Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
Martian rocks and outcrops have been studied in-situ by various landers and rovers. While many of the rocks identified on the Martian surface are similar to each other, some have been considered scientifically important or otherwise notable and have been subjected to more extensive study or public interest.
The surface geology of Mars is somewhere between the basalt or andesite rocks on Earth. This led to the formation of minerals similar to what is found on Earth. The presence of iron oxide gives the surface the “rust” color that is associated with Mars, the Red Planet.
Jake M is similar to terrestrial mugearites, a rock type typically found at ocean islands and continental rifts. Jake M 's discovery may mean that alkaline magmas may be more common on Mars than on Earth and that Curiosity could encounter even more fractionated alkaline rocks (for example, phonolites and trachytes). [35]
While surveying the site of an ancient channel on Mars, the Curiosity rover ran over a rock and discovered pure sulfur on the red planet for the first time. ... rocks formed where they were found ...
The most significant of these is a meteorite found in the Allan Hills of Antarctica . Ejection from Mars seems to have taken place about 16 million years ago. Arrival on Earth was about 13 000 years ago. Cracks in the rock appear to have filled with carbonate materials (implying groundwater was present) between 4 and 3.6 billion-years-ago.
A mineral trapped within a Martian meteorite that fell to Earth has revealed traces of water on Mars that date back 4.45 billion years, according to new research.
If placed on Earth, Valles Marineris would span the width of North America. [36] In places, the canyons are up to 300 km wide and 10 km deep. Often compared to Earth's Grand Canyon, the Valles Marineris has a very different origin than its tinier, so-called counterpart on Earth. The Grand Canyon is largely a product of water erosion.
A later study in January 2022 concluded that ALH84001 did not contain Martian life; the discovered organic molecules were found to be associated with abiotic processes (i.e., "serpentinization and carbonation reactions that occurred during the aqueous alteration of basalt rock by hydrothermal fluids") produced on the very early Mars 4 billion ...