Phyllosilicates are widespread on Noachian to Early Hesperian terrains on Mars and can help constrain the planet’s geologic and environmental history, particularly its aqueous and redox history, which in turn can provide clues about past habitability. A range of ferrous and mixed-valence smectites were synthesized and then exposed to varying O2 fluxes under dry conditions to determine if Fe/Mg trioctahedral smectites can be oxidized without an aqueous medium to form dioctahedral smectites like those observed on the surface of Mars. The appearance of a secondary peak in some unaltered samples indicates a separate phase formed during synthesis, which remained throughout the oxidation process. Partial oxidation was achieved by all samples, but only those with the highest starting Fe3+ content reached almost complete oxidation. Rapid initial oxidation was observed for all samples, but seemed to subside before oxidation was complete, indicating the process becomes unfavorable after a certain point. All three O2 fluxes used in this study were successful in partially oxidizing the smectite samples but no correlation was observed between O2 flux and actual amount of oxidation, i.e., a higher O2 flux does not necessarily result in higher production of ferric iron. The process of oxidation did cause octahedral sheet contraction in some cases; however, in some samples octahedral sheet expansion was observed with oxidation. No additional phases were formed upon oxidation and no Fe ejection was observed. Overall, the amount of oxidation observed for all samples indicates that O2 alteration of trioctahedral smectites into dioctahedral smectites can proceed under dry conditions, meaning oxidation could have continued on Mars after surface water dried up. / Geology
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:TEMPLE/oai:scholarshare.temple.edu:20.500.12613/6890 |
| Date | January 2021 |
| Creators | Araneda Noboa, Paula, 0000-0002-7727-0231 |
| Contributors | Chemtob, Steven M., Davatzes, Alexandra K., Kim, Bojeong |
| Publisher | Temple University. Libraries |
| Source Sets | Temple University |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis/Dissertation, Text |
| Format | 100 pages |
| Rights | IN COPYRIGHT- This Rights Statement can be used for an Item that is in copyright. Using this statement implies that the organization making this Item available has determined that the Item is in copyright and either is the rights-holder, has obtained permission from the rights-holder(s) to make their Work(s) available, or makes the Item available under an exception or limitation to copyright (including Fair Use) that entitles it to make the Item available., http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/ |
| Relation | http://dx.doi.org/10.34944/dspace/6872, Theses and Dissertations |
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