Chemistry and accretion history of Mars

Abstract Using element correlations observed in SNC meteorites and general cosmochemical constraints, Wänke & Dreibus (1988) have estimated the bulk composition of Mars. The mean abundance value for moderately volatile elements Na, P, K, F, and Rb and most of the volatile elements like Cl, Br, and I in the Martian mantle exceed the terrestrial values by about a factor of two. The striking depletion of all elements with chalcophile character (Cu, Co, Ni, etc.) indicates that Mars, contrary to the Earth, accreted homogeneously, which also explains the obvious low abundance of water and carbon. SNC meteorites and especially the shergottites are very dry rocks, they also contain very little carbon, while the concentrations of chlorine and especially sulphur are higher than those in terrestrial rocks. As a consequence we should expect SO2 and HC1 to be the most abundant compounds in Martian volcanic gases. This might explain the dominance of sulphur and chlorine in the Viking soils. In turn SO2, being an excellent greenhouse gas, may have been of major importance for the warm and wet period in the ancient Martian history. Episodic release of larger quantities of SO2 stored in liquid or solid SO2 tables in the Martian regolith triggered by volcanic intrusions as suggested here could lead to a large number of warm and wet climate periods of the order of a hundred years, interrupted by much longer cold periods characterized by water ice and liquid of solid SO2. Sulphur (FeS) probably also governs the oxygen fugacity of the Martian surface rocks.