Determining the history of Mars, how it formed and evolved over time, has been a goal of both orbiter and rover missions to the Red Planet for decades.
Analyzing data from several of these Mars missions, a team of researchers led by Steve Ruff of Arizona State University's School of Earth and Space Exploration has determined that enigmatic olivine-rich bedrock in Gusev crater and in and around Jezero crater may be a type of rock called"ignimbrite," which is both igneous and sedimentary and forms as the result of cataclysmic explosive eruptions from immense volcanic calderas.
Olivine is a common silicate mineral that comes from magma generated in the mantle of Mars . So some kind of volcanic process is a reasonable explanation for the origin of the olivine-rich rocks on Mars.
The images were from a type of rock called"ignimbrite," which essentially is both igneous and sedimentary at once. Ignimbrites form as the result of flows of pyroclastic ash, pumice and blocks from the largest volcanic explosions known on Earth. The false-color image on the left shows olivine-rich deposits in the Nili Fossae region compared with welded ignimbrite deposits on Earth . The fractures in the Earth example are cooling joints, which closely resemble those in the Mars example. Credit: HiRISE/Google Earth
Mars has the biggest volcano in the solar system and lava flows that cover huge swaths of the planet, so volcanic rocks are a given. But only a few places had been suggested to contain ignimbrites, and until now only tentatively.
France Dernières Nouvelles, France Actualités
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