Properties of cryobrines on Mars

Brines, i.e. aqueous salty solutions, increasingly play a role in a better understanding of physics and chemistry (and eventually also putative biology) of the upper surface of Mars. Results of physico-chemical modeling and experimentally determined data to characterize properties of cryobrines of potential interest with respect to Mars are described. Eutectic diagrams, the related numerical eutectic values of composition and temperature, the water activity of Mars-relevant brines of sulfates, chlorides, perchlorides and carbonates, including related deliquescence relative humidity, are parameters and properties, which are described here in some detail. The results characterize conditions for liquid low-temperature brines (cryobrines) to evolve and to exist, at least temporarily, on present Mars. (C) 2010 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.