Jarosite, a ferric-potassium hydroxide sulfate mineral (KFe3(SO4)2(OH)6 ) has recently gained significant attention from the scientific community due to its recent discovery on the surface of Mars. Because jarosite occurs on Earth as a result of low-temperature, acidic, oxidative weathering of iron-bearing minerals in water-limited conditions, its identification on the Martian surface has been considered evidence for the presence of liquid water. Additionally, several experiments have shown that a low water-to-rock ratio (&lt;10) is essential for its long-term preservation, above which Jarosite will be transformed into goethite. Therefore, the occurrence of Jarosite in natural terrestrial conditions on Earth, where the water-to-rock ratio is typically higher than on the general Martian surface is an enigma. The present work is a coupled theoretical and experimental approach to unravel the preservation and formation mechanism of Jarosite on the Earth’s surface. In the present work, a detailed literature review has been conducted to accumulate information available regarding the formation and preservation of Jarosite on the surface of the Earth that includes playa sediments of hypersaline acid lakes, epithermal environments, hot springs associated with volcanism, around the oxidized parts of sulfide ores, and paleo-ice deposits of Antarctica. Further, several geochemical models have been tried to formulate to decipher the common formation and preservation mechanisms of Jarosite on the above-mentioned typical terrestrial conditions. Additionally, in the laboratory, a number of Jarosite minerals have been synthesized under different Physico-chemical conditions which were evaluated for their grain size, shape, and composition through the scanning electron microscope and X-Ray diffraction technique. The results of these preliminary experimental data of synthetic jarosite minerals are compared with the naturally formed jarosite, retrieved from the literature to decipher the formation and preservation mechanism of Jarosite on terrestrial conditions.

Formation and preservation mechanisms of jarosite on the earth’s surface: A coupled theoretical and experimental approach

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