Binding of methane to activated mineral surfaces - a methane sink on Mars?

TY - CONF

T1 - Binding of methane to activated mineral surfaces - a methane sink on Mars?

AU - Nørnberg, Per

AU - Knak Jensen, Svend J.

AU - Skibsted, Jørgen

AU - Jakobsen, Hans Jørgen

AU - Kate, Inge L. ten

AU - Gunnlaugsson, H.P.

AU - Merrison, Jonathan P.

AU - Finster, Kai

AU - Bak, Ebbe Norskov

AU - Iversen, J.J.

AU - Kondrup, Jens Christian

N1 - Conference code: 247

PY - 2015/10

Y1 - 2015/10

N2 - 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.

AB - 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.

M3 - Paper

T2 - The European Planetary Science Congress 2015

Y2 - 27 September 2015 through 2 October 2015

ER -