X-Ray Fingerprinting Techniques for Recognizing A Hydrological Role in the Formation of Minerals on the Surface of Mars

Details X-Ray Fingerprinting Techniques for Recognizing A Hydrological Role in the Formation of Minerals on the Surface of Mars X-Ray Fingerprinting Techniques for Recognizing A Hydrological Role in the Formation of Minerals on the Surface of Mars

Sep 1999

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=1999smtp.conf....5m&link_type=abstract

Studies of Mineralogical and Textural Properties of Martian Soil: An Exobiological Perspective, p. 5

Mathematics

Logic

Mars (Planet), Mars Surface, Minerals, Pattern Recognition, Soils, Water, Moisture, Basalt, Clays, Mica, Silicates, Zeolites

Scientific paper

Previous work has demonstrated the ability of a miniaturized XRD-XRF instrument to perform in-situ analyses without sample preparation or acquisition. Deployment of this instrument on a Martian rover will allow a large number of rapid qualitative analyses, which will maximize the diversity of samples studied and selected for possible return. As a first step in designing a decision tree for recognizing minerals in complex mixtures, d spacings were plotted against intensity for several mineral groups comprising rock and soil types inferred for the surface of Mars (weathered basalt, playa and hydrothermal deposits, clay-rich soils). In all groups, d spacings cluster in a range from about 1-4 angstroms, which can under certain circumstances obscure patterns for individual phases. However, within the silicate family, minerals containing either bound OH- or molecules of H20 (clays, micas, amphiboles, zeolites) are characterized by a shift of peaks to higher d spacings. Large d spacings (greater than about 7 angstroms) thus act as a first-order filter for distinguishing hydrous from anhydrous silicates. The ability to quickly verify the presence of silicates that have interacted with water has important implications for using mineral chemistry and structure to help decipher the hydrologic and atmospheric history of Mars. This represents a beginning for developing more sophisticated methods of pattern recognition. These will combine XRD and XRF analyses with optical data to rapidly7 discern environmentally diagnostic assemblages without the necessity of identifying every peak individual mineral phase.

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