Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®
Articles 1 - 1 of 1
Full-Text Articles in Astrophysics and Astronomy
Mars-Relevant Phosphate Minerals And Implications For Martian Habitability, Christopher Adcock
Mars-Relevant Phosphate Minerals And Implications For Martian Habitability, Christopher Adcock
UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones
This dissertation is comprised of three studies focused on martian phosphate availability, with an introductory chapter introducing and linking the three studies. Chapter two is on the subject of merrillite synthesis. Merrillite is an extraterrestrial Ca-phosphate mineral similar to the mineral whitlockite and is found as a dominant primary phosphate mineral in martian meteorites. The chapter includes methods of whitlockite and merrillite synthesis as well as a detailed characterization of the produced minerals and a mechanism by which charge balance can be maintained when merrillite is synthesized through dehydrogenation of whitlockite.
Chapter three presents the results of kinetic and thermodynamic …