Impacts of Sieving and Cultivation on Martian Regolith Simulant By Abdulgadir Ahmad Elnajdi Bachelor of Science, Omar Al Mukhtar University, Libya A thesis Submitted to the Department of Chemistry - Florida Institute of Technology In partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science In Biochemistry Melbourne, Florida May, 2018 i Impacts of Sieving and Cultivation on Martian Regolith Simulant By Abdulgadir Ahmad Elnajdi A thesis by Abdulgadir Ahmad Elnajdi Approved as to style and content _____________________________________ Mary L. Sohn, Ph.D., Committee Chairperson Professor, Department of Chemistry _____________________________________ Alexander Schoedel, Ph.D. Assistant Professor, Department of Chemistry _____________________________________ Richard B. Aronson, Ph.D. Professor, Department of Biological Sciences ii Abstract Title: Impacts of Sieving and Cultivation on Martian Regolith Simulant Author: Abdulgadir Ahmad Elnajdi Major Advisor: Dr. Mary Sohn The effect of different size particle fractions of JSC-MARS1A on chemical and mineralogical data was examined in this study. The Powder X-ray Diffraction (PXRD) and Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) results showed no difference in the presence of elements or minerals of the different grain sizes of (<5mm, <1mm, <125µm, and <63µm), however, differences in abundance were noted. In addition, changes in chemical composition and mineralogy were not detected after the addition of Hoagland’s nutrient solution which had been applied prior to plant growth experiments nor after plant growth. iii Table of Contents 1- Introduction ......................................................................................................... 1 1.1- Martian Regolith. ......................................................................................... 3 1.1.1- Mineralogy. .............................................................................................. 3 1.1.2- Chemical Composition. ........................................................................... 3 1.1- JSC Mars-1A Simulant Mineralogy and Chemical Composition. .............. 5 1.3- The Geological History of Earth and Mars. .................................................... 6 1.4- Effects of Nutrient Supplements on the Mineralogical and Chemical Composition of JSC Mars 1A. ............................................................................. 10 2- Materials and Methodology .............................................................................. 11 2.1- Materials ....................................................................................................... 11 2.2- Analytical Methods ....................................................................................... 11 3- The Chemical Composition and Mineralogy of JSC MARS 1A after a Growth Experiment on Simulant. .......................................................................................... 15 4- Results and Discussion. .................................................................................... 16 4.1- Elemental Composition ................................................................................ 16 4.2- Correlation of Elemental data with Mineralogy. .......................................... 20 5 - Effects of Nutrient Supplements on the Mineralogical and Chemical Composition of JSC Mars 1A. ................................................................................. 40 6- Summary ........................................................................................................... 45 7- References. ........................................................................................................ 47 APPENDIX A .......................................................................................................... 51 APPENDIX B .......................................................................................................... 52 APPENDIX C .......................................................................................................... 53 APPENDIX D .......................................................................................................... 55 APPENDIX E .......................................................................................................... 62 iv List of Figures Figure 1: Martian regolith simulant ........................................................................... 2 Figure 2: Comparison of the geological timescales for Mars and Earth. (Scott M. Mclennan, 2012) ........................................................................................................ 7 Figure 3: X-ray spectra collected by SEM for grain sizes <5mm and <63µm……. ............................................................................................................. 19 Figure 4: SEM images of the morphology of JSC MARS 1A ........................................................................................... ……………………..19 Figure 5: Compositional image and x-ray mapping of the cross sections of JSC MARS 1A, grain size <5mm .................................................................................... 21 Figure 6: Compositional image and x-ray mapping of the cross sections of JSC MARS 1A, grain size <63µm .................................................................................. 21 Figure 7: The observed pattern for grain sizes (<1mm) versus the Albite database. ................................................................................................................... 23 Figure 8: The observed pattern for grain sizes (<5mm) versus the Albite database. ................................................................................................................... 23 Figure 9: The observed pattern for grain sizes (<63µm) versus the Albite database .................................................................................................................... 24 Figure 10: The observed pattern for grain sizes (<125µm) versus the Albite database .................................................................................................................... 24 Figure 11: The observed pattern for grain sizes (<1mm) versus the Andesine database .................................................................................................................... 25 Figure 12: The observed pattern for grain sizes (<5mm) versus the Andesine database .................................................................................................................... 25 Figure 13: The observed pattern for grain sizes (<63µm) versus the Andesine database .................................................................................................................... 26 Figure 14: The observed pattern for grain sizes (<125µm) versus the Andesine database .................................................................................................................... 26 Figure 15: The observed pattern for grain sizes (<1mm) versus the Anorthite database. ................................................................................................................... 27 Figure 16: The observed pattern for grain sizes (<5mm) versus the Anorthite database .................................................................................................................... 27 Figure 17: The observed pattern for grain sizes (<63µm) versus the Anorthite database .................................................................................................................... 28 Figure 18: . The observed pattern for grain sizes (<125µm) versus the Anorthite database. ................................................................................................................... 28 Figure 19: The observed pattern for grain sizes (<1mm) versus the bytownite database. ................................................................................................................... 29 v Figure 20: The observed pattern for grain sizes (<5mm) versus the bytownite database .................................................................................................................... 29 Figure 21: The observed pattern for grain sizes (<63µm) versus the bytownite database .................................................................................................................... 30 Figure 22: The observed pattern for grain sizes (<125µm) versus the bytownite database .................................................................................................................... 30 Figure 23: The observed pattern for grain sizes (<1mm) versus the Labradorite database .................................................................................................................... 31 Figure 24: The observed pattern for grain sizes (<5mm) versus the Labradorite database .................................................................................................................... 31 Figure 25: The observed pattern for grain sizes (<63µm) versus the Labradorite database. ................................................................................................................... 32 Figure 26: The observed pattern for grain sizes (<125µm) versus the Labradorite database. ................................................................................................................... 32 Figure 27: The observed pattern for grain sizes (<1mm) versus the Oligoclase database ...................................................................................................................