Researchers said they were able to study the way volcanism shaped the crust and mantle of Mars based on the meteorites that broke off the red planet and landed on Earth, millions of years ago, according to the research published in Science Advances.
About the study
The researchers at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California San Diego said that they were able to ascertain that Mars has a distinct structure in its mantle and crust with discernible reservoirs thanks to the meteorites which broke off the red planet 11 million years ago.
“Martian meteorites are the only physical materials we have available from Mars,” said geologist James Day from the Scripps Oceanography Institute. The rocks analysed by Day and his team came in two forms – chassignites and nakhlites.
The rocks allowed researchers to “make precise and accurate measurements and then quantify processes that occurred within Mars and close to the martian surface,” the geologist added.
He added, “They provide direct information on Mars’ composition that can ground truth mission science, like the ongoing Perseverance rover operations taking place there.”
One of the meteorites examined was chassignites, after a rock found in 1815 in Chassign, France and nakhlites after a specimen uncovered in Nakhla, Egypt, in 1905.
What did the researchers find?
According to the study, the two kinds of rocks also have different compositions, with nakhlite being a basaltic form of rock which includes minerals like augite and olivine. However, chassignite is almost entirely olivine.
After the analysis of the rocks, researchers found that they were once formed in the same Martian volcano around 1.3 billion years ago.
Upon careful examination and comparison, they were also able to determine that nakhlites were part of the Martian crust and the chassignites were part of the mantle below.
According to Day, by determining that the two rock formations are from the same volcanic system and that they interacted with Martian crust that was altered by atmospheric interactions, researchers can now identify a new rock type on the red planet.
He also noted that Mars’ volcanism has “incredible similarities,” but also differences to that of Earth’s. According to Day, similar nakhlites and chassignites were found in recent volcanism in places like Oahu in Hawaii.
On the other hand, the reservoirs in Mars are “extremely ancient” and seemed to have separated from one another shortly after the red planet formed, the researcher added.
(With inputs from agencies)