Titanomaghemite in Icelandic basalt:: possible clues for the strongly magnetic phase in Martian soil and dust

It is suggested that the strongly magnetic phase found in the soil and dust on Mars, tentatively identified as maghemite. may have been formed in a similar way as titanomaghemite found in the Icelandic basalt. Earlier work has shown that titanomaghemite in Icelandic basalt can be formed upon thermal oxyexolution of titanomagnetite, a process in which water may not have played any significant role. Here, we present further data on how the formation of titanomaghemite takes place in Icelandic basalt, and illustrate how the Mossbauer spectroscopy can be useful in answering fundamental questions related to the possible formation of maghemite on Mars. This might be of special interest for a robotic Mars mission where a Fe-57-Mossbauer spectrometer is included. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.