Amazonian chemical weathering rate derived from stony meteorite finds at Meridiani Planum on Mars
© The Author(s) 2016.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 contras...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , |
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| Format: | Journal Article |
| Published: |
Macmillan Publishers Limited
2016
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| Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/7516 |
| _version_ | 1848745390605598720 |
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| author | Schröder, C. Bland, Phil Golombek, M. Ashley, J. Warner, N. Grant, J. |
| author_facet | Schröder, C. Bland, Phil Golombek, M. Ashley, J. Warner, N. Grant, J. |
| author_sort | Schröder, C. |
| building | Curtin Institutional Repository |
| collection | Online Access |
| description | © The Author(s) 2016.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. |
| first_indexed | 2025-11-14T06:16:36Z |
| format | Journal Article |
| id | curtin-20.500.11937-7516 |
| institution | Curtin University Malaysia |
| institution_category | Local University |
| last_indexed | 2025-11-14T06:16:36Z |
| publishDate | 2016 |
| publisher | Macmillan Publishers Limited |
| recordtype | eprints |
| repository_type | Digital Repository |
| spelling | curtin-20.500.11937-75162021-01-25T05:50:00Z Amazonian chemical weathering rate derived from stony meteorite finds at Meridiani Planum on Mars Schröder, C. Bland, Phil Golombek, M. Ashley, J. Warner, N. Grant, J. © The Author(s) 2016.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. 2016 Journal Article http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/7516 10.1038/ncomms13459 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ Macmillan Publishers Limited fulltext |
| spellingShingle | Schröder, C. Bland, Phil Golombek, M. Ashley, J. Warner, N. Grant, J. Amazonian chemical weathering rate derived from stony meteorite finds at Meridiani Planum on Mars |
| title | Amazonian chemical weathering rate derived from stony meteorite finds at Meridiani Planum on Mars |
| title_full | Amazonian chemical weathering rate derived from stony meteorite finds at Meridiani Planum on Mars |
| title_fullStr | Amazonian chemical weathering rate derived from stony meteorite finds at Meridiani Planum on Mars |
| title_full_unstemmed | Amazonian chemical weathering rate derived from stony meteorite finds at Meridiani Planum on Mars |
| title_short | Amazonian chemical weathering rate derived from stony meteorite finds at Meridiani Planum on Mars |
| title_sort | amazonian chemical weathering rate derived from stony meteorite finds at meridiani planum on mars |
| url | http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/7516 |