Thomas Lee Elifritz

http://geology.gsapubs.org/content/early/2012/06/15/G33242.1.abstract

Hydrous melting of the martian mantle produced both depleted and enriched shergottites, Francis M. McCubbin, Erik H. Hauri, Stephen M. Elardo, Kathleen E. Vander Kaaden, Jianhua Wang and Charles K. Shearer Jr., Geology, 15 June 2012.

Much of our information about the martian interior comes from studies of the basaltic martian meteorites (shergottites). In this study we examined the water contents of magmatic apatites from a geochemically enriched shergottite (the Shergotty meteorite) and a geochemically depleted shergottite (the Queen Alexandria Range 94201 meteorite). From these data, we determined that there was little difference in water contents between the geochemically depleted and enriched shergottite magmas. The water contents of the apatite imply that shergottite parent magmas contained 730–2870 ppm H2O prior to degassing. Furthermore, the martian mantle contains 73–290 ppm H2O and underwent hydrous melting as recently as 327 Ma. In the absence of plate tectonics, the presence of water in the interior of Mars requires planetary differentiation under hydrous conditions. This is the first evidence of significant hydrogen storage in a planetary interior at the time of core formation, and this process could support elevated H abundances in the interiors of other terrestrial bodies like the Moon, Mercury, Venus, large differentiated asteroids, and Earth.

12:31 AM CDT, August 6, 2012.

Be there, or be circular.

And perhaps highly fragmented.

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