June 2000 – My WordPress Site

(a) TEM image (mass thickness contrast) of a FIB-prepared cross section showing a deposited porous magnesium silicate layer on a silicon wafer. The layer has a variable thickness and a very high porosity. The thickness of the prepared TEM sample in beam direction is about 100 nm. The metal coating is protecting the surface during the FIB sample preparation. (b) and (c) Magnified view of the porous and foam-like structure of the film. Brighter areas represent less solid material in the beam direction. Areas with pore diameters over 100 nm are scarce, and most pores measure less than 20 nm. -- Heriot-Watt University

Arctic / Antarctic / Alpine, Astrochemistry, Astrogeology, Atmospheres, Climate, Weather, Habitable Zones, Mars, Meteorites & Asteroids

Mars May Be Even Wetter Than It Was Last Week

by Keith CowingJune 27, 2000June 23, 2024

In less than a week, our collective understanding of the amount of water on Mars has been totally revamped. First there was the announcement that liquid water is apparently at work just below the surface of Mars – possibly even to this very day.

Scanning electron micrograph of the number 15 grain of sample plate C0105-042 from Ryugu, in which djerfisherite was discovered. (Hiroshima University/Masaaki Miyahara).

Atmospheres, Climate, Weather, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Fossils & Paleontology, Habitable Zones, Mapping, Geodesy, Cartography, Mars, Meteorites & Asteroids, Water/Hycean Worlds & Oceanography

Mars Once Had Salty Oceans – Just Like Earth

by Keith CowingJune 25, 2000April 14, 2024

N-isotope fractionation values observed in this study compared to the sedimentary δ15N record a, and known ranges of extant microbial biomass b, The sedimentary database includes bulk rock δ15N (dark grey) and kerogen δ15N (light grey), from both marine and nonmarine rocks across a range of very low to moderate metamorphic grades22,39,40. The purple bar in a and b represents the average fractionation signature of all ancestors in this study and is largely coincident with the minimum d15N values seen in the rock record which are presumed to record nitrogen-fixation unaffected by subsequent nitrogen cycling. The partial range of bacterial and fractionation signatures are labeled as the modern range of N-isotopic values41 (see Figure S3 for extended range). -- biorxiv.org

Astrogeology, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Caves, Craters, Mountains & Lava Tubes, Habitable Zones, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Mapping, Geodesy, Cartography, Mars

New Images Suggest Present-Day Sources of Liquid Water on Mars

by Keith CowingJune 22, 2000April 13, 2024

Astrobiology (general), Astrogeology, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Mars, Missions & Hardware

Mars, Like Earth, is not a Simple Planet to Understand

by Keith CowingJune 22, 2000June 23, 2024