Publication Date:
2011-08-24
Description:
A novel method of producing mixtures of glass or minerals with iron metal is presented. A portion of the Fe(2+) in basaltic glass and minerals can be reduced to metal in a few hours at 1100 C and an oxygen fugacity well below the iron-wustite buffer. Part of the iron metals forms rounded submicrometer blebs on the surfaces and in some cases within the grains. A concentration of such blebs equivalent to 20-30 percent of a grain's surface area can totally dominate the reflectance spectra of basaltic glass, pyroxene, and olivine. The production of optically opaque iron metal blebs, combined with the decline in Fe(2+), affects the glass and mineral reflectance spectra in three ways: by lowering the overall reflectivity, reducing the spectral contrast of absorption features, and producing a continuum with a general rise in reflectivity toward longer wavelengths.
Keywords:
LUNAR AND PLANETARY EXPLORATION
Type:
Icarus (ISSN 0019-1035); 104; 2; p. 291-300.
Format:
text
