资源环境科技发展态势分析平台

High-manganese materials would provide valuable information about the history of a water-rich and oxidizing environment on early Mars. However, the detailed texture and components of these high-manganese materials are unknown. In Martian breccia meteorite NWA 11220, one unique lithic clast enriched in high-manganese material (∼5 vol%) has been recognized. Here, we report the morphological, micro-textural, mineralogical, and geochemical features of the martian high-manganese material at the microscale for the first time. Our results show that (1) high-manganese materials are characterized by micron-sized grain (<50 μm), complex associated-phase (i.e., apatite, enstatite, magnetite, ilmentite, and amorphous matrix), and chemical heterogeneity; (2) nano-sized (<500 nm) amorphous manganese-oxide veins or grains are the only manganese-bearing phases in the high-manganese materials. These new observations provide new evidence for revealing the geological processes related to the high-manganese materials on Mars and provide important information for future in-situ exploration and data interpretation of high-manganese materials on Mars.