The Daily Bulletin Archive

Lee Ann Garozzo, a master's degree candidate in forensic science at Buffalo State, will present the literature seminar "Chemistry on Mars" at 12:30 p.m. Thursday, February 18, in Science Building 272. Light refreshments will be served before the seminar. This seminar series is supported by the Faculty-Student Association. The abstract of her talk appears below.

Abstract
Elemental surface features of Mars have already been measured through Viking landers, the Mars pathfinder, and two rovers (Spirit and Opportunity) using x-ray fluorescence spectrometry, but solution chemistry of the Martian soil had not been thoroughly analyzed until the Phoenix lander. The discovery of perchlorate and soluble chemistry of Martian soil at the Phoenix lander site can contribute further information on concentration of components in the soil and conductivity of ions in the soil, as well as possible evidence of the formation of terrain on Mars, information about the presence of water, and the presence of resources that may be useful for human exploration.

X-ray diffraction analysis has aided in the identification of soil composition on Mars from the CheMin aboard the Curiosity rover. Mudstone, sandstone, and soil samples have been analyzed and compositions compared. Results suggest the possibility that Mars soil has had interaction with water at some point in its lifespan.

Near-infrared spectroscopy analysis and crystal chemistry structure of Fe/Mg rich smectite clay minerals from Mars were compared with smectite clay minerals found on the Earth’s sea floor. The minerals were characterized into groups, and results showed that the clay mineral samples from Mars had dispersion of Fe and Mg elements of different ratios for multiple samples. The presence of clay minerals alone has been a key indicator of aqueous activity, but results suggested that a kind of alteration process may be responsible for the dispersion of these elements in the clay minerals on Mars.