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Mari, Nicola (2020) the Formation and Evolution of the Martian Mantle: a Martian Meteorite Perspective

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Mari, Nicola (2020) the Formation and Evolution of the Martian Mantle: a Martian Meteorite Perspective Mari, Nicola (2020) The formation and evolution of the Martian mantle: a Martian meteorite perspective. PhD thesis. https://theses.gla.ac.uk/81314/ Copyright and moral rights for this work are retained by the author A copy can be downloaded for personal non-commercial research or study, without prior permission or charge This work cannot be reproduced or quoted extensively from without first obtaining permission in writing from the author The content must not be changed in any way or sold commercially in any format or medium without the formal permission of the author When referring to this work, full bibliographic details including the author, title, awarding institution and date of the thesis must be given Enlighten: Theses https://theses.gla.ac.uk/ [email protected] THE FORMATION AND EVOLUTION OF THE MARTIAN MANTLE: A MARTIAN METEORITE PERSPECTIVE By Nicola Mari Submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy at the School of Geographical and Earth Sciences College of Science and Engineering University of Glasgow 2020 © Nicola Mari All rights reserved. The author hereby grants to the University of Glasgow permission to reproduce and redistribute publicly paper and electronic copies of this thesis document in whole or in any part in any medium now known or hereafter created. Signature of Author: 20th March 2020 2 Abstract Revealing the internal composition and evolution of the terrestrial planets is crucial to understanding planetary evolution in the Solar System and beyond. Mars is a perfect source of this information, since its mantle was not homogenized after the earliest phases of planetary differentiation. However, the interior evolution and composition of Mars is still unknown. Martian meteorites are the only rock samples from Mars that are available on Earth. The aim of this research is to obtain new insights about Martian mantle formation and its evolution from the perspective of the Martian meteorites. In particular, this work is divided into three interdisciplinary investigations in order to obtain new constraints on our knowledge about the Martian mantle. Firstly, the Tissint Martian meteorite was investigated since it is the meteorite that is most representative of the Martian mantle. This meteorite was analysed with the objective of obtaining information about the thermal state and convective activity in the Mars’ mantle. Major- and trace-element data for Tissint olivine and pyroxene were reported, and these data were used to provide new insights into the dynamics of the Tissint magma chamber, as well as the dynamics and temperature of Martian mantle at the time of Tissint crystallisation. Secondly, the potential for chemical tracing of the different Martian mantle sources was investigated by analysing rhenium-osmium and sulphur isotope compositions in five of the ten known nakhlite lava flows (Nakhla, Lafayette, MIL 090032, Yamato 000593, and Yamato 000749). In addition, these findings were used to suggest a plausible scenario to account for nakhlite magma origins. These findings were also utilised to discuss the implications of this work for fingerprinting the processes responsible for setting Martian mantle compositions during late-stage crystallization of a Martian magma ocean. Thirdly, the abundance of the volatile element chlorine in the Martian mantle was calculated by analysing amphibole and apatite phases in the two shergottites Tissint and Zagami. After finding that these phases record magmatic conditions of the Martian interior, the partition coefficients between chlorine and the parent melt were used to estimate the chlorine abundance of the shergottite magma source. In sum, the importance of the combined new findings are presented to explore their implications for 3 our understanding of Mars’ formation and evolution and, more generally, the evolution of terrestrial planets. 4 Acknowledgement I would to express my gratitude to my advisors at the University of Glasgow. First of all, my main supervisor Dr. Lydia Hallis, for her immense help and suggestions about conducting research as a scientist. I would also to thank my co-supervisors: Dr. Martin Lee, for his help and for permitting me to do this PhD, and Dr. Amy Riches, for her useful suggestions and help with extremely challenging laboratory analyses. I am grateful to NASA Antarctic Search for Meteorites, JAXA, Dr. Caroline Smith of the Natural History Museum of London, University of Alberta Museum, and the Scottish Universities Environmental Research Centre for provision and loan of the Martian meteorite samples, and to P. Chung, H. Jackson, and S. Mcfadzean for their help during SEM-EDS, LA-ICP-MS, and TEM-EDS analyses, respectively. A special thanks to: Robert MacDonald, for its help with sample preparation; John Faithful, for providing unusual geological samples; and Nikki Potts, for her help with tricky experiments. Funding bodies were involved in funding this research. Thanks to the Australian Research Council, for funding of the microprobe work, and to the Centre for Microscopy, Characterisation and Analysis of University of Western Australia, particularly the assistance and expertise provided by Dr. Malcolm Roberts. Thanks also to Dr. Yves Marrocchi for funding of the SIMS work at the Centre de Recherches Pétrographiques et Géochimiques in France. I would to thanks all the amazing Planetary Science and Astrobiology Research Group of the University of Glasgow, along with all people of Room 414A. I also thanks all my friends in Glasgow, especially the grotesque Italian group (Giuseppe, Erik, Eugenio, Manuel, etc…) and Mike, David, and Manel. Thanks also to all my hometown friends (really, everyone!). Special gratitude is reserved to my family, Mamma, Papà, and my two sisters. Without their support I would never have done any PhD. And, I also want to thanks myself for making the dreams of my childhood a reality. 5 Author’s Declaration The Chapter 3, 4, and 5 of the present thesis are presented in a ‘paper format’, accordingly to the PGR Code of Practice of the University of Glasgow. I confirm that this thesis is my own original work. A Declaration of Originality form is attached to this thesis. 6 Table of contents Abstract.......................................................................................2 Acknowledgement...........................................................................4 Author’s declaration........................................................................5 Table of contents............................................................................6 1 – Introduction............................................................................11 1.1 – Formation and evolution of Mars...................................................11 1.1.1 – Planetary accretion and early differentiation................................11 1.1.2 – Mars formation.....................................................................13 1.1.3 – Evolution of the Martian mantle................................................14 1.2 – Martian geology.......................................................................16 1.2.1 – Mars geologic history.............................................................16 1.2.1.1 – The Pre-Noachian...............................................................17 1.2.1.2 – The Noachian....................................................................17 1.2.1.3 – The Hesperian...................................................................19 1.2.1.4 – The Amazonian..................................................................20 1.2.1.5 – Present-day Mars...............................................................21 1.2.2 – Mars petrology and crustal processes.........................................22 1.2.2.1 – Magmatic rocks.................................................................22 1.2.2.2 – Sedimentary rocks.............................................................23 1.2.2.3 – Metamorphic rocks............................................................24 1.2.2.4 – Remote sensing-based characterization of the Martian surface......24 1.2.2.5 – Rover-based characterization of the Martian surface..................25 1.3 – Martian meteorites.................................................................26 1.3.1 – Shergottites......................................................................26 1.3.2 – Nakhlites.........................................................................28 1.3.3 – Chassignites.....................................................................31 1.3.4 – Exceptions.......................................................................32 7 1.4 – Samples selected.....................................................................33 1.4.1 – Tissint...............................................................................33 1.4.2 – Zagami...............................................................................34 1.4.3 – Nakhla...............................................................................35 1.4.4 – Lafayette...........................................................................36 1.4.5 – Miller Range 090032..............................................................37 1.4.6 – Yamato 000593 and Yamato 00749.............................................38 1.5 – Purpose of this research............................................................40 2 – Methods................................................................................43 2.1 – Scanning Electron
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