any lunar volatile or resource instrument package.  相似文献   

15.
Planetary atmospheres have their birth in certain physical and chemical events in the primitive solar nebula. These events involve irreversible volatile retention through condensation and accretion of planetesimals and giant planets whose volatile inventory can survive the subsequent dissipation of the nebula. Clues to these earliest processes are inferred not without difficulty from the observed volatile compositions of present-day planetary and satellite atmospheres, meteorites and comets. The origins of terrestrial-type atmospheres appear to have involved outgassing of the solid planet with compositions and rates intimately connected to the late growth and thermal evolution of the planet itself. Subsequent evolutionary processes such as escape of certain light elements and cometary and meteoritic infall appear to be of general significance; others such as atmosphere- hydrosphere-crust interactions and development and influence of living organisms are highly specific. Our knowledge of these highly specific areas is largely restricted to the last 3.8 billion years on earth and is based upon analyses of the geologic record which are not presently available for Venus, Titan or the pre-Archean earth and are only available in a superficial way for Mars. In this introductory paper we attempt to draw an integrated picture of the atmospheric evolutionary process being careful to define the outstanding problems, to differentiate theory from fact, and to emphasize the strengths and weaknesses of apriori and aposteriori approaches to these problems.  相似文献   

16.
Volatile organic emissions were detected post-perihelion in the long-period Comet C/2006 M4 (SWAN) in October and November 2006. Our study combines target-of-opportunity infrared observations using the Cryogenic Echelle Spectrometer (CSHELL) at the NASA-IRTF 3-m telescope, and millimeter wavelength observations using the Arizona Radio Observatory (ARO) 12-m telescope. Five parent volatiles were measured with CSHELL (H2O, CO, CH3OH, CH4, and C2H6), and two additional species (HCN and CS) were measured with the ARO 12-m. These revealed highly depleted CO and somewhat enriched CH3OH compared with abundances observed in the dominant group of long-period (Oort cloud) comets in our sample and similar to those observed recently in Comet 8P/Tuttle. This may indicate highly efficient H-atom addition to CO at very low temperature (∼10-20 K) on the surfaces of interstellar (pre-cometary) grains. Comet C/2006 M4 had nearly “normal” C2H6 and CH4, suggesting a processing history similar to that experienced by the dominant group. When compared with estimated water production at the time of the millimeter observations, HCN was slightly depleted compared with the normal abundance in comets based on IR observations but was consistent with the majority of values from the millimeter. The ratio CS/HCN in C/2006 M4 was within the range measured in ten comets at millimeter wavelengths. The higher apparent H-atom conversion efficiency compared with most comets may indicate that the icy grains incorporated into C/2006 M4 were exposed to higher H-atom densities, or alternatively to similar densities but for a longer period of time.  相似文献   

17.
Abstract— We report the results of a study of a halite-siderite-anhydrite-chlorapatite assemblage in the Shergotty-Nakhla-Chassigny (SNC) Martian meteorite Nakhla. These minerals are found associated with each other in interstitial areas, with halite often being adjacent to or enclosing siderite. We suggest the halite and other minerals are Martian in origin because (1) the conditions of fall preclude significant amounts of terrestrial contamination or weathering having taken place; (2) textures indicate that the minerals within this assemblage crystallized at the same stage as some silicate and oxide minerals within the Nakhla parent; and (3) the association with siderite, which previous studies have shown has C and O-isotopic compositions incompatible with an origin on the Earth. Siderite has the range of compositions: CaCO3, 0.1–5.7; MgCO3, 2.0–40.9; FeCO3, 23.2–87.0; MnCO3, 1.0–39.9 mol%. There are two compositional groupings: high-MnCO3 (≥30 mol%) and low-MnCO3/high-FeCO3, with a gap identified between the two. This may be a miscibility gap or, alternatively, the two compositional groupings may mark separate generations of carbonate. We have not found any textural evidence for the latter explanation, but acceptance of the presence of a miscibility gap would require independent work on Fe-Mn carbonates to verify its existence. Trace element abundances have been determined by ion microprobe analysis on three siderite and one anhydrite grains. Siderite has light rare earth elements (2.2–7.3 × C1) greater than heavy rare earth elements (0.32–0.79 × C1) without Ce or Eu anomalies, and the anhydrite has a similar pattern. These abundances reflect the source composition rather than partitioning or complexing controls. They are not typical of hydrothermal signatures which generally do not have such smooth REE abundance patterns. The nature of the mineral assemblage suggests that its source rocks on Mars were evaporites. These may be common in the craters and flood plains of the Martian southern highlands. Two models are suggested in this paper to explain the incorporation of evaporitic material into the Nakhla igneous parent. It may have happened as a low-temperature process (<200 °C) by crystallisation from an aqueous fluid. An origin at low temperature is compatible with the available experimental data on siderite stability. Alternatively, we suggest evaporitic material may have been incorporated into the Nakhla parent while melt was still present and crystallized ～800 °C. The latter model can more readily explain the trace element abundances and also the siderite textures that imply intergrowth with residual interstitial melt. Both high- and low-temperature models are consistent with the presence of evaporite sediments on Mars.  相似文献   

