Implications of abundant hygroscopic minerals in the Martian regolith

Converging lines of evidence suggest that a significant portion of the Martian surface fines may consist of salts and smectite clays. Salts can form stoichiometric hydrates as well as eutectic solutions with depressed freezing points; clays contain bound water of constitution and adsorb significant quantities of water from the vapor phase. The formation of ice may be suppressed by these minerals in some regions on Mars, and their presence in abundance would imply important consequences for atmospheric and geologic processes and the prospects for exobiology.