Mineral Abundances in Martian Soils

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Mineral Abundances in Martian Soils
Data from instruments onboard the Mars
Exploration Rovers provide researchers with
mineralogical details of the average dark soils
on the Gusev crater plains and on Meridiani
Planum. The procedure uses Mössbauer (MB) data
for iron-bearing minerals, Alpha Particle X-ray
Spectrometer (APXS) data for iron-absent
minerals, and MiniTES thermal infrared spectra
for silica and clays.
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Mineral Abundances in Martian Soils
Soil data from two areas on opposite sides of
Mars visited by the MER rovers show that there
are more igneous minerals (about 70-85 depending
on the model) at each location (Gusev and
Meridiani) than alteration minerals (about
15-30). These percentages may actually bracket
the actual mineral abundances.