Electron microprobe, SEM-EDS, and TEM-EDS data for rhyolitic glasses altered under Venus surface conditions
Abstract:
This dataset contains the chemical and imaging data from experiments that exposed two natural rhyolitic glasses to conditions similar to those at the surface of Venus. A microlite-bearing obsidian from Newberry Volcano, Oregon, and a crystal-free obsidian from Mount Lassen, California, were reacted for 30 days at 470 °C and 90 bars in a carbon dioxide and sulfur dioxide atmosphere, with oxygen buffered by magnetite and hematite and sulfur buffered by pyrite. The starting glasses and their microlites were analyzed by electron microprobe with wavelength-dispersive spectrometry, including point analyses, X-ray element maps, and traverses across plagioclase, pyroxene, iron oxide and apatite microlites before and after the experiment. Altered glass surfaces were imaged with backscattered electrons in a scanning electron microscope, and surface coatings and particles were analyzed by energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy. The archive includes images, raw spectra, standardless quantifications, element maps, a catalog that assigns each analysis to a phase group, and the masks used to estimate how much of each surface is coated. Cross sections cut with a focused ion beam were analyzed by scanning transmission electron microscopy, giving oxide concentration profiles from the altered surface into the glass interior, along with high-angle annular dark-field images and element maps. Together these data document the thin, sulfate-poor chemical rinds that form on silica-rich glass under these conditions and allow comparison with other Venus alteration experiments and with remote-sensing observations.
How to cite this dataset:
Roberts, E. K., McCanta, M. C., Dyar, M. D., Livi, K. J. T., Ramprasad, T., Cooper, R. F., 2027. Electron microprobe, SEM-EDS, and TEM-EDS data for rhyolitic glasses altered under Venus surface conditions, Version 1.0. Interdisciplinary Earth Data Alliance (IEDA).
https://doi.org/10.60520/IEDA/114683. Accessed 2026-11-09.
DOI Creation Date:
2026-11-02
Related
Publication(s):
Roberts, E. K., McCanta, M. C., Dyar, M. D., Livi, K. J. T., Ramprasad, T., & Cooper, R. F. (in preparation). High-SiO₂ glass alteration under Venus surface conditions: Formation of sulfate-poor chemical rinds. Journal of Geophysical Research: Planets.; Reid, R. B., McCanta, M. C., Filiberto, J., Treiman, A. H., Keller, L., & Rutherford, M. (2024). Basalt alteration in a CO2–SO2 atmosphere: Implications for surface processes on Venus. Journal of Geophysical Research: Planets, 129(10), e2024JE008485.
License:
Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International [CC-BY-4.0]
Funding source(s):
National Aeronautics and Space Administration: Solar System Workings 80NSSC23K0561
Keyword(s):
Coverage Scope: Space/Planetary
Geographic Location: Newberry Volcano, Oregon, USA; Lassen Peak, Lassen Volcanic National Park, California, USA; Cascade Range; Venus (laboratory analog)
User Contributed Keyword(s):
Venus; chemical weathering; rhyolite; obsidian; volcanic glass; sulfur dioxide; surface alteration; experimental petrology; Newberry Volcano; Mount Lassen
Data Available On:
2027-10-24
Download File(s)
The file will be available for download after the specified date available above.
Related Information
References:
- Smithsonian Volcano Number: 322110
- Smithsonian Volcano Number: 323080