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X-Ray Diffraction Reference Intensity Ratios of Amorphous and Poorly Crystalline Phases: Implications for CheMin on the Mars Science Laboratory
R. V. Morris,C. N. Achilles,Steve J. Chipera,D. W. Ming,E. B. Rampe +4 more
- Iss: 1719, pp 3072
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TLDR
The CheMin instrument on the Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) rover Curiosity is an X-ray diffraction and XRF instrument capable of providing the mineralogical and chemical compositions of rocks and soils on the surface of Mars as mentioned in this paper.Abstract:
The CheMin instrument on the Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) rover Curiosity is an X-ray diffraction (XRD) and X-ray fluorescence (XRF) instrument capable of providing the mineralogical and chemical compositions of rocks and soils on the surface of Mars. CheMin uses a microfocus X-ray tube with a Co target, transmission geometry, and an energy-discriminating X-ray sensitive CCD to produce simultaneous 2-D XRD patterns and energy-dispersive X-ray histograms from powdered samples. Piezoelectric vibration of the cell is used to randomize the sample to reduce preferred orientation effects. Instrument details are provided in [1, 2, 3]. Analyses of rock and soil samples by the Mars Exploration Rovers (MER) show nanophase ferric oxide (npOx) is a significant component of the Martian global soil [4] and is thought to be one of the major contributing phases that the Curiosity rover will encounter if a soil sample is analyzed in Gale Crater. Because of the nature of this material, npOx will likely contribute to an X-ray amorphous or short-order component of a XRD pattern measured by the CheMin instrument.read more
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Journal ArticleDOI
X-ray Diffraction Results from Mars Science Laboratory: Mineralogy of Rocknest at Gale Crater
David L. Bish,David F. Blake,David T. Vaniman,Steve J. Chipera,Richard V. Morris,Douglas W. Ming,Allan H. Treiman,Philippe Sarrazin,Shaunna M. Morrison,Robert T. Downs,Cherie N. Achilles,Albert S. Yen,Thomas F. Bristow,Joy A. Crisp,J. M. Morookian,Jack D. Farmer,Elizabeth B. Rampe,Edward M. Stolper,N. Spanovich +18 more
TL;DR: The Mars Science Laboratory rover Curiosity scooped samples of soil from the Rocknest aeolian bedform in Gale crater that revealed plagioclase, forsteritic olivine, augite, and pigeonite, with minor K-feldspar, magnetite, quartz, anhydrite, hematite and ilmenite, which are similar to that found on Earth in places such as soils on the Mauna Kea volcano, Hawaii.
Journal ArticleDOI
The emergence of volcanic oceanic islands on a slow‐moving plate: The example of Madeira Island, NE Atlantic
Ricardo S. Ramalho,Ricardo S. Ramalho,António Brum da Silveira,Paulo E. Fonseca,José Madeira,Michael A. Cosca,Mário Cachão,Maria Madalena Calado Santos Sobral da Fonseca,Susana Prada +8 more
TL;DR: The authors examined the geologic record at Madeira using a combination of detailed fieldwork, biostratigraphy, and 40Ar/39Ar geochronology in order to document the mode, timing, and duration of edifice emergence above sea level.
Journal ArticleDOI
Deriving Amorphous Component Abundance and Composition of Rocks and Sediments on Earth and Mars
Journal ArticleDOI
AMORPH: A statistical program for characterizing amorphous materials by X-ray diffraction
TL;DR: Results demonstrate the applicability of this program for calculating amorphous contents of volcanic materials and independently modeling their properties in compositionally variable materials.
Journal ArticleDOI
CO 2 sorption and regeneration properties of fly ash zeolites synthesized with the use of differentiated methods.
TL;DR: The mechanism for sorption was proved to be physisorption which is fully reversible under selected conditions, and some strong similarities between commercial zeolites and fly ash zeolite were found.
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