Constraints on abundance, composition, and nature of X-ray amorphous components of soils and rocks at Gale Crater, Mars
Abstract
X‐ray diffraction patterns of the three samples analyzed by Curiosity 's Chemistry and Mineralogy (CheMin) instrument during the first year of the Mars Science Laboratory mission—the Rocknest sand, and the John Klein and Cumberland drill fines, both extracted from the Sheepbed mudstone—show evidence for a significant amorphous component of unclear origin. We developed a mass balance calculation program that determines the range of possible chemical compositions of the crystalline and amorphous components of these samples within the uncertainties of mineral abundances derived from CheMin data. In turn, the chemistry constrains the minimum abundance of amorphous component required to have realistic compositions (all oxides ≥ 0 wt %): 21–22 wt % for Rocknest and 15–20 wt % for Cumberland, in good agreement with estimates derived from the diffraction patterns (~27 and ~31 wt %, respectively). Despite obvious differences between the Rocknest sand and the Sheepbed mudstone, the amorphous components of the two sites are chemically very similar, having comparable concentrations of SiO 2 , TiO 2 , Al 2 O 3 , Cr 2 O 3 , FeO T , CaO, Na 2 O, K 2 O, and P 2 O 5 . MgO tends to be lower in Rocknest, although it may also be comparable between the two samples depending on the exact composition of the smectite in Sheepbed. The only unambiguous difference is the SO 3 content, which is always higher in Rocknest. The observed similarity suggests that the two amorphous components share a common origin or formation process. The individual phases possibly present within the amorphous components include: volcanic (or impact) glass, hisingerite (or silica + ferrihydrite), amorphous sulfates (or adsorbed SO 4 2− ), and nanophase ferric oxides.
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Martian soils are a subequal mixture of crystalline and amorphous phases, as revealed by the CheMin instrument on the Mars Science Laboratory.
“In contrast, martian soils are a subequal mixture of crystalline and amorphous phases, as revealed by the CheMin instrument on the Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) (Bish et al., 2013; Dehouck et al., 2014).”
From Mars global simulant MGS-1: A Rocknest-based open standard for basaltic martian regolith simulants (2019) · cites this paper as Dehouck et al., 2014
The amorphous component of Rocknest is deficient in SiO2, Al2O3, and CaO, and enriched in SO3 and H2O compared to the bulk soil.
“Dehouck et al. (2014) and Morris et al. (2015) isolated the elemental chemistry of the amorphous component using a mass balance approach (Table 2), showing that it is deficient in SiO2, Al2O3, and CaO, and enriched in SO3 and H2O compared to the bulk soil.”
From Mars global simulant MGS-1: A Rocknest-based open standard for basaltic martian regolith simulants (2019) · cites this paper as Dehouck et al. (2014)
Poorly crystalline and/or X-ray amorphous material makes up at least 21-22% of the Rocknest soil sample by weight.
“Poorly crystalline and/or X-ray amorphous material makes up at least 21-22% of the Rocknest soil sample by weight (Dehouck et al., 2014), and it is still not entirely clear what this material is.”
From Mars global simulant MGS-1: A Rocknest-based open standard for basaltic martian regolith simulants (2019) · cites this paper as Dehouck et al., 2014
The MGS-1 standard is based on X-ray diffraction analyses for the crystalline portion of the Rocknest soil and inferences for the amorphous component.
“We applied this mineral-based design philosophy for the MGS-1 standard, based on X-ray Diffraction (XRD) analyses for the crystalline portion of the Rocknest soil (Bish et al., 2013), and inferences for the amorphous component (Bish et al., 2013; Dehouck et al., 2014; Achilles et al. 2018).”
From Mars global simulant MGS-1: A Rocknest-based open standard for basaltic martian regolith simulants (2019) · cites this paper as Dehouck et al., 2014
The MGS-1 standard adopts most of the same mineral proportions reported by Bish et al. (2013), re-normalized for a 30% amorphous content that is intermediate between low and high estimates of how much amorphous material is present.
“We adopt most of the same mineral proportions reported by Bish et al. (2013) (Table 1), re-normalized for a 30% amorphous content that is intermediate between low and high estimates of how much amorphous material is present (Bish et al., 2013; Dehouck et al., 2014).”
From Mars global simulant MGS-1: A Rocknest-based open standard for basaltic martian regolith simulants (2019) · cites this paper as Dehouck et al., 2014
Cites
A Habitable Fluvio-Lacustrine Environment at Yellowknife Bay, Gale Crater, Mars
Grotzinger, J. P., Sumner, D. Y., Kah, L. C., Stack, K., Gupta, S., Edgar, L., Rubin, D., Lewis, K., Schieber, J., Mangold, N., et al. (2014) · Science · doi:10.1126/science.1242777 · Cited by 901 · see citing works
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Redox stratification of an ancient lake in Gale crater, Mars
Hurowitz, J. A., Grotzinger, J. P., Fischer, W. W., McLennan, S. M., Milliken, R. E., Stein, N., Vasavada, A. R., Blake, D. F., Dehouck, E., Eigenbrode, J. L., et al. (2017) · Science · doi:10.1126/science.aah6849 · Cited by 292 · see citing works
Self-citationMars global simulant MGS-1: A Rocknest-based open standard for basaltic martian regolith simulants
Cannon, K. M., Britt, D. T., Smith, T. M., Fritsche, R. F., & Batcheldor, D. (2019) · Icarus · doi:10.1016/j.icarus.2018.08.019 · Cited by 243 · see citing works
- Authors
- Dehouck, E., McLennan, S. M., Meslin, P., & Cousin, A.
- Affiliations
- Stony Brook University (US)
- Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (FR)
- Los Alamos National Laboratory (US)
- Venue
- Journal of Geophysical Research: Planets
- Publisher
- American Geophysical Union (AGU)
- Published
- 2014-12
- Volume
- 119
- Issue
- 12
- Pages
- 2640-2657
- ISSN
- 2169-9097 (ISSN-L)
- 2169-9100
- OpenAlex
- W1589074945
- Cited by
- 99
- References
- 1
- Citations by year
- 2026: 5 · 2025: 10 · 2024: 6 · 2023: 7 · 2022: 7 · 2021: 9 · 2020: 11 · 2019: 6 · 2018: 15 · 2017: 9 · 2016: 8 · 2015: 5 · 2014: 1
- FWCI
- 4.13
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Journal of Geophysical Research Planets (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- National Aeronautics and Space Administration through a contract with the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Physics and Astronomy › Astronomy and Astrophysics › Planetary Science and Exploration
- Physical Sciences › Physics and Astronomy › Astronomy and Astrophysics › Astro and Planetary Science
- Physical Sciences › Earth and Planetary Sciences › Geochemistry and Petrology › Geochemistry and Elemental Analysis
- Keywords
- amorphous component, Gale Crater, curiosity, CheMin, X-ray diffraction, mass balance analysis, mineral composition, volcanic glass, hisingerite, ferrihydrite, smectite
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