Layer
Name
Sublimation residue made of Nontronite NAu-1
Order
2
Type of layer
granular
Texture
other
Type of porosity
particulate
Comments
The layer has a foam-like structure, made of yellow spheres of nontronite "ribbons" aggregated. The spheres appear to be made of "ribbons" of nontronite (only few micrometers thick) interlaced or connected together. After sublimation of the water, the places previously occupied by the water crystals are now empty, resulting in an high porosity of the sublimation residue, also called sublimation mantle. The observed ribbons are probably the relics of the water crystals interfaces.
Formation mode
fractionated sublimation
Comments
The layer was produced by sublimation of the ice in the lower layer.
Number
1
Arrangement
single material
Materials
  Name Arrangement Mass (g) Mass fraction Abundance comments
Interlayer water in phyllosilicates porous matrix 1.0