Abstract Bright spots on the surface of Ceres exhibit a mineralogy resulting from aqueous processes that hint at past elements an world. Reports hydrated sodium chloride (hydrohalite) Occator crater suggested salts may result deep brines reached recently or currently, but spectral characteristics alkali halides make their identification difficult. However, anhydrous (halite) develops readily id...

A suite of Permian sylvite samples from Boulby potash mine, Yorkshire, UK, consistently yield traces of hydrogen upon analysis by a cold crush technique for liberating volatiles from entrapped fluid inclusions. In contrast, accompanying halite samples do not yield hydrogen. These data suggest the formation of hydrogen by radiolysis of water due to irradiation from potassium in the sylvite. The ...

Abstract New investigations of petrographic and geochemical characteristics Mesozoic sandstones from the northwestern Gulf Suez in Egypt have been undertaken, documenting dominance quartzose containing on average ~ 5% mostly sedimentary subordinately metamorphic lithic fragments (siltstone, sandy siltstone, and, more rarely slate, metasiltstone, limestone, dolostone, quartz-muscovite schist, gn...

pillow lavas are locally conspicuous. A unit consisting of dark, thinly bedded sandstone and siltstone, lccally ranging to several hundred feet thick, is lowermost in the exposed section. The middle division consists of about 3,500 feet of mixed andesi.:e and basalt volcaniclastic rocks ~ lahar, tuff breccia, volcanic sandstone, and conglomeratic beds which rest on relatively thin, fossiliferou...

Researchers seek to identify dry lake bed deposits on Mars, if present. Primary tools in this search include the 1996 Mars Global Surveyor Thermal Emission Spectrometer (TES) and the 2001 Mars Odyssey multi-channel radiometer THEMIS. Interpretations are based on a comparison of the recorded signatures to laboratory spectra. Texture affects both the shape and contrast of the spectral signatures ...