Caracterização mineraloquímica de meteoritos marcianos por técnicas não destrutivas: contribuições para estudos de reconstrução paleoambiental de Marte

Abstract

Humankind is extremely fascinated by Mars. This is because it is the most Earth-like rocky planet in our solar system. Nowadays, comparative planetology has developed a lot through the combination of data obtained by probes and rovers that carry out detailed surveys of the surface of the red planet, in order to provide high resolution spectrometric and photometric information of the diverse mineralogical distributions on a global scale basis. . These results obtained in an observational and/or in situ way can be combined and complemented from analyzes obtained from Martian meteorites through analytical techniques. Thus, analyzes were carried out and the implications that the Martian meteorites Zagami and NWA 6963 have for the evolutionary historical context of the geology of Mars. Both meteorites belong to the group called basaltic shergottites, as they are igneous rocks from Mars. The methods chosen to develop the work of analyzing meteorite samples were based on non-destructive analytical techniques, X-Ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy, X-Ray Diffraction, Raman spectroscopy and Fourier Transform Infrared absorption. In the same way that the rocks present on Earth are made up of minerals, the same happens with the Martian meteorites. Thus, from the comparison of the spectra of pure minerals in databases with the results obtained, it was possible to generate attributions on the mineralochemical composition of the Zagami and NWA 6963 meteorites. Based on the results, a survey of various ideas and hypotheses about how information from these minerals can provide implications for the study of the paleoenvironmental reconstruction of Mars. Although mineralogical data alone do not support a specific model of the entire evolutionary history of the planet Mars, the combination of laboratory and observational data can be used to infer some evolutionary aspects of the planet, generating conceptions of possible environmental aspects of the history of Mars.