Regolith

From Marspedia
Revision as of 12:01, 25 November 2018 by JimL (talk | contribs) (Added a table of mineral components.)
Jump to: navigation, search
Regolith visible on picture "Postcard Above Tennessee Valley"

Regolith is the layer of rocky or icy debris, sand, and dust made by meteoritic impact that forms the uppermost surface of planets, satellites and asteroids. It is a possible construction material in the form of bricks. Loose regolith may also be used as a radiation shield.

Landscapes with regolith formation have been found that look like they were shaped by the flow of water. Those formations were probably created by "gas-supported density flows". [1]

Mineral Composition

The below table gives estimates of mineral composition based on the soil sample measurements performed by two Mars probes. Only the 6 most abundant minerals are listed.

Estimated abundance (weight %) of main components of Martian soil[2]
SiO2 Fe2O3 Al2O3 MgO CaO SO3
Viking 46.3 19.4 7.7 6.4 6.2 7.9
Pathfinder 48.6 17.5 8.3 7.5 6.3 5.4

Open Issues

  • How radioactive is regolith?
  • What are the compositions of the regolith near possible settlement sites?

references

  1. How the landscape is formed to the shape of floods: THE COLLAPSE ORIGIN OF DENSITY FLOWS ON MARS
  2. Bell JF, McSween HY, Crisp JA, Morris RV, Murchie SL, Bridges NT,...Soderblom L. (2000). Journal of Geophysical Research, 105(E1), 1721-1755. https://doi.org/10.1029/1999JE001060