Stable Nitrogen and Oxygen Isotope Fractionation During Precipitation of Nitrate Salt from Saturated Solutions.

CONCLUSIONS: While the N and O isotope composition of the Martian nitrate is remarkably similar to that of the present Atacama Desert, interpretation of the slope of the O vs N isotopes remains ambiguous due to the limited number of samples. Additional NO3 samples from Martian meteorites are needed to address the question of abiotic vs. biotic alteration of NO3 - on Mars.
PMID: 32698248 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]

Source: Rapid Communications in Mass Spectrometry : RCM - July 21, 2020 Category: Chemistry Authors: Welsh H, Gueorguieva GA, Kounaves S, Amundson R Tags: Rapid Commun Mass Spectrom Source Type: research