(ORDO NEWS) — A joint research team led by Dr. Xiaohui Fu and Dr. Zhongchen Wu from Shandong University in China has proposed a new mechanism for the formation of carbonates in Martian dust based on simulation experimental studies.
Orbital spectroscopic studies have revealed carbonates in several isolated locations on the Martian surface. Trace amounts of carbonate have also been detected in Martian dust by both orbiters and rovers.
However, the sources and mechanisms of formation of carbonates on Mars are still unclear.
The team hypothesizes that the carbonate could have formed directly in the CO2-rich atmosphere as a result of electrochemical processes during Martian dust activity.
To test this, the scientists simulated an electrostatic discharge (ESD) in Martian-like atmospheric conditions.
Various minerals found in the Martian dust (silicates, Ca sulfates, halogen minerals and (per)chlorate) were subjected to the ESD process in the test chamber.
Newly formed carbonates were identified by Raman and mid-infrared spectroscopy during ESD reactions with halides (NaCl, MgCl2, NaBr) and (per)chlorate (NaClO3, NaClO4) as starting minerals.
Based on simulation experiments, the researchers proposed heterogeneous gas-solid electrochemical reactions during dust activity as a new mechanism for the formation of Martian carbonates.
Electrochemical processes resulting from dust activity can remove significant amounts of gaseous CO2 from the Martian atmosphere and accumulate it over geological time periods.
Atmospheric CO2 on Mars appears to have solidified as carbonates from at least the early Amazonian period to the present.
Martian dust activity is often observed on present-day Mars. This study once again demonstrates that there are still active chemical interactions between the surface and the atmosphere on Mars.
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