New Insights Into the Mineralogy and Weathering of the Meridiani Planum Meteorite, Mars
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View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by Stirling Online Research Repository Meteoritics & Planetary Science 46, Nr 1, 21–34 (2011) doi: 10.1111/j.1945-5100.2010.01141.x New insights into the mineralogy and weathering of the Meridiani Planum meteorite, Mars Iris FLEISCHER1*, Christian SCHRO¨ DER2,Go¨ star KLINGELHO¨ FER1, Jutta ZIPFEL3, Richard V. MORRIS4, James W. ASHLEY5, Ralf GELLERT6, Simon WEHRHEIM1, and Sandro EBERT1 1Institut fu¨ r Anorganische und Analytische Chemie, Johannes-Gutenberg-Universita¨ t Mainz, Staudinger Weg 9, 55128 Mainz, Germany 2Universita¨ t Bayreuth und Eberhard Karls Universita¨ tTu¨ bingen, Sigwartstr. 10, 72076 Tu¨ bingen, Germany 3Senckenberg Forschungsinstitut und Naturmuseum Frankfurt, Sektion Meteoritenforschung, Senckenberganlage 25, 60325 Frankfurt, Germany 4ARES Code KR, NASA Johnson Space Center, 2101 NASA Parkway, Houston, Texas 77058, USA 5Mars Space Flight Facility, School of Earth and Space Exploration, Arizona State University P.O. Box 876305, Tempe, Arizona 85287–6305, USA 6Department of Physics, University of Guelph, 50 Stone Road East, Guelph, Ontario N1G 2W1, Canada *Corresponding author. E-mail: fl[email protected] (Received 18 November 2009; revision accepted 15 October 2010) 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. Mo¨ ssbauer spectra obtained by Opportunity are dominated by kamacite (a-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 Mo¨ ssbauer 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. INTRODUCTION identified on Mars since this early find (e.g., Schro¨ der et al. 2008; Ashley et al. Forthcoming), this rock is the In January 2005, almost 1 year after landing at only one currently recognized by the Meteoritical Meridiani Planum, the Mars Exploration Rover (MER) Society Committee on Meteorite Nomenclature, and Opportunity investigated the heat shield that had been was officially named Meridiani Planum after the dropped during the entry, descent, and landing (EDL) location of its find (Connolly et al. 2006). sequence. Just a few meters from the heat shield, an The chemical composition of Meridiani Planum intriguing rock with a pitted surface and a maximum derived from alpha particle X-ray spectrometer (APXS) dimension of approximately 30 cm was discovered and data is 93% Fe, 7% Ni, approximately 300 ppm informally named ‘‘Heat Shield Rock’’ (Schro¨ der et al. Ge and <100 ppm Ga (R. Gellert, personal 2008). Though additional meteorites have been communication). Based on Ni, Ge, and Ga contents, 21 Ó The Meteoritical Society, 2011. 22 I. Fleischer et al. Meridiani Planum was classified as a IAB complex iron meteorite (Connolly et al. 2006). Meridiani Planum Mo¨ ssbauer spectra were obtained on the undisturbed as well as on the brushed surface of the meteorite. They show kamacite as the dominant phase, together with small amounts of ferric oxide. False-color panoramic camera (Pancam) images revealed patches of an intriguing coating that appear more purple compared to the majority of the surface, as shown in Fig. 1. Schro¨ der et al. (2008) described the coating in detail, but could not determine whether it represents remnants of a fusion crust or whether it is a product of chemical weathering. Here we show the results of a more detailed analysis of the Mo¨ ssbauer spectra obtained of Meridiani Planum. Several minor features in the spectra had not been explained previously (e.g., Van Cromphaut et al. 2007). We try to interpret these spectra by comparing them to Mo¨ ssbauer spectra of analog iron meteorites taken in the laboratory under Mars-equivalent conditions. In addition, we analyzed the 6.4 keV spectra obtained with Opportunity’s Mo¨ ssbauer instrument. Fig. 1. False color Pancam image (filters L2, L5, and L7) Only 14.4 keV spectra were analyzed previously. obtained on Meridiani Planum. The brushed area is marked Comparing the 6.4 keV and 14.4 keV Mo¨ ssbauer with a circle. The meteorite surface shows pits and is partially coated with a material that appears purple (http:// spectra yields depth-selective information because of the marswatch.astro.cornell.edu/pancam_instrument/images/False/ energy-dependent attenuation