Amorphous silicates are common in extraterrestrial materials, especially in carbonaceous
chondrites of petrologic types 1 and 2. In addition, high percentage of amorphous
components and poorly crystalline phyllosilicates were found in the mudstones at Gale
Crater by the CheMin instruments on board of Mar Curiosity rover, which illustrates the
importance of characterizing amorphous silicates in future planetary surface explorations.
The structure of an amorphous silicate can vary in two aspects: the degree of polymerization …

Amorphous silicates are common in extraterrestrial materials. They are seen in the matrix of
carbonaceous chondrites as well as in planetary materials. Tagish Lake is one of the most
primitive carbonaceous meteorites in which TEM and XRD analyses found evidence for
poorly crystalline phyllosilicate-like species; Raman spectra revealed amorphous silicates
with variable degree of polymerization and low crystallinity. On Mars, CheMin discovered
amorphous phases in all analyzed samples, and poorly crystalline smectite in mudstone …