Physics
Scientific paper
Dec 2006
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2006agufm.p21a..06r&link_type=abstract
American Geophysical Union, Fall Meeting 2006, abstract #P21A-06
Physics
5410 Composition (1060, 3672), 5415 Erosion And Weathering, 5464 Remote Sensing, 6225 Mars
Scientific paper
Spectral data suggest that the Martian surface may be chemically altered. However, TES data show evidence for abundant primary glass, and Mini-TES data from MER Spirit in the Columbia Hills identify primary basaltic glass in rocks that are believed to be altered (Haskin et al., 2005, Ming et al., 2006, Wang et al., 2006). Debate over whether the primary glass identified spectrally may be interpreted as alteration products, such as clay minerals and/or amorphous silica coatings (Wyatt and McSween, 2002, Kraft et al., 2003), has focused on their spectral similarities (Koeppen and Hamilton, 2005). We suggest that some of the putative primary glass may be due to nonlinear spectral mixing of primary and secondary phases. We created physical mixtures made up of a primary phase (augite, andesine, or a 50:50 weight percent mixture of augite and andesine) and a secondary phase (montmorillonite clay or amorphous silica in 2.5, 5, 10, and 20 weight percent abundances) to test how secondary phases affect primary mineral thermal infrared spectra and modeled mineralogies. We found that the presence of small to moderate amounts of secondary material strongly affect modeled mineralogies, cause the false identification of primary glass in abundances as high as 40 volume percent, and report modeled plagioclase to pyroxene ratios that differ from actual ratios in the mixtures. These results are important for the surface mineralogy of Mars because surface type two (ST2), which may be altered, has the highest modeled plagioclase to pyroxene ratio. The presence of alteration material on Mars may cause the false identification or overestimation of primary glass in TES and Mini-TES data and may cause incorrect modeling of primary phases on Mars.
Kraft Michael David
Michalski Joseph R.
Rampe E. B.
Sharp Thomas G.
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