date of publication:
August 02 2022 16:41 GMT
Update date: August 02 2022 17:15 GMT
Today, Tuesday, American researchers deciphered the mystery of a rare volcanic mineral called “tridymite” that was discovered on the surface of Mars.
The researchers’ move proved that “the red planet was the scene of a strong volcanic eruption more than three billion years ago,” according to a report published by the French-language “Sciences and Life” website.
This proof came after samples were examined by the Curiosity rover, which is designed to carry out observation and analysis missions, and weighs 899 kilograms, one of the heaviest vehicles on the Red Planet.
The US space agency “NASA” launched the vehicle on the 26th of November 2011, on board the Atlas V rocket, and landed on the 6th of August 2012 in the Gale Crater on the surface of Mars.
Curiosity carries on board a full set of scientific instruments, which are used to find any traces of water, analyze rocks, measure the symmetry of particles and take high-resolution images.
The rover provides, according to the site’s report, a microscopic camera, a spectroscopic system, and an X-ray spectrometer, in addition to two analysis laboratories, one of which can perform mineral analyzes of Mars soil and other organic analyzes.
The report indicated that the Gale crater, which has a diameter of 155 kilometers, resulted from its collision with a large asteroid-like body 3.8 to 3.5 billion years ago, which was demonstrated by the presence of a hill more than 700 meters high, and in the center of the crater there is also “Aeolis Mons”. It is a mountain with a height of 5.5 kilometers and is also known as Mount Sharp.
The crater was, according to what the site quoted “NASA”, as a huge reservoir of water fed by the rivers of Mars for millions of years.
In 2016, the Curiosity rover discovered a volcanic mineral called tridimate.
The researchers were surprised at the time because they did not expect to find this type of mineral, which is already rare on Earth.
Tridimate is a type of crystalline silica that forms on the ground in some volcanoes when super-hot lava comes into contact with seawater and is formed during explosive volcanic eruptions, such as the eruption of Mount Saint Helens in the United States, which occurred on May 18, of 1980.
The report pointed out that the volcanoes on Mars are basaltic volcanoes that produce lava rich in magnesium and iron, but very poor in “silica”.
He stressed that “the conditions necessary to manufacture a three-dimensional shape do not exist on Mars, as there are no plate tectonics movements, no traces of silica volcanoes, and even a smaller amount of water in quantities sufficient to penetrate the Martian soil deeply and participate in the process of forming a three-dimensional body.”
He pointed out that despite this, there is no doubt that there is a three-dimensional object on the surface of Mars, as the analysis tools on board the “Curiosity” rover have chemically determined the nature of the mineral and analyzed its crystal structure using X-rays.
The researchers also confirmed that the three-dimensional object, which was discovered by Curiosity on the surface of Mars, comes from a single explosive volcanic eruption that occurred between 3 and 3.7 billion years ago, noting that this occurs when the temperature of the silica-rich medium reaches 870 degrees Celsius. .
And they indicated that “when the temperature reaches 1470 degrees Celsius, the tridimite turns into cristobalite.”
They continued, “These two minerals were found by Curiosity in one layer of Martian rocks, and the team of scientists also found feldspar and silica opaline, which are two common rocks in volcanic areas.”
Scientists justified the appearance of the mineral by saying that 3 billion years ago, water flowed onto the Red Planet to fill its basins and craters.
“Gradually the cooling of the rocky pocket led to the emergence of silica-rich minerals, and at some point the magma chamber exploded and brought the crater water into the very high-temperature silica-rich magma, thus fulfilling the conditions to create a three-dimensional object,” the researchers said.
The report emphasized that “researchers are convinced that Mars must have more complex volcanic activity than they currently know, and it is assumed that future missions will enable us to learn more about this Martian volcanic activity.”