Binding of methane to activated mineral surfaces - a methane sink on Mars?
Abstract
Tumbling experiments that simulate the wind erosion of quartz grains in an atmosphere of 13 C-enriched methane are reported. The eroded grains are analyzed by 13C and 29 Si solid-state NMR techniques after several months of tumbling. The analysis shows that methane has reacted with the eroded surface to form covalent Si-CH3 bonds, which stay intact for temperatures up to at least 250oC. These findings offer a model for a methane sink that might explain the fast disappearance of methane on Mars.
- Publication:
-
European Planetary Science Congress
- Pub Date:
- October 2015
- Bibcode:
- 2015EPSC...10..247N