Isotope Ratios of H, C, and O in CO₂ and H₂O of the Martian Atmosphere
Abstract
Stable isotope ratios of H, C, and O are powerful indicators of a wide variety of planetary geophysical processes, and for Mars they reveal the record of loss of its atmosphere and subsequent interactions with its surface such as carbonate formation. We report in situ measurements of the isotopic ratios of D/H and ¹⁸O/¹⁶O in water and ¹³C/¹²C, ¹⁸O/¹⁶O, ¹⁷O/¹⁶O, and ¹³C¹⁸O/¹²C¹⁶O in carbon dioxide, made in the martian atmosphere at Gale Crater from the Curiosity rover using the Sample Analysis at Mars (SAM)'s tunable laser spectrometer (TLS). Comparison between our measurements in the modern atmosphere and those of martian meteorites such as ALH 84001 implies that the martian reservoirs of CO₂ and H₂O were largely established ~4 billion years ago, but that atmospheric loss or surface interaction may be still ongoing.
Additional Information
© 2013 American Association for the Advancement of Science. Received 18 March 2013; accepted 17 June 2013. The research described here was carried out at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, under a contract with NASA.Attached Files
Published - 260.full.pdf
Supplemental Material - Webster.SM.pdf
Files
Name | Size | Download all |
---|---|---|
md5:f22d4feeca38d7bd08fb693a01cd41b6
|
524.2 kB | Preview Download |
md5:84b655b7e9768a52e008f3c96619474d
|
580.2 kB | Preview Download |
Additional details
- Eprint ID
- 102999
- Resolver ID
- CaltechAUTHORS:20200505-091430499
- NASA/JPL/Caltech
- Created
-
2020-05-05Created from EPrint's datestamp field
- Updated
-
2021-11-16Created from EPrint's last_modified field
- Caltech groups
- Division of Geological and Planetary Sciences