Margaret A. Tolbert
Ph.D. California Institute of Technology, 1986
Professor, Chemistry and Biochemistry
E-mail: margaret.tolbert@colorado.edu
Office: CIRES 146
Phone: 303-492-3179
Web: Margaret Tolbert Research Group
Professor Tolbert, Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry
Research Interests
Atmospheric chemistry; heterogeneous reactions, polar stratospheric clouds and cirrus clouds, nucleation, and planetary atmospheres.
Current Research: Water uptake and loss by salt particles: Application to Mars
Research in the Tolbert Group is focused on heterogeneous atmospheric chemistry, specifically determining the chemical, physical, and optical properties of atmospheric particulate. Along with fundamental studies of particles, we are exploring how atmospheric particulate impacts current problems such as stratospheric ozone depletion, global climate change, urban smog, and visibility degradation. As well as studies of atmospheric aerosols on Earth, we are also probing particles present on other worlds including Titan and Mars. Here we highlight recent results relevant to possible liquid water on present-day Mars.
A surprising discovery made by the Phoenix Lander’s Wet Chemistry Laboratory (WCL) in the Martian arctic plains was the presence of 0.5 percent by weight perchlorate (ClO4 -). Perchlorate’s presence is interesting due to its impact on the soil’s ability to retain water, thus influencing the water cycle and habitability. Perchlorate salts are known to readily absorb water vapor from the atmosphere and deliquesce into aqueous solution. Perchlorates, like most salts, also tend to remain in a supersaturated aqueous phase instead of efflorescing back into a solid crystal. This hysteresis behavior allows liquid brine solutions to exist at low relative humidity (RH) values. Such brines may explain observations of residual slope lineae, resembling running water, that appear on Mars today. Work in our group recently reported the deliquescence and efflorescence RH values of Ca(ClO4)2 as a function of temperature and applied the results to Martian surface and subsurface conditions. To characterize the deliquescence and efflorescence of Ca(ClO4)2, we studied changes in salt phase and hydration state, using Raman and optical microscopy. To probe phase state and morphology of individual Ca(ClO4)2 droplets free from substrate, we levitated droplets in an optical trap recently developed in our lab. The figure shows optical images of a Ca(ClO4)2 particle during a deliquescence experiment in which RH was raised. It shows the initially dry particle at 0 percent RH underwent a hydration phase transition at 15 percent RH, followed by deliquescence at 26 percent RH, and growth at higher RH values. Experiments with increasing and decreasing RH, combined with martian temperatures and RH values, allow us to suggest that calcium perchlorate could be aqueous for several hours per day on Mars’ surface, and for more than half a day in the subsurface.
Recurring slope lineae (RSL) on Mars may indicate subsurface water flow. The image was taken by an instrument onboard the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. Image credit: NASA/JPL/University of Arizona
Publications
Click here for a complete list of published works »
See Also
University of Colorado Sponsored Research 2003-04 Feature Highlighting Some of CU's outstanding Women Scholars, "Contemplating the Clouds"
Dr. Tolbert is a member of the CIRES Professor..
