2025/09/03 by Lucia Bellino, Chenguang Sun · 2 citations
Physics and Astronomy · #Astro and Planetary Science #Astrobiology #Atmospheric sciences #Biology #Earth science #Environmental science #Geology #Life on Mars #Mars Exploration Program #Martian #Materials science #Paleontology #Planetary Science and Exploration #Remote sensing #Space Science and Extraterrestrial Life #Sulfur #Volcano
paper · pdf · doi:10.1126/sciadv.adr9635
published in Science Advances 11(36), eadr9635 (American Association for the Advancement of Science)
openalex publication_date 2025/09/03 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/07
Sulfur and other volatiles could be transported from the martian interior to surface through magmatic processes, including mantle melting, magma differentiation, and degassing. However, these processes were not fully integrated in past sulfur cycling models because of complexity from the gas-melt interactions in chemically and dynamically evolving magmatic systems with multicomponent volatiles. Here, we incorporate these processes to simulate how sulfur, carbon, and hydrogen degas from martian melts. We find that reduced sulfur species, H 2 S and S 2 , are dominantly emitted through degassing at crustal to surficial pressures. These sulfur species could condense as sulfide and elemental sulfur, potentially yielding the sulfate deposits observed on the martian surface through secondary oxidation. Our models also show that evolved magmas reach graphite and sulfide saturation at crustal pressures and thus may establish sulfur and carbon reservoirs in the martian crust. The degassed H 2 S and S 2 may form a hazy atmosphere with SF 6 , a potent greenhouse gas, to shape the paleoclimate of Mars.