serpentinization - 2026 ACF Regionals

Question

Igneous rocks from the Máaz formation suggest that this process was active on early Mars. For 10 points each:

[10h] Name this process, the hydrothermal alteration of ultramafic rocks. The hydrogen and methane generated by this process on Earth may have driven the origin of life.

ANSWER: serpentinization [accept answers specifying the formation of serpentinite or serpentine minerals; prompt on metasomatism by asking “what specific form of metasomatism?”]

[10e] Serpentinization on Mars indicates that Mars may have once had this property. This property characterizes a zone of the Solar System in which a planet’s surface can sustain liquid water.

ANSWER: habitability [or habitable; accept habitable zone; prompt on Goldilocks zone by asking “the Goldilocks zone is a zone of what property?”]

[10m] This other body may be suitable for aquatic life because its salty and alkaline subsurface ocean actively sustains serpentinization. Four “tiger stripes” near the south pole of this moon of Saturn indicate its present-day cryovolcanism.

ANSWER: Enceladus

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Summary


California (North)	Main Site	Y	3	10.00	100%	0%	0%
Canada	Main Site	Y	10	13.00	90%	30%	10%
Florida	Main Site	Y	3	16.67	100%	67%	0%
Great Lakes	Main Site	Y	5	16.00	80%	60%	20%
Lower Mid-Atlantic	Main Site	Y	9	11.11	89%	22%	0%
Midwest	Main Site	Y	8	16.25	88%	63%	13%
Northeast	Main Site	Y	5	14.00	100%	40%	0%
Overflow	Main Site	Y	4	15.00	100%	50%	0%
South Central	Main Site	Y	2	25.00	100%	100%	50%
Southeast	Main Site	Y	7	8.57	71%	14%	0%
UK	Main Site	Y	6	11.67	67%	50%	0%
Upper Mid-Atlantic	Main Site	Y	8	8.75	88%	0%	0%
Upstate NY	Main Site	Y	4	10.00	75%	0%	25%

Data


Stanford A	Berkeley B	0	10	0	10
Berkeley A	Berkeley C	0	10	0	10
Stanford B	Berkeley D	0	10	0	10
McMaster A	McGill B	0	10	0	10
McMaster B	McGill A	0	10	0	10
Simon Fraser	Toronto Metropolitan	0	10	10	20
Toronto B	Toronto G	0	10	10	20
Waterloo A	Toronto C	10	0	0	10
Toronto E	Carleton University	0	10	0	10
Toronto F	Western C	0	10	0	10
UBC A	Guelph	0	10	10	20
UBC B	Toronto D	0	10	0	10
Waterloo B	Western A	0	10	0	10
Central Florida A	Central Florida C	0	10	10	20
Florida B	Central Florida B	0	10	0	10
Florida C	Florida A	0	10	10	20
Duke	North Carolina C	0	0	0	0
VCU	North Carolina A	0	10	0	10
North Carolina B	Liberty C	0	10	0	10
NC State A	South Carolina B	0	10	0	10
Virginia Tech A	James Madison B	0	10	10	20
NC State B	Virginia Tech B	0	10	0	10
Virginia	South Carolina A	0	10	10	20
James Madison A	Wake Forest	0	10	0	10
William and Mary	Liberty B	0	10	0	10
Illinois B	Chicago B	0	10	10	20
Indiana A	Chicago C	10	10	0	20
Indiana C	Chicago D	0	0	0	0
Northwestern B	Chicago E	0	10	0	10
Northwestern C	Indiana B	0	10	10	20
Purdue A	Northwestern D	0	10	10	20
Chicago A	Notre Dame A	0	10	10	20
Illinois C	Notre Dame B	0	10	10	20
Michigan State	Michigan A	0	10	10	20
CWRU A	Michigan B	10	10	10	30
Ohio State A	CWRU B	0	10	0	10
Pittsburgh	Ohio State B	0	10	10	20
Ohio State C	Michigan C	0	0	0	0
Brown	Bowdoin A	0	10	0	10
Washington A	Georgia Tech A	0	10	10	20
Missouri A	Washington B	0	10	0	10
Murray State A	Texas A&M A	10	10	10	30
Texas A	Texas B	0	10	10	20
Georgia Tech D	Alabama A	0	0	0	0
Georgia Tech B	Bruin	0	10	10	20
WashU A	Georgia Tech C	0	10	0	10
Tennessee B	Louisville A	0	10	0	10
Mississipi State	WashU B	0	10	0	10
Tennessee A	Kentucky	0	10	0	10
Alabama B	Vanderbilt B	0	0	0	0
Brandeis A	Bowdoin B	0	10	0	10
Dartmouth B	Brandeis B	0	10	0	10
MIT	Dartmouth A	0	10	10	20
Harvard A	Yale	0	10	10	20
Claremont	Carleton College	0	10	10	20
Minnesota A	Missouri B	0	10	0	10
Edinburgh A	Birmingham	0	10	0	10
Cambridge A	Manchester	0	10	10	20
Warwick A	Cardiff	0	10	10	20
Southampton B	Montpellier	0	0	0	0
Oxford C	Southampton A	0	0	0	0
Imperial B	Warwick B	0	10	10	20
Catholic	Georgetown	0	10	0	10
NYU A	Columbia A	0	10	0	10
Columbia B	Swarthmore	0	10	0	10
Columbia C	Rutgers A	0	10	0	10
Johns Hopkins A	John Jay	0	10	0	10
Maryland A	Maryland B	0	10	0	10
Johns Hopkins B	Rutgers B	0	10	0	10
Vassar	Maryland C	0	0	0	0
Penn State	Cornell A	0	10	0	10
Cornell B	Binghamton A	0	0	0	0
RIT	Cornell C	10	10	0	20
Rochester	Binghamton B	0	10	0	10