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Water in Pyroxene and Olivine from Martian MeteoritesWater in the interior of terrestrial planets can be dissolved in fluids or melts and hydrous phases, but can also be locked as protons attached to structural oxygen in lattice defects in nominally anhydrous minerals (NAM) like olivine, pyroxene, or feldspar [1-3]. Although these minerals contain only tens to hundreds of ppm H2O, this water can amount to at least one ocean in mass when added at planetary scales because of the modal dominance of NAM in the mantle and crust [4]. Moreover these trace amounts of water can have drastic effects on melting temperature, rheology, electrical and heat conductivity, and seismic wave attenuation [5]. There is presently a debate on how much water is present in the martian mantle. Secondary ionization mass spectrometry (SIMS) studies of NAM [6], amphiboles and glass in melt inclusions [7-10], and apatites [11, 12] from Martian meteorites report finding as much water as in the same phases from Earth's igneous rocks. Most martian hydrous minerals, however, generally have the relevant sites filled with Cl and F instead of H [13, 14], and experiments using Cl [15] in parent melts can reproduce Martian basalt compositions as well as those with water [16]. We are in the process of analyzing Martian meteorite minerals by Fourier transform infrared spectrometry (FTIR) in order to constrain the role of water in this planet s formation and magmatic evolution
Document ID
20120015555
Acquisition Source
Johnson Space Center
Document Type
Conference Paper
Authors
Peslier, A. H. (Jacobs Technologies Engineering Science Contract Group Houston, TX, United States)
Date Acquired
August 26, 2013
Publication Date
September 10, 2012
Subject Category
Lunar And Planetary Science And Exploration
Report/Patent Number
JSC-CN-26707
Meeting Information
Meeting: The Mantle of Mars
Location: Houston, TX
Country: United States
Start Date: September 10, 2012
End Date: September 12, 2012
Sponsors: Lunar and Planetary Inst.
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Public Use Permitted.

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