Fe^(2+)-Mg Partitioning Between Olivine and Martian Basaltic Melts

Abstract

The partitioning of elements between olivine and liquid is key to understanding igneous processes in mafic and ultramafic systems [1]. The landmark study of Roeder and Emslie [2] concluded that the olivine (ol)-liquid (liq) exchange coefficient, K_(D,Fe2+-Mg) = (FeO/MgO)^(ol) / (FeO/MgO)^(liq) (by weight), is 0.30 ± 0.03, independent of temperature (T) and liquid composition. Subsequent work [3] has shown a dependence on liquid composition, but the canonical value of 0.30 is still widely used in both terrestrial and Martian applications [e.g., 4, 5]. Here, we use previously published experiments on bulk compositions relevant to Martian magmas to determine the appropriate K_(D,Fe2+-Mg)(s) for Martian systems; we then use this value to test whether any of the ol-phyric shergottites represent liquids.

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