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Reflectance Spectroscopy of Ferric Sulfate-Bearing Montmorillonites as Mars Soil Analog Materials by Janice L. Bishop; Carlé M. Pieters; Roger G. Burns; John O. Edwards; Rocco L. Mancinelli; Heinz Fröschl is a Physics and Astronomy article available to read on EtoBox.

Spectroscopic analyses have shown that smectites enhanced in the laboratory with additional ferric species exhibit important similarities to those of the soils on Mars. Ferrihydrite in these chemically treated smectites has features in the visible to near-infrared region that resemble the energies and band strengths of features in reflectance spectra observed for several bright regions on Mars. New samples have been prepared with sulfate as well, because S was found by Viking to be a major component in the surface material on Mars. A suite of ferrihydrite-bearing and ferric sulfate-bearing montmorillonites, prepared with variable Fe3+ and S concentrations and variable pH conditions, has been analyzed using reflectance spectroscopy in the visible and infrared regions, Mössbauer spectroscopy at room temperature and 4 K, differential thermal analysis, and X-ray diffraction. These analyses support the formation of ferrihydrite of variable crystallinity in the ferrihydrite-bearing montmorillonites and a combination of schwertmannite and ferrihydrite in the ferric sulfate-bearing montmorillonites. Small quantities of poorly crystalline or nanophase forms of other ferric materials may als

Author

Janice L. Bishop; Carlé M. Pieters; Roger G. Burns; John O. Edwards; Rocco L. Mancinelli; Heinz Fröschl

Publisher

Elsevier Science; Elsevier ; Elsevier Inc.; Elsevier BV; Oxford University Press (OUP) (ISSN 0019-1035)

Published

1995

Language

EN

Field

Physics and Astronomy (Physical Sciences)