[Article Publication] Associate Professor Miyahara and his colleagues’ paper on manganese precipitates in Martian meteorites has been published in the Journal of Geophysical Research.

The paper was the result of a project led by thesis student Nakamura, Class of 2019. We found divalent and trivalent manganese in the Martian meteorite nacrite, indicating that this rock reacted with a highly alkaline fluid in a reducing environment deep underground on Mars. On the other hand, traces of tetravalent manganese and iron sulfate minerals are also present, indicating that this rock was also exposed to the highly acidic environment of the Martian surface. This dramatic environmental change is thought to have occurred as a result of impact, which excavated the nacrite from the Martian subsurface and exposed it to the surface (Published paper url).