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Tag Archives: carbonate minerals
HiRISE: Bedrock riddles of Nili Fossae
This image of the Nili Fossae region, to the west of the great Isidis basin, shows layered bedrock with many impact craters. Nili Fossae is one of the most mineralogically important sites on Mars. Remote observations by the infrared spectrometer … Continue reading
Posted in Reports
Tagged bedrock, carbonate minerals, clay minerals, dunes, High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment, HiRISE, iron oxides, Isidis Basin, Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, MRO, NASA, Nili Fossae, sand dunes, TARs, transverse dunes, transverse eolian ridges, University of Arizona
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Weathering on early Mars bad for forming carbonates
[Editor’s note: From a paper by Fabien Baron and three co-authors recently published in the Journal of Geophysical Research.] New Constraints on Early Mars Weathering Conditions From an Experimental Approach on Crust Simulants • Chemical weathering in mildly acidic conditions … Continue reading
Detecting carbonates on the martian surface
Was Mars warm and wet enough to support life during the planet’s first few hundred million years? Scars of ancient lakes and rivers, as well as minerals that form only when water is present, have convinced many researchers that Mars … Continue reading
Posted in Reports
Tagged aluminum phyllosilicates, carbonate minerals, clay minerals, iron-magnesium phyllosilicates, Mawrth Vallis, phyllosilicates
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Mars hasn’t enough CO2 for terraforming
A new study of the quantity of carbon dioxide on Mars has compiled a planet-wide inventory of the CO2 it holds in all its accessible reservoirs: atmosphere, ice, and locked up in surface carbonate rocks and other potential sources. The … Continue reading
Posted in Reports
Tagged atmosphere, atmospheric escape, atmospheric pressure, carbon dioxide, carbonate minerals, CO2, Mars Atmosphere and Volatile EvolutioN, MAVEN, NASA, terraforming, University of Colorado
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How Mars’ atmosphere lost its carbon
Mars is blanketed by a thin, mostly carbon dioxide atmosphere — one that is far too thin to keep water from freezing or quickly evaporating. However, geological evidence has led scientists to conclude that ancient Mars was once a warmer, … Continue reading
Posted in Reports
Tagged atmosphere, carbon dioxide, carbonate minerals, solar wind, ultraviolet photodissociation, UV photodissociation
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Tallying up where the Martian carbon went
Scientists may be closer to solving the mystery of how Mars changed from a world with surface water billions of years ago to the arid Red Planet of today. A new analysis of the largest known deposit of carbonate minerals … Continue reading
Posted in Reports
Tagged Arizona State University, ASU, atmosphere, carbon dioxide, carbonate minerals, Compact Reconnaissance Imaging Spectrometer for Mars, CRISM, Mars Odyssey, Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, MRO, NASA, Nili Fossae, TES, THEMIS, Thermal Emission Imaging System, Thermal Emission Spectrometer, valley networks
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ALH84001′s carbonates record ancient climate
A new analysis of a Martian rock that meteorite hunters plucked from an Antarctic ice field 30 years ago this month reveals a record of the planet’s climate billions of years ago, back when water likely washed across its surface … Continue reading
Posted in Reports
Tagged ALH84001, atmosphere, carbonate minerals, climate, climate change, Mars meteorites
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CRISM: Carbonate minerals near Huygens Crater
Here we see Fe/Ca carbonates (pink) along the southeastern wall of an unnamed crater’s central pit. Because these carbonates are seen in the central pit, it is thought that they were formed in the subsurface (underground) but then brought up … Continue reading
Posted in Reports
Tagged carbonate minerals, Compact Reconnaissance Imaging Spectrometer for Mars, CRISM, Huygens Crater, Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, MRO, NASA
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CRISM: Carbonate minerals in Nili Fossae
This image shows a site near Nili Fossae, a group of long, narrow tectonic depressions called graben, and reveals the presence of hydrated iron-magnesium (green) phyllosilicate and carbonate minerals (shown in yellow). Phyllosilicates, which include clay and clay-like minerals, form … Continue reading
Posted in Reports
Tagged carbonate minerals, carbonate minerals, Compact Reconnaissance Imaging Spectrometer for Mars, CRISM, Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, MRO, NASA, Nili Fossae
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“Lake Gusev” possible source for Comanche carbonates
The rock outcrop dubbed Comanche in the Columbia Hills of Gusev Crater is unusually rich in magnesium-iron carbonate minerals. This discovery was first announced in 2010 using data from the Mars Exploration Rover Spirit. At the time, scientists thought that … Continue reading
Posted in Reports
Tagged Algonquin, carbonate minerals, carbonate minerals, Comanche, Gusev Crater, Mars Exploration Rovers, MER, Spirit
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