Lepidocrocite to maghemite to hematite: A pathway to magnetic and hematitic Martian soil

Abstract

Abstract— We examined decomposition products of lepidocrocite, which were produced by heating the phase in air at temperatures up to 525 °C for 3 and 300 h, by x‐ray diffraction (XRD), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), magnetic methods, and reflectance spectroscopy (visible and near‐infrared (IR)). Single‐crystal lepidocrocite particles dehydroxylated to polycrystalline particles of disordered maghemite that subsequently transformed to polycrystalline particles of hematite. Essentially pure maghemite was obtained at 265 and 223 °C for the 3 and 300 h heating experiments, respectively. Its saturation magnetization (Js) and mass specific susceptibility are ∼50 Am2/kg and ∼400 × 10−6 m3/kg, respectively. Because hematite is spectrally dominant, spectrally hematitic samples (i.e., a minimum near 860 nm and a maximum near 750 nm) also could be strongly magnetic (Js up to ∼30 Am2/kg) from the masked maghemite component. Analyses by TEM showed that individual particles are polycrystalline with respect to both maghemite and hematite. The spectrally hematitic and magnetic Mh + Hm particles can satisfy the spectral and magnetic constraints for Martian surface materials over a wide range of values of Mh/(Mh + Hm) either as pure oxide powders or (within limits) as components of multiphase particles. These experiments are consistent with lepidocrocite as the precursor of Mh + Hm assemblages on Mars, but other phases (e.g., magnetite) that decompose to Mh and Hm are also possible precursors. Simulations done with a copy of the Mars Pathfinder magnet array showed that spectrally hematitic Mh + Hm powders having Js equal to 20.6 Am2/kg adhered to all five magnets.