[en] Pyrrhotite-pentlandite assemblages in mafic and ultramafic igneous rocks may have contributed significantly to the chemical weathering reactions that produce degradation products in the Martian regolith. By analogy and terrestrial processes, a model is proposed whereby supergene alteration of these primary Fe-Ni sulfides on Mars has generated secondary sulfides (e.g., pyrite) below the water table and produced acidic groundwater containing high concentrations of dissolved Fe, Ni, and sulfate ions. The low pH solutions also initiated weathering reactions of igneous feldspars and ferromagnesian silicates to form clay silicate and ferric oxyhydroxide phases. Near-surface oxidation and hydrolysis of ferric sulfato-and hydroxo-complex ions and sols formed gossan above the water table consisting of poorly crystalline hydrated ferric sulfates (e.g., jarosite), oxides (ferrihydrite, goethite), and silica (opal). Underlying groundwater, now permafrost contains hydroxo sulfato complexes of Fe, Al, Mg, Ni, which may be stabilized in frozen acidic solutions beneath the surface of Mars. Sublimation of permafrost may replenish colloidal ferric oxides, sulfates, and phyllosilicates during dust storms on Mars

No abstract available

[en] Fluctuation effects in conventional superconductors such as broadening of phase transitions and flux creep tend to be very small primarily because of the large coherence lengths. Thus mean field theory, with only small fluctuation corrections, usually provides an adequate description of these systems. Regimes in which fluctuation effects cause qualitatively different physics are very difficult to study as they typically occur in very small regions of the phase diagram or, in transport, require measuring extremely small voltages. In striking contrast, in the high temperature cuprate superconductors a combination of factors - short coherence lengths, anisotropy and higher temperatures - make fluctuation effects many orders of magnitude larger. The current understanding of transport and phase transitions in the cuprate superconductors-particularly YBCO and BSCCO-is reviewed. New results are presented on the two-dimensional regimes and 2D-3D crossover in the strongly anisotropic case of BSCCO. The emphasis is on pinning and vortex glass behavior

[en] Melting of flux-lattice in thin film type II superconductors is analyzed and the phase diagram at a function of magnetic field is discussed. Several experimental consequences are explored, in particular the possibilities for observing flux lattice melting

[en] Published in summary form only

[en] Melting of flux lattices in thin-film type-II superconductors is analyzed, and the phase diagram as a function of magnetic field is discussed. Several experimental consequences are explored, in particular the flux flow resistance of inhomogeneous thin films

[en] The presence of komatiitic igneous rocks on Marks, based on geochemical evidence from SNC meteorites and Viking X ray fluorescence analyses of the regolith, suggests that massive and disseminated iron sulfide mineralization occurs near the Martian surface. Analogies are drawn between possible ultramafic Fe-Ni sulfides on Mars and terrestrial pyrrhotite-pentlandite ore deposits associated with Archean komatiites formed during early crustal development on Earth. Partial melting of the mantle as a result of high radiogenic heat production then, extrusion of turbulent high-temperature ultramafic lavas, segregation of immiscible FeS melts during cooling, gravitational settling and fractional crystallization of sulfide minerals in magma chambers or lava flows produced massive and disseminated sulfide mineralization associated with terrestrial komatiites. Comparable processes probably occurred on Mars where, on account of the inferred higher Fe/(Fe + Mg) ratio of the X ray mantle (estimated to contain ∼4.5 wt % S), iron-rich basaltic magmas were produced by partial melting at depths and temperatures exceeding 165 km and 1,400 degree C, respectively. Adiabatic diapiric emplacement of these iron-rich, very low viscosity basaltic melts transported significant concentrations of dissolved sulfur as S^2- and HS^- from the mantle. Ensuing sulfide mineralization may have been either thinly disseminated within ultramafic lavas erupting over large areas of Mars or concentrated locally at the base of structural depressions. Cumulate ore deposits several meters thick may occur at the base of intrusions or in near-surface magma chambers. The evidence for insignificant plate tectonic activity on Mars and minimal interactions of Martian mantle with crust, hydrosphere and atmosphere has restricted the evolution of sulfide ore deposits there

[en] Models for the evolution of sulfide minerals on Mars and reaction pathways to their oxidative weathering products in Martian regolith have been proposed based on petrogenetic associations between komatiitic rock types, Viking geochemical data, SNC meteorites, and terrestrial Fe-Ni sulfide deposits. To test the weathering model, komatiitic pyrrhotites and olivines were exposed to sulfuric acid solutions, with and without dissolved ferric iron added to simulate deep-weathering processes, and the reaction products were identified by Mossbauer spectroscopy. Secondary FeS₂ (pyrite or marcasite), FeOOH (goethite), and possibly jarosite were formed from pyrrhotite, while olivine was oxidized to nanophase goethite. These results suggest that on Mars, acidic groundwater induced pyrrhotite → FeS₂ → FeOOH (+jarosite) oxidative weathering reactions, particularly in the presence of dissolved Fe³⁺. Such gossaniferous materials occurring in Martian regolith were derived mainly from Fe-Ni sulfides associated with komatiitic basalts and not from sulfides occurring in calc-alkaline porphyry copper deposits, granitic hydrothermal veins, sediment-hosted PbS-ZnS ores, etc., which presumably did not evolve on Mars due to the virtual lack of plate tectonic activity there

[en] The effects of logarithmic corrections on the critical behavior of systems near a phase transition with marginally irrelevant quenched disorder are examined, specifically in the context of superfluid ⁴He in porous media. It is argued that these corrections are likely to change the critical behavior of the specific heat to an inverse logarithmic cusp, and alter, to a new universal constant, the magnitude of the amplitude ratio relating the critical specific heat to the superfluid density. An var-epsilon expansion is carried out along the line on which the randomness is marginal. The results also have implications for the behavior of dirty high-temperature superconductors

[en] A description of a dislocation-free elastic glass phase in terms of domain walls is developed and used as the basis of a renormalization group analysis of the energetics of dislocation loops added to the system. It is found that even after optimizing over possible paths of large dislocation loops, their energy is still very likely to be positive when the dislocation core energy is large. This implies the existence of an equilibrium elastic glass phase in three-dimensional random field XY magnets, and a dislocation-free, bond orientationally ordered open-quotes Bragg glass close-quote close-quote phase of vortices in dirty type-II superconductors. copyright 1997 The American Physical Society