H2O-Silicate Microphysics in Ascending Volcanic Plumes on Mars

Physical adsorption of water vapor plays a much more significant role in eruptive plume energetics on Mars than on Earth. The total surface area in martian plumes is likely comparable to terrestrial ash, while the erupting magma and ambient atmosphere are drier. Plumes cool rapidly during ascent, and a limited population of H2O molecules find adsorption sites to be increasingly stable. Release of latent heat of condensation and the onset of moist convection are diminished, delayed, or even prevented by adsorptive interaction We have developed a 5-component numerical model of the behavior of water in eruptive plumes under Mars-like conditions. We have used the model to study the fate of both juvenile and ambient atmospheric water in the eruption column. Here we investigate the adsorptive interaction of water and silicates as they effect plume dynamics and the partitioning and distribution of H2O to the martian environment. Our focus is on the role of adsorption in scavenging H2O from the ascending eruption column, and the possibility that adsorptive scavenging depresses the vapor pressure in the column below the level considered in most eruptive models.