The formation of goethite and hydrated clay minerals on Mars

Laboratory studies reported by Huguenin (1973) on the kinetics and mechanism of the photostimulated oxidation of magnetic and preliminary laboratory data on the weathering of silicates, reported herein, are applied to Mars. Basalts in the Martian dark areas are predicted to alter to hydrated Fe(2 plus or minus) depleted clay minerals, minor goethite, and minor to trace amounts of transition metal oxides such as TiO2, MnO2, and Cr2O3 at a rate of 10 to the minus 1.5 plus or minus 1.5 micron/yr. Some Ca-Mg carbonates are also expected to be formed. The clay minerals are predicted to be more silica-rich than the silicate source material, SiO2 contents of 60% or higher being expected, and strongly depleted in Fe(2+). The oxygen, OH, and H2O contents of the bulk weathering product are predicted to be significantly greater than those of the dark-area source materials, whereas the relative bulk metal abundances should be the same.