Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Magmatic Processes Leading To Compositional Diversity In The Mars Crust, Amanda Marie Ostwald

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The ancient Mars crust can yield insights into planet formation and evolution that Earth cannot. Direct investigation of the martian surface is limited to studies on meteorites and rover-obtained analyses. The nakhlites and chassignites, two classes of martian meteorites, are together the largest suite of martian meteorites derived from a single location on the surface. As such, they present a rare opportunity to study the Mars crust in detail using samples bearing a contextual relationship. Rover studies have found a surprising amount of compositional diversity in surface materials, the formation mechanisms of which are not well-constrained. This dissertation leverages meteorites …