Simulations of the Viking gas exchange experiment using palagonite and Fe-rich montmorillonite as terrestrial analogs - Implications for the surface composition of Mars

Details Simulations of the Viking gas exchange experiment using palagonite and Fe-rich montmorillonite as terrestrial analogs - Implications for the surface composition of Mars Simulations of the Viking gas exchange experiment using palagonite and Fe-rich montmorillonite as terrestrial analogs - Implications for the surface composition of Mars

Oct 1993

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=1993gecoa..57.4611q&link_type=abstract

Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta, vol. 57, p. 4611

Biology

12

Mars Surface, Viking Lander Spacecraft, Gas Exchange, Montmorillonite, Planetary Composition, Iron Compounds, Minerals, Carbon Dioxide

Scientific paper

Simulations of the Gas Exchange Experiment (GEX), one of the Viking Lander Biology Experiments, were run using palagonite and Fe-rich montmorillonite as terrestrial analogs of the Martian soil. These terrestrial analogs were exposed to a nutrient solution of the same composition as that of the Viking Landers under humid (no contact with nutrient) and wet (intimate contact) conditions. The headspace gases in the GEX sample cell were sampled and then analyzed by gas chromatography under both humid and wet conditions. Five gases were monitored: CO2, N2, O2, Ar, and Kr. It was determined that in order to simulate the CO2 gas changes of the Viking GEX experiment, the mixture of soil analog mineral plus nutrient medium must be slightly (pH = 7.4) to moderately basic (pH = 8.7). This conclusion suggests constraints upon the composition of terrestrial analogs of the Mars soil; acidic components may be present, but the overall mixture must be basic in order to simulate the Viking GEX results.

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