An integrated view of the chemistry and mineralogy of martian soils
Abstract
The mineralogical and elemental compositions of the martian soil are indicators of chemical and physical weathering processes. Using data from the Mars Exploration Rovers, we show that bright dust deposits on opposite sides of the planet are part of a global unit and not dominated by the composition of local rocks. Dark soil deposits at both sites have similar basaltic mineralogies, and could reflect either a global component or the general similarity in the compositions of the rocks from which they were derived. Increased levels of bromine are consistent with mobilization of soluble salts by thin films of liquid water, but the presence of olivine in analysed soil samples indicates that the extent of aqueous alteration of soils has been limited. Nickel abundances are enhanced at the immediate surface and indicate that the upper few millimetres of soil could contain up to one per cent meteoritic material.
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The soil itself has a basaltic composition, derived from a globally basaltic crust.
“The soil itself has a basaltic composition (Yen et al., 2005; Ming and Morris, 2017), derived from a globally basaltic crust (McSween et al., 2009).”
From Mars global simulant MGS-1: A Rocknest-based open standard for basaltic martian regolith simulants (2019) · cites this paper as Yen et al., 2005
Most older simulant varieties contain almost no sulfur, whereas martian regolith contains up to 6 wt.% SO3, assuming all sulfur is in the form of sulfate.
“Most of the older simulant varieties contain almost no sulfur, whereas martian regolith contains up to 6 wt.% SO3 (assuming all S is in the form of sulfate; Yen et al., 2005; Ming and Morris, 2017).”
From Mars global simulant MGS-1: A Rocknest-based open standard for basaltic martian regolith simulants (2019) · cites this paper as Yen et al., 2005
Cites
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Self-citationInitial results from the Mini-TES experiment in Gusev crater from the Spirit rover
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A Habitable Fluvio-Lacustrine Environment at Yellowknife Bay, Gale Crater, Mars
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Self-citationSoil Diversity and Hydration as Observed by ChemCam at Gale Crater, Mars
Meslin, P.-Y., Gasnault, O., Forni, O., Schröder, S., Cousin, A., Berger, G., Clegg, S. M., Lasue, J., Maurice, S., Sautter, V., et al. (2013) · Science · doi:10.1126/science.1238670 · Cited by 268 · 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
Mineralogy of an active eolian sediment from the Namib dune, Gale crater, Mars
Achilles, C. N., Downs, R. T., Ming, D. W., Rampe, E. B., Morris, R. V., Treiman, A. H., Morrison, S. M., Blake, D. F., Vaniman, D. T., Ewing, R. C., et al. (2017) · Journal of Geophysical Research: Planets · doi:10.1002/2017je005262 · Cited by 158 · see citing works
Self-citationFackrell, L. E., Schroeder, P. A., Thompson, A., Stockstill-Cahill, K., & Hibbitts, C. A. (2021) · Icarus · doi:10.1016/j.icarus.2020.114055 · Cited by 54 · see citing works
- Authors
- Yen, A. S., Gellert, R., Schröder, C., Morris, R. V., Bell, J. F., Knudson, A. T., Clark, B. C., Ming, D. W., Crisp, J. A., Arvidson, R. E., Blaney, D., Brückner, J., Christensen, P. R., DesMarais, D. J., de Souza, P. A., Economou, T. E., Ghosh, A., Hahn, B. C., Herkenhoff, K. E., Haskin, L. A., Hurowitz, J. A., Joliff, B. L., Johnson, J. R., Klingelhöfer, G., Madsen, M. B., McLennan, S. M., McSween, H. Y., Richter, L., Rieder, R., Rodionov, D., Soderblom, L., Squyres, S. W., Tosca, N. J., Wang, A., Wyatt, M., & Zipfel, J.
- Affiliations
- California Institute of Technology (US)
- Max Planck Society (DE)
- Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz (DE)
- Johnson Space Center (US)
- Arizona State University (US)
- Lockheed Martin (United States) (US)
- Washington University in St. Louis (US)
- Ames Research Center (US)
- University of Chicago (US)
- University of Tennessee at Knoxville (US)
- State University of New York (US)
- United States Geological Survey (US)
- University of Copenhagen (DK)
- Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt e. V. (DLR) (DE)
- Cornell University (US)
- Corresponding author
- Yen, Albert S.
- ORCID
- Yen, Albert S.
- Gellert, Ralf
- Schröder, Christian
- Morris, Richard V.
- Clark, Benton C.
- Ming, Douglas W.
- Crisp, Joy A.
- Arvidson, Raymond E.
- Blaney, Diana
- Christensen, Philip R.
- Economou, Thanasis E.
- Herkenhoff, Kenneth E.
- Hurowitz, Joel A.
- Johnson, Jeffrey R.
- Klingelhöfer, Göstar
- Madsen, Morten Bo
- McLennan, Scott M.
- Richter, Lutz
- Rodionov, Daniel
- Tosca, Nicholas J.
- Wang, Alian
- Zipfel, Jutta
- Venue
- Nature
- Published
- 2005-07-07
- Volume
- 436
- Issue
- 7047
- Pages
- 49-54
- ISSN
- 0028-0836 (ISSN-L)
- 1476-4687
- OpenAlex
- W2029122143
- Cited by
- 422
- References
- 2
- Citations by year
- 2026: 14 · 2025: 24 · 2024: 19 · 2023: 18 · 2022: 15 · 2021: 19 · 2020: 18 · 2019: 14 · 2018: 21 · 2017: 20 · 2016: 13 · 2015: 18 · 2014: 18 · 2013: 20 · 2012: 13
- FWCI
- 22.55
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Update notices
- erratum (2005-08-11)
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Nature (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Department of Earth Sciences EPrints Repository (acceptedVersion)
- RePEc: Research Papers in Economics (submittedVersion)
- Stirling Online Research Repository (University of Stirling) (submittedVersion, public-domain)
- Max Planck Institute for Plasma Physics (submittedVersion)
- elib (German Aerospace Center) (submittedVersion)
- Research at the University of Copenhagen (University of Copenhagen) (submittedVersion)
- MPG.PuRe (Max Planck Society) (submittedVersion)
- Funders
- Jet Propulsion Laboratory
- 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
- Martian soil, soil mineralogy, soil chemistry, chemical weathering, physical weathering, Mars Exploration Rover, bromine, soluble salts, aqueous alteration, olivine, nickel, meteoritic material, Mars
- MeSH terms
- Bromine, Dust, Extraterrestrial Environment, Minerals, Nickel, Soil, Spectrophotometry, Infrared, Water, Spectroscopy, Mossbauer, Magnesium Compounds, Silicates, Mars, Geologic Sediments, Iron Compounds
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