Mineral abundances and different levels of alteration around Mawrth Vallis,Mars

Spectral indices from OMEGA hyperspectral data show that there are two main phyllosilicates exposed in and around Mawrth Vallis:Al phyllosilicates and Fe/Mg phyllosilicates.Detailed analysis of CRISM spectra shows that Al phyllosilicates such as montmorillonite,hydrated silica,kaolinite;Fe/Mg phyllosilicates such as nontronite,saponite,serpentine are widespread on the light-toned outcrops.Though similar stratigraphical sequences,morphologies and textures are observed on both sides of Mawrth Vallis from HiRISE images,suggesting that the geological processes that formed these units must have operated at a regional scale;the multiple endmember spectral mixture analysis(MESMA) derived mineral abundance indicates that there is a higher level of alteration in the western side relative to the eastern side.We suggest that the observed phyllosilicates,stratigraphical sequences and different levels of alteration might have been caused by sedimentary deposition processes in which the composition of the external source sediment or the local solution was different,or by a pedogenic process closely related to the leaching of abundant liquid water with different chemical properties.

Remediation of preservative ethylparaben in water using natural sphalerite:Kinetics and mechanisms

As a typical class of emerging organic contaminants(EOCs), the environmental transformation and abatement of preservative parabens have raised certain environmental concerns. However, the remediation of parabens-contaminated water using natural matrixes(such as, naturally abundant minerals) is not reported extensively in literature. In this study, the transformation kinetics and the mechanism of ethylparaben using natural sphalerite(NS) were investigated. The results show that around 63% of ethylparaben could be absorbed onto NS within 38 hr, whereas the maximum adsorption capacity was 0.45 mg/g under room temperature. High temperature could improve the adsorption performance of ethylparaben using NS. In particular, for the temperature of 313 K, the adsorption turned spontaneous. The well-fitted adsorption kinetics indicated that both the surface adsorption and intra-particle diffusion contribute to the overall adsorption process. The monolayer adsorption on the surface of NS was primarily responsible for the elimination of ethylparaben. The adsorption mechanism showed that hydrophobic partitioning into organic matter could largely govern the adsorption process, rather than the Zn S that was the main component of NS. Furthermore, the ethylparaben adsorbed on the surface of NS was stable, as only less than 2% was desorbed and photochemically degraded under irradiation of simulated sunlight for 5 days. This study revealed that NS might serve as a potential natural remediation agent for some hydrophobic EOCs including parabens, and emphasized the significant role of naturally abundant minerals on the remediation of EOCs-contaminated water bodies.