WASHINGTON: Researchers have found evidence of a ‘continental crust’ on Mars.
They say the findings are ‘surprisingly similar’ to the material found in continents on Earth.
The ChemCam laser instrument on NASA’s Curiosity rover was turned on some unusually light-coloured rocks on Mars.
It is the first discovery of a potential ‘continental crust’ on Mars.
‘Along the rover’s path we have seen some beautiful rocks with large, bright crystals, quite unexpected on Mars’ said Roger Wiens of Los Alamos National Laboratory, lead scientist on the ChemCam instrument.
‘As a general rule, light-colored crystals are lower density, and these are abundant in igneous rocks that make up the Earth’s continents.’
Mars has been viewed as an almost entirely basaltic planet, with igneous rocks that are dark and relatively dense, similar to those forming the Earth’s oceanic crust, Wiens said.
However, Gale crater, where the Curiosity rover landed, contains fragments of very ancient igneous rocks (around 4 billion years old) that are distinctly light in color, which were analyzed by the ChemCam instrument.
French and U.S. scientists observed images and chemical results of 22 of these rock fragments.
They determined that these pale rocks are rich in feldspar, possibly with some quartz, and they are unexpectedly similar to Earth’s granitic continental crust.
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