Quantifying the martian geochemical reservoirs: An interdisciplinary perspective

The Special Issue of Space Science Review 2013 discusses the ISSI-Europlanet Workshop entitled 'Quantifying the Martian Geochemical Reservoirs', organized in April 2011 at Bern with the objective to create a diverse interdisciplinary forum composed of scientists directly involved in space-based exploration of the Martian surface, meteoriticists studying SNC meteorites, and planetary and/or Earth scientists simulating, numerically or experimentally, the physical and chemical processes occurring on or within Mars. The special volume begins with a paper by Brasser, describing current thoughts on the formation of Mars, the reasons for its relatively small size, the composition of its building blocks and its accretion time-scale. The second contribution by Mezger and co-researchers is largely based on isotopic studies of the SNC meteorites, which can be used to constrain the extent and time-scales of planet-wide differentiation into a core, mantle, and crust. Lasue focuses on the Martian hydrosphere/crusher, considering the morphological evidence for the presence of water, both at the present time and in the past.