| Title: |
Gain and loss of uranium by meteorites and rocks, and implications for the redistribution of uranium on Mars |
| Authors: |
DREIBUS, Gerlind; HAUBOLD, Reinhard; HUISL, Wolfgang; SPETTEL, Bernhard |
| Source: |
Meteoritics & Planetary Science ; volume 42, issue 6, page 951-962 ; ISSN 1086-9379 1945-5100 |
| Publisher Information: |
Wiley |
| Publication Year: |
2007 |
| Collection: |
Wiley Online Library (Open Access Articles via Crossref) |
| Description: |
Terrestrial alteration of meteorites results in the redistribution, gain, or loss of uranium and other elements. We have measured the maximum U adsorption capacity of a meteorite and two geochemical reference materials under conditions resembling terrestrial ones (pH 5.8). The basaltic eucrite Sioux County adsorbs 7 ppm of U. The result for the terrestrial granite AC‐E is similar (5 ppm), while the basalt BE‐N adsorbs 34 ppm of U. We have also investigated U adsorption in the presence of phosphate (0.01 M or less) in imitation of conditions that probably occurred in the earlier history of Mars. Such a process would have alterated Martian surface material and would be noticeable in Martian meteorites from the affected surface. The experiments demonstrated the counteracting effects of phosphate, which increases U adsorption, but decreases the quantity of dissolved U that is available for adsorption. U adsorption by AC‐E increases to 7 ppm. The lowered value for BE‐N of 8 ppm results from the low quantity of dissolved U in the volume of solution used. The results from the adsorption experiments and from leaching the Martian meteorite Zagami and a terrestrial basalt imply that the aqueous redistribution of U on Mars was moderate. Acidic liquids mobilized uranium and other metals, but present phosphate impeded the dissolution of U compounds. Some mobilized U may have reached the global sinks, while most of it probably was transported in the form of suspended particles over a limited distance and then settled. |
| Document Type: |
article in journal/newspaper |
| Language: |
English |
| DOI: |
10.1111/j.1945-5100.2007.tb01143.x |
| Availability: |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1945-5100.2007.tb01143.x; https://api.wiley.com/onlinelibrary/tdm/v1/articles/10.1111%2Fj.1945-5100.2007.tb01143.x; https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/j.1945-5100.2007.tb01143.x |
| Rights: |
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/termsAndConditions#vor |
| Accession Number: |
edsbas.2634F62A |
| Database: |
BASE |