Abstract
We have measured the adsorption of molecular nitrogen (N 2) on palagonite, and modeled the adsorbed nitrogen inventory on the martian regolith. We were motivated by the fact that models of isotopic evolution predict stronger N 2 fractionation than reported by Viking. Possible scenarios for reconciling models with the observation include a heavy CO 2 atmosphere early in the planet's history, continued outgassing of N 2 throughout the history of Mars, or a substantial adsorbed inventory. In this paper we investigate the plausibility of the last explanation. We find that the regolith reservoir of adsorbed N 2 is inadequate by itself to buffer the atmospheric isotopic composition, but may play a role depending on the total regolith surface area available.
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