We report lead isotopic ratios and concentrations from a basaltic soil chronosequence in Hawaii. Substrate ages at the sites range from 300 years to 4.1 million years. All soils show a net addition of Pb above the contributions made by basaltic weathering, indicating that atmospheric deposition of natural or pollutant sources is important across the sequence. Isotopic ratios from the chronoseqe...

Geochemical modeling using the basalt composition analyzed at the Vega 2 landing site indicates that intermediate to silicic liquids can be generated by fractional crystallization and equilibrium partial melting. Fractional crystallization modeling using variable pressures (0.01 GPa to 0.5 GPa) and relative oxidation states (FMQ 0 and FMQ -1) of either a wet (H2O = 0.5 wt%) or dry (H2O = 0 wt%)...

The martian surface features abundant volcanoes and evidence for past liquid water. Extant or relict martian volcanic hydrothermal systems have therefore been sought in the pursuit of evidence for habitable environments1. The Mars Exploration Rover, Spirit, detected deposits highly enriched in silica with accessory minerals, suggesting formation by hydrothermal leaching of basaltic rocks by low...

Volatile elements play a key role in the dynamics of planetary evolution. Extensive work has been carried out to determine the abundance, distribution, and source(s) of volatiles in planetary bodies such as the Earth, Moon, and Mars. A recent study showed that the water in apatite from eucrites has similar hydrogen isotopic compositions compared to water in terrestrial rocks and carbonaceous ch...

A volcanic crust may be produced as a result of magma ocean processes. Solidification of a magma ocean naturally produces a silicate mantle with denser layers near the surface, therefore unstable to gravitational overturn. The mantle is predicted to rapidly flow in the solid state to gravitational stability. Hot buoyant silicate mantle rising from depth will melt through depressurization and er...

[1] A transect of four boreholes was drilled at ODP Site 855 in Middle Valley, a sedimented spreading center on the northern Juan de Fuca Ridge, near an eastern bounding (normal) fault. Systematic variations in pore water chemical profiles along this transect are consistent with recharge of seawater into basaltic crust along the exposed fault, followed by flow of formation fluid laterally withi...

[1] We have used new compositional information on Martian basaltic rocks from the Mars Exploration Rover Spirit and data from new stereo imaging by the High Resolution Stereo Camera (HRSC) on the Mars Express orbiter to constrain an existing analyticalnumerical computer model to assess the potential of Martian lavas to form lava channels by erosion of substrate. The basaltic rocks studied in Gu...

Micrometeorites with diameter approximately 100-200 microm dominate the flux of extraterrestrial matter on Earth. The vast majority of micrometeorites are chemically, mineralogically, and isotopically related to carbonaceous chondrites, which amount to only 2.5% of meteorite falls. Here, we report the discovery of the first basaltic micrometeorite (MM40). This micrometeorite is unlike any other...

A costly search for food in subterranean rodents resulted in various adaptations improving their foraging success under given ecological conditions. In Spalax ehrenbergi superspecies, adaptations to local ecological conditions can promote speciation, which was recently supposed to occur even in sympatry at sites where two soil types of contrasting characteristics abut each other. Quantitative d...