in the investigated targets Sol352B_P2596_1_False_L257.jpg). (see the Depth Selective Information Extracted from Mo¨ ssbauer Spectra section for details). This approach Mo¨ssbauer Data Analysis and Instrumentation shows the presence of previously unidentified mineral phases, and supports a weathering rind (not a fusion Numerous publications provide extensive reviews of crust) interpretation for the coating. Mo¨ ssbauer spectroscopy (e.g., Wegener 1966; Gonser 1975; Gu¨ tlich et al. 1978; Hawthorne 1988) and its METHODS applications in mineralogy and geochemistry (e.g., Bancroft 1973; Hawthorne 1988; Mitra 1992; Burns Mars Exploration Rover Scientific Payload 1993; McCammon 1995; Murad and Cashion 2004; Dyar et al. 2006). Briefly, the Mo¨ ssbauer effect is the The two MER Spirit and Opportunity are equipped recoilless absorption and emission of c-rays by nuclei of with both mast-mounted remote sensing instruments certain isotopes bound in a solid. A Mo¨ ssbauer and contact instruments mounted on a 5-degree-of- experiment consists of a radioactive source (57Co for freedom instrument deployment device (IDD; Squyres Mo¨ ssbauer spectroscopy with 57Fe), an absorber, and a et al. 2003). The remote sensing instruments include a detector. Generally, the source and absorber will be multiple filter visible to near-infrared (400 to 1010 nm) different compounds. As the chemical environment panoramic camera (Pancam) (Bell et al. 2003) and a influences nuclear energy levels, resonance lines will be miniature thermal emission spectrometer (Mini-TES) shifted against each other. This shift can be covering the wavelength region from 5–29 lm compensated for by moving the source relative to the (Christensen et al. 2003). The contact instruments sample, using the Doppler effect to shift the energy of comprise a rock abrasion tool (RAT) to remove surface emitted c-rays. The positions of resonance lines are contamination or coatings by brushing or grinding into usually referred to by their Doppler velocity. A typical a rock (Gorevan et al. 2003), a 30 lm per pixel velocity range for Mo¨ ssbauer spectroscopy with 57Fe is microscopic imager (MI) (Herkenhoff et al. 2003), an on the order of ±10 mm s)1, corresponding to an APXS for chemical analysis (Rieder et al. 2003), and a energy shift of approximately 10)8 eV in the case of the miniaturized Mo¨ ssbauer spectrometer (MIMOS II) to 14.4 keV c-rays emitted from the 57Co source. determine the iron mineralogy (Klingelho¨ fer et al. Electric and magnetic interactions of 57Fe nuclei 2003). with their environment manifest themselves as Mineralogy of the Meridiani Planum meteorite 23 observable parameters in Mo¨ ssbauer spectra: the center contributing to the total spectrum, which are integrated shift d, the quadrupole splitting DEQ, and the hyperfine and background-corrected areas under all peaks of a magnetic field Bhf. Based on these parameters, a large doublet or sextet phase. Deriving quantifications by number of iron bearing compounds can be distinguished weight from subspectral areas can be done, but requires and properties such as the oxidation states of iron can the knowledge of correction factors for all identified be determined. phases, which are not easily available (i.e., Debye-Waller The center shift d is the shift of the centroid of a factors; e.g., Wegener 1966; Gu¨ tlich et al. 1978; (sub)spectrum against a zero reference point of the Mo¨ ssbauer 2000; Murad and Cashion 2004). Here, we do Doppler velocity, measured relative to a reference not calculate weight percentages, but report subspectral absorber (a-iron in this work). The center shift is areas as a means of quantification of phase abundances. comprised of the temperature-independent isomer shift According to basic principles, resonance lines in and the temperature dependent second-order Doppler Mo¨ ssbauer spectra exhibit a Lorentzian shape. Lines shift. The isomer shift results from Coulomb interaction may broaden and deviate from a purely Lorentzian of the positive nuclear charge distribution and the shape through the influence of various effects. The electron charge density at the nucleus. The second order ‘‘cosine-smearing effect’’ is related to the geometry of Doppler shift is a small thermal shift due to lattice the experimental setup. This effect leads