Hematite Ridge - A New Hope for Astrobiologists
Scientists have identified the most interesting object of the upcoming study Curiosity, where there is the highest probability to detect signs of past Martian life.
The main geological rock that previously attracted NASA geologists in the Gale crater is phyllosilicates or smectites — clay that arose when volcanic rocks were washed out with fresh water. This clay is the main evidence that Mars was once a warm, humid and habitable place.
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However, a recent study published in the journal Geology lowered the priority of smectites, and now scientists are more attracted to the Hematite Ridge, which lies on the proposed route of the rover to the mountain.
While Curiosity is moving to the Entry Point - a conditional place from which the main scientific program will start, which has the prospect of identifying the signs of ancient Martian life. The long hollow, which stretches along the foot of Mount Sharpe, has a smectitic bottom, and from the Entry Point, it is separated just by the Hematite Ridge.
From the Entry Point, the path Curiosity runs almost perpendicular to the current trajectory: it crosses the smectite trough and will rise through a canyon cut by water in a mountain. Preliminary study of the removal cone of this canyon.
The Hematite Ridge runs across the future trajectory of the rover. It recently received its name for large deposits of iron, in the form of hematite, which are determined using a CRISM spectrometer from an MRO satellite.
Hematite is a form of iron ore, a characteristic rounded structure.
Iron balls, called “blueberries”, were found in abundance on the plain of Meridian, where Opportunity works, but it does not have such a powerful scientific arsenal as Curiosity, so there interest in these balls has long disappeared.
The hematite ridge has a width of approximately 200 m and stretches for about 6.5 km along the mountain. Apparently, this relief element refers to the so-called. "Inverted channels". Such forms of the surface are not uncommon on Mars. Presumably they formed where the river flowed. The impact of water changed the structure of the bottom, providing a cementing effect. When the water evaporated or froze, erosion began to destroy the surface of the shores, and the wind carried loose fragments. As a result, the former banks were destroyed so that they were lower than the former bottom of the river. Mars even has craters in reverse.
How true the alleged mechanism of the formation of "inverted channels" Curiosity has yet to be studied. But in the Hematite Range, he also has to understand the reason for the occurrence of such localized hematite deposits.
Looking from above, geologists suggested two sediment formation hypotheses:
1) Groundwater with a low content of dissolved oxygen carried a large amount of dissolved iron. Where the Hematite Ridge appeared later, this water came to the surface, and met either with an atmosphere rich in oxygen, or with a high-acidity water stream.
2) The flow of water, with high acidity (presumably dissolved sulfuric acid, from large-scale volcanic eruptions), washed away the volcanic olivine rocks, and deposited iron washed from them.
The rover will tell on which of the two scenarios the Hematite Ridge appeared. Although, it is possible that the results of the study from the surface will require a new theory. The incompleteness of satellite data was already fully manifested in Glenelg, so that no one can guarantee that the findings on the surface will fully correspond to the analysis from space.
Now the intrigue: scientists say that both of the listed hematite formation processes that are observed on Earth take place with the participation of chemolithotrophic bacteria.
This implies that the Hematite Ridge could have arisen with the participation of Martian microorganisms. Even if they have become extinct long ago, Curiosity will be able to identify signs of organic matter in the rock, which is exactly what is needed.
It is curious that now chemolithotrophs are used to produce methane from organic matter. Methane remains one of the most important unexplained mysteries of Mars.
Earth spectrometers with an abnormal concentration of methane in the atmosphere found:
And I did not find Curiosity from the surface.
This may indicate both the fallacy of one of the research tools, and the seasonality or locality of methane emission on the surface. Seasonality and locality are very interesting. If gas is emitted in some specific areas, this may indicate potential deposits. Such a find will turn all ideas about the prospects for the development or even settlement of the Red Planet.
In any case, the work from the Entry Point promises to be more interesting than all previous experience, and it will give so much information about Mars that NASA will rake more than one year. I hope then we will hear the answer to the main question of life on Mars, the Universe and everything else ...
