Adsorption on the Martian Regolith

Laboratory measurements of the adsorption of CO₂, H₂O and Kr indicate that pulverized basalt has an extremely high internal surface area. This suggests that the Martian regolith may store an appreciable amount of adsorbed gas, and that the diurnal brightening of Mars may be caused by a fog of ice crystals formed from water molecules desorbed diurnally from the surface.