18.
We analyze the chemical composition and abundances of comets based on in situ measurements of Comet 1P/Halley and remote sensing observations of several recent bright comets including Hale-Bopp (C/1995 O1) and Hyakutake (C/1996 B2), in light of the elemental abundances of the solar system. Nitrogen is underabundant in comets relative to the solar system because nitrogen tends to be in N2, which is chemically relatively inert. While many details remain uncertain, some gross features are emerging. The abundance of water : silicates: carbonaceous molecules (CO, CO2, and hydrocarbons) by mass is approximately 1 : 1 : 1. Furthermore, the mass abundance of ice : dust (silicates and hydrocarbon polycondensates) is about1 : 1. We compare a list of identified comet molecules with molecules detected in the interstellar medium, although a comparison with their relative abundances, particularly in the ice phase, would be more meaningful. However, ice-phase abundances are not yet available. One can expect a variation of the abundances of carbon-bearing molecules in comets to be associated with their place of origin in the solar nebula. However, we also note that comets are heterogeneous. Thus, observed differences may be related to the place of origin, heterogeneity of the nucleus, or acquired through evolution. The molecular and elemental compositions of the coma are most likely not the same as those in the nucleus. This is particularly true for volatile ices and their gases and for the dust-to-ice and dust-to-gas ratios. Analyses must carefully consider the three sources of gas: Water from the surface of the nucleus, gases more volatile than water from the interior of the nucleus, and gases from the sublimation of the dust distributed in the coma. Topography on the surface of the nucleus may cause important evolutionary differences in the dust-to-gas mass ratio. Relatively inactive areas on the surface of the nucleus are probably associated with convex topography. Gas sublimated from convex areas (hills and mountains) diverges more strongly relative to gas sublimated from concave areas, which can entrain dust more efficiently. Thus, the entrainment of dust from convex areas is poor and dust may fall back to the surface of the nucleus creating a dust mantle, which further inhibits outgassing.  相似文献   

19.
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.  相似文献   

20.
James L. Gooding 《Icarus》1978,33(3):483-513
Chemical weathering on Mars is examined theoretically from the standpoint of heterogeneous equilibrium between solid mineral phases and gaseous O2, H2O, and CO2 in the Martian atmosphere. Thermochemical calculations are performed in order to identify important gas-solid decomposition reactions involving the major mineral constituents of mafic igneous rocks. Where unavailable in the thermochemical literature, Gibbs free energy and enthalpy of formation are estimated for certain minerals and details of these estimation procedures are given. Partial pressure stability diagrams are presented to show pertinent mineral reaction boundaries at 298 and at 240°K. In the present Martian environment, the thermodynamically stable products of gas-solid weathering of individual minerals at 240°K should be Fe2O3, as hematite or maghemite (from fayalite, magnetite, and Fe-bearing pyroxenes), quartz (from all silicates), calcite (from Ca-bearing pyroxenes and plagioclase), magnesite (from forsterite and Mg-bearing pyroxenes), corundum (from all Al-bearing silicates), Ca-beidellite (from anorthite), and szomolnokite, FeSO4 or FeSO4·H2O (from iron sulfides). Albite, microcline, and apatite should be stable with respect to gas-solid decomposition, suggesting that gas-solid weathering products on Mars may be depleted in Na, K, and P (and, possibly, Cl and F). Certain montmorillonite-type clay minerals are thermodynamically favorable intermediate gas-solid decomposition products of Al-bearing pyroxenes and may be metastable intermediate products of special mineral surface reaction mechanisms. However, the predicted high thermodynamic susceptibility of these clay minerals to subsequent gas-solid decomposition implies that they should ultimately decompose in the present Martian surface environment. Kaolinite is apparently the only clay mineral which should be thermodynamically stable over all ranges of temperature and water vapor abundance in the present environment at the Martian surface. Considering thermodynamic criteria, including possible gas-solid decomposition reactions, it is doubtful that significant amounts of goethite and clay minerals can be currently forming on Mars by mechanisms known to operate to Earth. If major amounts of goethite and clay minerals occur on Mars, they probably owe their existence to formation in an environment characterized by the presence of liquid water or by mechanism possibly unique to Mars. In any case, any goethite or montmorillonite-type clay mineral on Mars must ultimately decompose.  相似文献   

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