PS We are collecting signatures here to somehow cheer up the Russian interplanetary program. We are glad to any help.
The main geological rock that previously attracted NASA geologists in the Gale crater is phyllosilicates or smectites — clay that arose when volcanic rocks were washed out with fresh water. This clay is the main evidence that Mars was once a warm, humid and habitable place.
')
However, a recent study published in the journal Geology lowered the priority of smectites, and now scientists are more attracted to the Hematite Ridge, which lies on the proposed route of the rover to the mountain.
While Curiosity is moving to the Entry Point - a conditional place from which the main scientific program will start, which has the prospect of identifying the signs of ancient Martian life. The long hollow, which stretches along the foot of Mount Sharpe, has a smectitic bottom, and from the Entry Point, it is separated just by the Hematite Ridge.
From the Entry Point, the path Curiosity runs almost perpendicular to the current trajectory: it crosses the smectite trough and will rise through a canyon cut by water in a mountain. Preliminary study of the removal cone of this canyon.
Anaglyph
The Hematite Ridge runs across the future trajectory of the rover. It recently received its name for large deposits of iron, in the form of hematite, which are determined using a CRISM spectrometer from an MRO satellite.
Hematite is a form of iron ore, a characteristic rounded structure.
Iron balls, called “blueberries”, were found in abundance on the plain of Meridian, where Opportunity works, but it does not have such a powerful scientific arsenal as Curiosity, so there interest in these balls has long disappeared.
The hematite ridge has a width of approximately 200 m and stretches for about 6.5 km along the mountain. Apparently, this relief element refers to the so-called. "Inverted channels". Such forms of the surface are not uncommon on Mars. Presumably they formed where the river flowed. The impact of water changed the structure of the bottom, providing a cementing effect. When the water evaporated or froze, erosion began to destroy the surface of the shores, and the wind carried loose fragments. As a result, the former banks were destroyed so that they were lower than the former bottom of the river. Mars even has craters in reverse.
How true the alleged mechanism of the formation of "inverted channels" Curiosity has yet to be studied. But in the Hematite Range, he also has to understand the reason for the occurrence of such localized hematite deposits.
Looking from above, geologists suggested two sediment formation hypotheses:
1) Groundwater with a low content of dissolved oxygen carried a large amount of dissolved iron. Where the Hematite Ridge appeared later, this water came to the surface, and met either with an atmosphere rich in oxygen, or with a high-acidity water stream.
2) The flow of water, with high acidity (presumably dissolved sulfuric acid, from large-scale volcanic eruptions), washed away the volcanic olivine rocks, and deposited iron washed from them.
The rover will tell on which of the two scenarios the Hematite Ridge appeared. Although, it is possible that the results of the study from the surface will require a new theory. The incompleteness of satellite data was already fully manifested in Glenelg, so that no one can guarantee that the findings on the surface will fully correspond to the analysis from space.
Now the intrigue: scientists say that both of the listed hematite formation processes that are observed on Earth take place with the participation of chemolithotrophic bacteria.
This implies that the Hematite Ridge could have arisen with the participation of Martian microorganisms. Even if they have become extinct long ago, Curiosity will be able to identify signs of organic matter in the rock, which is exactly what is needed.
It is curious that now chemolithotrophs are used to produce methane from organic matter. Methane remains one of the most important unexplained mysteries of Mars.
Earth spectrometers with an abnormal concentration of methane in the atmosphere found:
And I did not find Curiosity from the surface.
This may indicate both the fallacy of one of the research tools, and the seasonality or locality of methane emission on the surface. Seasonality and locality are very interesting. If gas is emitted in some specific areas, this may indicate potential deposits. Such a find will turn all ideas about the prospects for the development or even settlement of the Red Planet.
In any case, the work from the Entry Point promises to be more interesting than all previous experience, and it will give so much information about Mars that NASA will rake more than one year. I hope then we will hear the answer to the main question of life on Mars, the Universe and everything else ...
PS We are collecting signatures here to somehow cheer up the Russian interplanetary program. We are glad to any help.
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/200440/
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