This study focused on the formation of the jarosite-alunite solid solution at relatively low temperature, 90 ◦C. It was found that the transition from jarosite to alunite results in significant changes in the powder X-ray diffraction pattern, the infrared spectrum and thermal behavior when the degree of substitution reached ≥50%. The initial Al/(Al + Fe) in solution, however, required to achiev...

The chemical and physical characteristics of realgar (an arsenic sulfide mineral that occurs in several crystalline forms) in the presence of Acidithiobacillus ferrooxidans BY-3 were investigated in this work. Grains of the mineral were incubated for 10, 20, and 30 days with A. ferrooxidans cultured in 9K medium at 30 °C and at 150 rpm agitation. Abiotic control experiments were conducted in id...

Arsenic-bearing synthetic jarosite [KFe3(SO4)2(OH)6] was characterized to elucidate the form of the arsenic. The XANES spectra indicate that the As occurs exclusively as As5+, nominally as AsO4, consistent with the valence state of the arsenic in the reagents used for the syntheses. X-ray-diffraction analyses show that at least 9.9 wt.% AsO4 can be structurally incorporated in the jarosite. Cel...

Outcrops of hydrated minerals are widespread across the surface of Mars, with clay minerals and sulfates being commonly identified phases. Orbitally-based reflectance spectra are often used to classify these hydrated components in terms of a single mineralogy, although most surfaces likely contain multiple minerals that have the potential to record local geochemical conditions and processes. Re...

Introduction: Data collected by Viking, Pathfinder, and the Mars Exploration Rovers and by orbiters (e.g., Odyssey) provide multiple lines of evidence for the historical and present-day existence of water on Mars. For example, Mars Odyssey detected up to ~10 wt% equivalent H2O in equatorial regions of Mars where water ice is not stable [1]. It has been theorized that sulfate minerals, including...

We report polarized neutron scattering studies of spin-wave excitations and spin fluctuations in the S=5/2 kagomé lattice antiferromagnet KFe3(OH)6(SO4)2 (jarosite). Inelastic polarized neutron scattering measurements at 10 K on a single crystal sample reveal two spin gaps, associated with in-plane and out-of-plane excitations. The polarization analysis of quasi-elastic scattering at 67 K shows...