Quantification of the dry history of the Martian soil inferred from in situ microscopy: PSD OF MARTIAN SOIL
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[1] The particle size distribution (PSD) of a Martian soil sample, a useful indicator of the underlying soil formation processes, has been determined using optical and atomic-force microscopy data acquired by the Phoenix Mars lander. In particular, the presence and fraction of clay-sized particles in the PSD reflects the extent of aqueous interaction with the soil. Two size populations have been identified for the Martian sample: Larger, mostly rounded grains; and small reddish fines, notably with a very low mass proportion in the clay-size range below 2μm. These fines reflect the smallest-scale formation processes, and indicate a single method of production for the particles up to 11μm, a much larger value than that expected for the aqueous interaction of clay formation; this suggests the fines are predominantly the product of global aeolian weathering under very dry conditions. The proportion of clay-sized soils can be used to estimate that there has been much less than 5,000 years exposure to liquid water over the history of the soil. From the perspective of the PSD, lunar regolith, rather than terrestrial soil, is the best analog to Martian soil. A globally homogenous soil with such a PSD would be an unlikely habitat for the propagation of life on Mars.
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Pike et al. (2011) reported that ~1 vol.% of Phoenix surface materials were <4 μm.
“Pike et al. (2011) reported that ~1 vol. % of the Phoenix surface materials were <4 µm”
From Mars global simulant MGS-1: A Rocknest-based open standard for basaltic martian regolith simulants (2019) · cites this paper as Pike et al. (2011)
The Approach and Results section describes a cumulative-volume particle-size distribution for Phoenix soil, and the Discussion reports less than 0.05% by volume below 2 µm. The passages do not give a volume fraction below 4 µm, so they do not establish the claimed ~1 vol.%. (LLM, conf=0.78)
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- Authors
- Pike, W. T., Staufer, U., Hecht, M. H., Goetz, W., Parrat, D., Sykulska-Lawrence, H., Vijendran, S., & Madsen, M. B.
- Affiliations
- Imperial College London (GB)
- University of Neuchâtel (CH)
- Jet Propulsion Laboratory (US)
- Max Planck Society (DE)
- University of Copenhagen (DK)
- Venue
- Geophysical Research Letters
- Publisher
- American Geophysical Union (AGU)
- Published
- 2011-12-21
- Volume
- 38
- Issue
- 24
- Pages
- n/a-n/a
- ISSN
- 0094-8276 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W1622258141
- Cited by
- 94
- References
- 0
- Citations by year
- 2026: 6 · 2025: 7 · 2024: 2 · 2023: 3 · 2022: 6 · 2021: 13 · 2020: 7 · 2019: 5 · 2018: 11 · 2017: 7 · 2016: 6 · 2015: 4 · 2014: 7 · 2013: 7 · 2012: 3
- FWCI
- 2.77
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- bronze
- doi.org
- Locations
- Geophysical Research Letters (publishedVersion)
- Max Planck Institute for Plasma Physics (submittedVersion)
- Max Planck Digital Library (submittedVersion)
- GoeScholar The Publication Server of the Georg-August-Universität Göttingen (Georg-August-Universität Göttingen) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
- Research at the University of Copenhagen (University of Copenhagen) (submittedVersion)
- MPG.PuRe (Max Planck Society) (submittedVersion)
- Funders
- National Science Foundation
- National Aeronautics and Space Administration
- California Institute of Technology
- Golden Key International Honour Society
- École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne
- Schweizerischer Nationalfonds zur Förderung der Wissenschaftlichen Forschung
- Jet Propulsion Laboratory
- Science and Technology Facilities Council (PP/D002354/1, ST/G008485/1, PP/D002192/1)
- 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
- Life Sciences › Agricultural and Biological Sciences › Soil Science › Soil and Environmental Studies
- Keywords
- Martian soil, particle size distribution, Phoenix Mars Lander, aqueous alteration, dry conditions, in situ microscopy
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