| dc.description.abstract | The Mars 2020 rover and the ExoMars rover will include a Raman spectrometer as part of the suite of instruments onboard the rovers and will be the first times a Raman spectrometer will take direct measurements on the surface of Mars. This experiment looked to bridge the understanding of basalt dissolution in near saturated brines, Raman spectroscopy, and brine chemistry. This experiment used basalt chips from the Craters of the Moon National Monument as an analogous basalt and left them to react in solutions of ultra-pure water, NaCl, Na2SO4, NaClO4, MgCl2, MgSO4, CaCl2, and two mixed brines of NaClO4+Na2SO4 and MgSO4+MgCl2. After 365 days of reacting in the solutions, the basalt chips show iron oxide, sulfate, and carbonate secondary mineral precipitation that is identifiable by Raman spectroscopy. The formation of carbonate secondary minerals in solutions absent of carbon suggest CO2 from the experiment atmosphere dissolved into solution then salted out of solution. The implication of carbonates forming in this experiment combined with observation of carbonates on Mars could suggest a past environment near neutral or slightly acidic in pH. | en_US |
