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Mineral paragenesis on Mars: The roles of reactive surface area and diffusion

Geochemical models of secondary mineral precipitation on Mars generally assume semiopen systems (open to the atmosphere but closed at the water‐sediment interface) and equilibrium conditions. However, in natural multicomponent systems, the reactive surface area of primary minerals controls the disso...

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Autores principales: Fairén, Alberto G., Gil‐Lozano, Carolina, Uceda, Esther R., Losa‐Adams, Elisabeth, Davila, Alfonso F., Gago‐Duport, Luis
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: John Wiley and Sons Inc. 2017
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5656915/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29104844
http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/2016JE005229
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author Fairén, Alberto G.
Gil‐Lozano, Carolina
Uceda, Esther R.
Losa‐Adams, Elisabeth
Davila, Alfonso F.
Gago‐Duport, Luis
author_facet Fairén, Alberto G.
Gil‐Lozano, Carolina
Uceda, Esther R.
Losa‐Adams, Elisabeth
Davila, Alfonso F.
Gago‐Duport, Luis
author_sort Fairén, Alberto G.
collection PubMed
description Geochemical models of secondary mineral precipitation on Mars generally assume semiopen systems (open to the atmosphere but closed at the water‐sediment interface) and equilibrium conditions. However, in natural multicomponent systems, the reactive surface area of primary minerals controls the dissolution rate and affects the precipitation sequences of secondary phases, and simultaneously, the transport of dissolved species may occur through the atmosphere‐water and water‐sediment interfaces. Here we present a suite of geochemical models designed to analyze the formation of secondary minerals in basaltic sediments on Mars, evaluating the role of (i) reactive surface areas and (ii) the transport of ions through a basalt sediment column. We consider fully open conditions, both to the atmosphere and to the sediment, and a kinetic approach for mineral dissolution and precipitation. Our models consider a geochemical scenario constituted by a basin (i.e., a shallow lake) where supersaturation is generated by evaporation/cooling and the starting point is a solution in equilibrium with basaltic sediments. Our results show that cation removal by diffusion, along with the input of atmospheric volatiles and the influence of the reactive surface area of primary minerals, plays a central role in the evolution of the secondary mineral sequences formed. We conclude that precipitation of evaporites finds more restrictions in basaltic sediments of small grain size than in basaltic sediments of greater grain size.
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spelling pubmed-56569152017-11-01 Mineral paragenesis on Mars: The roles of reactive surface area and diffusion Fairén, Alberto G. Gil‐Lozano, Carolina Uceda, Esther R. Losa‐Adams, Elisabeth Davila, Alfonso F. Gago‐Duport, Luis J Geophys Res Planets Research Articles Geochemical models of secondary mineral precipitation on Mars generally assume semiopen systems (open to the atmosphere but closed at the water‐sediment interface) and equilibrium conditions. However, in natural multicomponent systems, the reactive surface area of primary minerals controls the dissolution rate and affects the precipitation sequences of secondary phases, and simultaneously, the transport of dissolved species may occur through the atmosphere‐water and water‐sediment interfaces. Here we present a suite of geochemical models designed to analyze the formation of secondary minerals in basaltic sediments on Mars, evaluating the role of (i) reactive surface areas and (ii) the transport of ions through a basalt sediment column. We consider fully open conditions, both to the atmosphere and to the sediment, and a kinetic approach for mineral dissolution and precipitation. Our models consider a geochemical scenario constituted by a basin (i.e., a shallow lake) where supersaturation is generated by evaporation/cooling and the starting point is a solution in equilibrium with basaltic sediments. Our results show that cation removal by diffusion, along with the input of atmospheric volatiles and the influence of the reactive surface area of primary minerals, plays a central role in the evolution of the secondary mineral sequences formed. We conclude that precipitation of evaporites finds more restrictions in basaltic sediments of small grain size than in basaltic sediments of greater grain size. John Wiley and Sons Inc. 2017-09-12 2017-09 /pmc/articles/PMC5656915/ /pubmed/29104844 http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/2016JE005229 Text en ©2017. The Authors. This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution‐NonCommercial‐NoDerivs (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/) License, which permits use and distribution in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited, the use is non‐commercial and no modifications or adaptations are made.
spellingShingle Research Articles
Fairén, Alberto G.
Gil‐Lozano, Carolina
Uceda, Esther R.
Losa‐Adams, Elisabeth
Davila, Alfonso F.
Gago‐Duport, Luis
Mineral paragenesis on Mars: The roles of reactive surface area and diffusion
title Mineral paragenesis on Mars: The roles of reactive surface area and diffusion
title_full Mineral paragenesis on Mars: The roles of reactive surface area and diffusion
title_fullStr Mineral paragenesis on Mars: The roles of reactive surface area and diffusion
title_full_unstemmed Mineral paragenesis on Mars: The roles of reactive surface area and diffusion
title_short Mineral paragenesis on Mars: The roles of reactive surface area and diffusion
title_sort mineral paragenesis on mars: the roles of reactive surface area and diffusion
topic Research Articles
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5656915/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29104844
http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/2016JE005229
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