Meridianiite: A new mineral species observed on Earth and predicted to exist on Mars

Crystallization and Characterization of Magnesium Methanesulfonate Hydrate Mg(CH3SO3)2·12H2O

“…In the recent work of Wang et al, 43 thermal decomposition of magnesium methanesulfonate dehydrate (Mg(CH 3 SO 3 ) 2 3 2H 2 O) at 250-850°C was studied. In their study, the final residue of magnesium methanesulfonate was detected as a mixture of MgSO 4 and MgO, since they used dynamic air instead of dynamic helium atmosphere, as in our case. In Figure 7, dehydration of MgSO 4 , is presented in Figure 8.…”

“…[1][2][3][4][5] Discovering the natural occurrence of these structures in cold regions such as at the Poles contributes scientific knowledge as a "new mineral discovery" and provides records of past climate and atmospheric conditions and living organisms preserved in the ice cores.…”

Science Priorities for Mars Sample Return

“…Clark et al, 2005;Bibring et al, 2006;Peterson et al, 2007). The perceived effects of temperature on achieving science goals are summarized in Table 9.…”

“…Monitoring sample temperature during transport to Earth would help determine any post-sampling melting or recrystallization. For example, MgSO 4 .11H 2 O, which was identified at the Opportunity site and subsequently found on Earth (Peterson et al 2007), is expected to dehydrate at 2°C. Maintaining a low temperature would inhibit this mineralogical transformation.…”

Thenardite after mirabilite deposits as a cool climate indicator in the geological record: lower Miocene of central Spain

“…Detail of the mirabilite crystals (c). (Garrett, 2001) and probably on Mars (Peterson et al, 2007). The minerals formed under these conditions are called cryogenic (Babel and Schreiber, 2014;Brasier, 2011).…”