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Wikipedia about the elemental composition of Mars:

Based on these data sources, scientists think that the most abundant chemical elements in the Martian crust, besides silicon and oxygen, are iron, magnesium, aluminum, calcium, and potassium. These elements are major components of the minerals comprising igneous rocks. The elements titanium, chromium, manganese, sulfur, phosphorus, sodium, and chlorine are less abundant but are still important components of many accessory minerals and of secondary minerals (weathering products) in the dust and soils (regolith).

But are the above named elements all the different chemical elements that have been found on Mars ?

I would like to know for sure by reading all the scientific articles, that put together, give proof of all the found elements on Mars.

Cornelis
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    Why don't you start with the references given in the wiki section? Also it is not very usual to put all elements in one article. – AtmosphericPrisonEscape Nov 05 '19 at 17:32
  • @AtmosphericPrisonEscape Only found references to Viking lander and Pathfinder findings about elemental composition. More recent ones refer to organic chemistry. Apparently it's not very usual, that's why i posted this question. – Cornelis Nov 05 '19 at 18:03
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    Mars is very big - you can take it for granted that all elements, and all naturally occurring isotopes of those elements, occur on Mars. – Ags1 Nov 05 '19 at 18:15
  • @AtmosphericPrisonEscape I've changed the question somewhat, so more articles put together can give proof of all the elements. – Cornelis Nov 05 '19 at 18:22
  • @Ags1 Could be, but at what depth ? – Cornelis Nov 05 '19 at 18:26
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    "at what depth?" We have no way of knowing, since nobody ever drilled a hole into Mars. Assumptions about the bulk compositions stem from surface mineralogy and martian meteorites. – AtmosphericPrisonEscape Nov 05 '19 at 18:47
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    @AtmosphericPrisonEscape That's exactly what i meant to say ! Maybe with the Exomars driller still more elements will be found. – Cornelis Nov 05 '19 at 19:19
  • The problem is that this just isn't a very interesting question. It's not an extraordinary claim that the elements will be the same and in fairly similar isotope ratios... it's a pretty mundane one. You're not likely to find a detailed enumeration of every element that we've also found there. The closest you're likely to get is estimated of bulk composition. – Christopher James Huff Nov 06 '19 at 15:20
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    @ChristopherJamesHuff: To make this argument is pretty unscientific, don't you think? You want to know instead of assuming, or? In fact https://curator.jsc.nasa.gov/antmet/mmc/introduction.cfm (based on martian meteorites) seems to indicate that the oxygen fractionation line is different (indicating different formation age, fig. 3), and the element abundances are similar, but different in important places. Elemental differences hint at differences in the formation and evolution processes, and you don't want to assume that information away. – AtmosphericPrisonEscape Nov 06 '19 at 22:46
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    @AtmosphericPrisonEscape: The Copernican principle is a major guiding principle of science. It is the claim that Earth might be somehow special that is extraordinary, and in need of extraordinary evidence. We're not talking about minutia like the oxygen fractionation line, we're talking about lists of elements that have been "proven" to also exist there. The periodic table can be reasonably assumed to be exactly the same for every planet in the universe, it will not contain elements on Earth that don't exist on Mars or vice versa. – Christopher James Huff Nov 15 '19 at 00:27
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    @ChristopherJamesHuff: The CP is a guideline to guide our intuition and interpretation for cosmological questions, not planet forming ones. As for the elements, we have hard facts from astrophysics. Stars and galaxies evolve the metallicities of the ISM from which the next stars form. We see varying elemental and isotopic ratios in other, non-convective stars. Furthermore we know many physiochemical processes that separate for isotopes. Thus, we have clear evidence that Earth may be not 'special' according to the CP, but different, as is every other star. – AtmosphericPrisonEscape Nov 15 '19 at 13:12
  • Isn't this a little broad? I could see a request for evidence for a given element but all elements? – called2voyage Apr 20 '20 at 17:28
  • @called2voyage Because Mars has no plate tectonics like Earth i would like to see how different the elemental composition of their lithospheres will appear to be. – Cornelis Apr 20 '20 at 17:37
  • @Cornelisinspace I understand where you're coming from, but why not just ask "What effect does Mars's lack of plate tectonics have on its elemental composition?" instead of the broad catch all request for research on every element? – called2voyage Apr 20 '20 at 17:40
  • @called2voyage I think the question you propose would not give the 40 elements that i already collected so far. And maybe Perseverance will discover still more elements ! – Cornelis Apr 20 '20 at 18:01
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    Why is this question still open? It's a list request, and a request for sources, and too broad. And if these aren't enough, straight from the tour page: "Don't ask about.... Physical sciences, such as geology, astronomy, cosmology, meteorology, except as they relate to spacecraft and space exploration", so where is the link to spacecraft or space exploration? – CGCampbell Apr 20 '20 at 20:31
  • @CGCampbell The link is planetary science, added this tag to the question. – Cornelis Apr 20 '20 at 22:44
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    James E. Lovelock and C. E. Giffin, Planetary Atmospheres: Compositional and other Changes Associated with the Presence of Life, Advances in the Astronautical Sciences, 25, pp.179-193, 1969. In the 1960s when Professor Lovelock, while working for NASA, ... – Fred Aug 08 '22 at 23:59
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    ... designed an instrument to measure the chemical composition of Mars's atmosphere. After comparing his measurements with those taken from Earth's atmosphere, he concluded there could be no life on the Red Planet. 1. – Fred Aug 08 '22 at 23:59

