New insights into the mineralogy and weathering of the Meridiani Planum meteorite,Mars |
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| Authors: | Iris FLEISCHER Christian SCHRÖDER Göstar KLINGELHÖFER Jutta ZIPFEL Richard V MORRIS James W ASHLEY Ralf GELLERT Simon WEHRHEIM Sandro EBERT |
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| Institution: | 1. Institut für Anorganische und Analytische Chemie, Johannes‐Gutenberg‐Universit?t Mainz, Staudinger Weg 9, 55128 Mainz, Germany;2. Universit?t Bayreuth und Eberhard Karls Universit?t Tübingen, Sigwartstr. 10, 72076 Tübingen, Germany;3. Senckenberg Forschungsinstitut und Naturmuseum Frankfurt, Sektion Meteoritenforschung, Senckenberganlage 25, 60325 Frankfurt, Germany;4. ARES Code KR, NASA Johnson Space Center, 2101 NASA Parkway, Houston, Texas 77058, USA;5. Mars Space Flight Facility, School of Earth and Space Exploration, Arizona State University P.O. Box 876305, Tempe, Arizona 85287–6305, USA;6. Department of Physics, University of Guelph, 50 Stone Road East, Guelph, Ontario N1G 2W1, Canada |
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| Abstract: | Meridiani Planum is the first officially recognized meteorite find on the surface of Mars. It was discovered at and named after the landing site of the Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity. Based on its composition, it was classified as a IAB complex iron meteorite. Mössbauer spectra obtained by Opportunity are dominated by kamacite (α‐Fe‐Ni) and exhibit a small contribution of ferric oxide. Several small features in the spectra have been neglected to date. To shed more light on these features, five iron meteorite specimens were investigated as analogs to Meridiani Planum with a laboratory Mössbauer setup. Measurements were performed on (1) their metallic bulk, (2) troilite (FeS) inclusions, (3) cohenite ((Fe,Ni,Co)3C) and schreibersite ((Fe,Ni)3P), and (4) corroded rims. In addition to these room‐temperature measurements, a specimen from the Mundrabilla IAB‐ungrouped meteorite was measured at Mars‐equivalent temperatures. Based on these measurements, the features in Meridiani Planum spectra can be explained with the presence of small amounts of schreibersite and/or cohenite and iron oxides. The iron oxides can be attributed to a previously reported coating on Meridiani Planum. Their presence indicates weathering through the interaction of the meteorite with small amounts of water. |
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