serpentinization - 2026 ACF Regionals

Packet B: Bonus 9

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

<UCLA B, Other Science> | Packet B - Queens A, UCLA B, Edinburgh B, St. Georges A

Heard	PPB	E %	M %	H %
74	12.70	87%	34%	7%

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Conversion

Team	Opponent	Part 1	Part 2	Part 3	Total	Parts
Alabama B	Vanderbilt B	0	0	0	0
Berkeley A	Berkeley C	0	10	0	10	E
Brandeis A	Bowdoin B	0	10	0	10	E
Brown	Bowdoin A	0	10	0	10	E
CWRU A	Michigan B	10	10	10	30	HEM
Cambridge A	Manchester	0	10	10	20	EM
Catholic	Georgetown	0	10	0	10	E
Central Florida A	Central Florida C	0	10	10	20	EM
Chicago A	Notre Dame A	0	10	10	20	EM
Claremont	Carleton College	0	10	10	20	EM
Columbia B	Swarthmore	0	10	0	10	E
Columbia C	Rutgers A	0	10	0	10	E
Cornell B	Binghamton A	0	0	0	0
Dartmouth B	Brandeis B	0	10	0	10	E
Duke	North Carolina C	0	0	0	0
Edinburgh A	Birmingham	0	10	0	10	E
Florida B	Central Florida B	0	10	0	10	E
Florida C	Florida A	0	10	10	20	EM
Georgia Tech B	Bruin	0	10	10	20	EM
Georgia Tech D	Alabama A	0	0	0	0
Harvard A	Yale	0	10	10	20	EM
Illinois B	Chicago B	0	10	10	20	EM
Illinois C	Notre Dame B	0	10	10	20	EM
Imperial B	Warwick B	0	10	10	20	EM
Indiana A	Chicago C	10	10	0	20	HE
Indiana C	Chicago D	0	0	0	0
James Madison A	Wake Forest	0	10	0	10	E
Johns Hopkins A	John Jay	0	10	0	10	E
Johns Hopkins B	Rutgers B	0	10	0	10	E
MIT	Dartmouth A	0	10	10	20	EM
Maryland A	Maryland B	0	10	0	10	E
McMaster A	McGill B	0	10	0	10	E
McMaster B	McGill A	0	10	0	10	E
Michigan State	Michigan A	0	10	10	20	EM
Minnesota A	Missouri B	0	10	0	10	E
Mississipi State	WashU B	0	10	0	10	E
Missouri A	Washington B	0	10	0	10	E
Murray State A	Texas A&M A	10	10	10	30	HEM
NC State A	South Carolina B	0	10	0	10	E
NC State B	Virginia Tech B	0	10	0	10	E
NYU A	Columbia A	0	10	0	10	E
North Carolina B	Liberty C	0	10	0	10	E
Northwestern B	Chicago E	0	10	0	10	E
Northwestern C	Indiana B	0	10	10	20	EM
Ohio State A	CWRU B	0	10	0	10	E
Ohio State C	Michigan C	0	0	0	0
Oxford C	Southampton A	0	0	0	0
Penn State	Cornell A	0	10	0	10	E
Pittsburgh	Ohio State B	0	10	10	20	EM
Purdue A	Northwestern D	0	10	10	20	EM
RIT	Cornell C	10	10	0	20	HE
Rochester	Binghamton B	0	10	0	10	E
Simon Fraser	Toronto Metropolitan	0	10	10	20	EM
Southampton B	Montpellier	0	0	0	0
Stanford A	Berkeley B	0	10	0	10	E
Stanford B	Berkeley D	0	10	0	10	E
Tennessee A	Kentucky	0	10	0	10	E
Tennessee B	Louisville A	0	10	0	10	E
Texas A	Texas B	0	10	10	20	EM
Toronto B	Toronto G	0	10	10	20	EM
Toronto E	Carleton University	0	10	0	10	E
Toronto F	Western C	0	10	0	10	E
UBC A	Guelph	0	10	10	20	EM
UBC B	Toronto D	0	10	0	10	E
VCU	North Carolina A	0	10	0	10	E
Vassar	Maryland C	0	0	0	0
Virginia	South Carolina A	0	10	10	20	EM
Virginia Tech A	James Madison B	0	10	10	20	EM
Warwick A	Cardiff	0	10	10	20	EM
WashU A	Georgia Tech C	0	10	0	10	E
Washington A	Georgia Tech A	0	10	10	20	EM
Waterloo A	Toronto C	10	0	0	10	H
Waterloo B	Western A	0	10	0	10	E
William and Mary	Liberty B	0	10	0	10	E

Summary

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