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16 - Geochemical analogs and Martian meteorites

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 September 2009

By
Horton E. Newsom
Edited by
Mary Chapman
Horton E. Newsom
Affiliation:
Institute of Meteoritics and Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque
Mary Chapman
Affiliation:
United States Geological Survey, Arizona
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Summary

Introduction

The formation and evolution of Mars involved both physical and chemical processes that are revealed in the chemistry of the Martian meteorites, and in the chemistry of the surface of Mars determined by remote sensing from spacecraft in orbit and on the surface. The interpretation of the chemistry revealed by these studies has been strongly influenced by our knowledge of geochemical processes on the Earth, Moon, and asteroidal parent bodies. In a sense, the entire Earth, Moon, and a number of asteroid parent bodies can be considered Mars analogs! The most studied differentiated body (melted and chemically evolved) from the asteroid belt is the parent body of the Howardite, Eucrite, and Diogenite (HED) igneous meteorite classes, thought to be the asteroid 4 Vesta (Mittlefehldt et al., 1998). These HED meteorites are igneous rocks that are basaltic in nature with slightly different mineral assemblages (McSween, 1999). In this chapter we use data from samples on the Earth including the meteorites from the HED parent body and the Martian meteorites to understand the chemical fractionations that have affected Martian rocks and surface materials. These chemical fractionations are the changes in chemistry due to the different behavior of particular groups of chemical elements according to their properties. We will begin by looking at the evidence for the formation of Mars, the early differentiation of the planet, the later formation of igneous rocks by mantle melting, and end with surface processes leading to formation of the Martian fine-grained regolith OR soils.

Type
Chapter
Information
The Geology of Mars
Evidence from Earth-Based Analogs
 , pp. 400 - 423
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2007

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