IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/nat/natcom/v7y2016i1d10.1038_ncomms13459.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Amazonian chemical weathering rate derived from stony meteorite finds at Meridiani Planum on Mars

Author

Listed:
  • Christian Schröder

    (Biological and Environmental Sciences, Faculty of Natural Sciences, University of Stirling)

  • Phil A. Bland

    (Curtin University)

  • Matthew P. Golombek

    (Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology)

  • James W. Ashley

    (Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology)

  • Nicholas H. Warner

    (State University of New York at Geneseo)

  • John A. Grant

    (Center for Earth and Planetary Studies, National Air and Space Museum, Smithsonian Institution)

Abstract

Spacecraft exploring Mars such as the Mars Exploration Rovers Spirit and Opportunity, as well as the Mars Science Laboratory or Curiosity rover, have accumulated evidence for wet and habitable conditions on early Mars more than 3 billion years ago. Current conditions, by contrast, are cold, extremely arid and seemingly inhospitable. To evaluate exactly how dry today’s environment is, it is important to understand the ongoing current weathering processes. Here we present chemical weathering rates determined for Mars. We use the oxidation of iron in stony meteorites investigated by the Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity at Meridiani Planum. Their maximum exposure age is constrained by the formation of Victoria crater and their minimum age by erosion of the meteorites. The chemical weathering rates thus derived are ∼1 to 4 orders of magnitude slower than that of similar meteorites found in Antarctica where the slowest rates are observed on Earth.

Suggested Citation

  • Christian Schröder & Phil A. Bland & Matthew P. Golombek & James W. Ashley & Nicholas H. Warner & John A. Grant, 2016. "Amazonian chemical weathering rate derived from stony meteorite finds at Meridiani Planum on Mars," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 7(1), pages 1-7, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:nat:natcom:v:7:y:2016:i:1:d:10.1038_ncomms13459
    DOI: 10.1038/ncomms13459
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.nature.com/articles/ncomms13459
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1038/ncomms13459?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:nat:natcom:v:7:y:2016:i:1:d:10.1038_ncomms13459. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.nature.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.