1 Answers1

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From Mars Fact Sheet:

hydrogen (H), carbon (C), nitrogen (N), oxygen (O), argon (Ar), neon (Ne), krypton (Kr), xenon (Xe).

From Inorganic analysis of martian surface samples at the viking landing sites:

silicon (Si), iron (Fe), magnesium (Mg), aluminum (Al), sulfur (S), calcium (Ca), titanium (Ti), strontium (Sr), yttrium (Y).

From Martian surface chemistry: APXS results from the Pathfinder landing site:

sodium (Na), phosphorus (P), chlorine (Cl), potassium (K), chromium (Cr), manganese (Mn) .

From In situ detection of boron by ChemCam on Mars:

boron (B).

From Calcium sulfate veins characterized by ChemCam/Curiosity at Gale crater, Mars:

barium (Ba), rubidium (Rb), lithium (Li).

From Copper enrichments in the Kimberley formation in Gale crater, Mars: Evidence for a Cu deposit at the source:

copper (Cu).

From First detection of fluorine on Mars: Implications for Gale Crater's geochemistry:

fluorine (F).

From Variations in K/Th on Mars:

thorium (Th).

From Zinc and germanium in the sedimentary rocks of Gale Crater on Mars indicate hydrothermal enrichment followed by diagenetic fractionation:

germanium (Ge), zinc (Zn), bromine (Br), cobalt (Co).

From Nickel on Mars: Constraints on meteoritic material at the surface:

nickel (Ni).

From First Measurement of Helium on Mars: Implications for the Problem of Radiogenetic Gases on the Terrestrial Planets:

helium (He).

From Alpha Particle X-Ray Spectrometer (APXS): Results from Gusev crater and calibration report:
(Figure 32)

lead (Pb).

From TRACE ELEMENTS ON MARS: CHEMICAL EVIDENCE FOR AN AQUEOUS HISTORY AT GALE CRATER, MARS, AND OTHER LANDING SITES.:

selenium (Se).

To be continued.

enter image description here

Fred
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Cornelis
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    @Oscar Lanzi Great, meteorites from Mars fallen on Earth appear to contain Gold as well, so it seems a matter of time to be found ! – Cornelis May 06 '20 at 11:52
  • As of 8 May 2020 that's about one third of the elements in the periodic table. – Fred May 08 '20 at 13:00
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    Interestingly, the elements listed are most of the first 39 elements of the periodic table. Of the first 39 elemtents, the ones not found on Mars, so far, are: He, Be, Sc, V, Ga, As & Se. – Fred May 08 '20 at 14:29
  • @Fred That seems to agree rather well with the abundances on Earth, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abundance_of_the_chemical_elements#/media/File:Elemental_abundances.svg – Cornelis May 08 '20 at 14:53
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    We can remove helium from the missing elements, that element having been documented from UV ovservatiobns in the atmospheres of both Mars and Venus. – Oscar Lanzi May 08 '20 at 21:47
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    Well done with providing such a list. It should also be obvious that the harder you look the more you will find so evidence for rare heavier elements might not arrive for a long time. But that does not mean they are absent. – Slarty Aug 09 '22 at 10:00
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    @Slarty Thanks, I think Perseverance with rhe PIXL spectrometer will be able to detect the rare heavier elements, until now they gave it just not time enough. Probably more important things to discover right now. – Cornelis Aug 09 '22 at 10:18
  • @Cornelis: Thanks. I missed that one. Fixed now. A question for you! Given that thorium & lead have been discovered & also given the nuclear decay series of thorium & that lead is the final product of the decay series, could we then also add to the list of elements that "were" on Mars the radioactive intermediate products of decay: Ra, Ac, Rn, Po, Bi & Tl? – Fred Aug 10 '22 at 00:52
  • @Fred Sorry, I asked specifically for the scientific articles that show the presence of the specific element(s), also to learn about the abundance compared to other elements and the setting in which they occur. But you added a clear, colorfull overwiew ! – Cornelis Aug 10 '22 at 06:57