admin Scientists find cracked layers on Martian dunes, indicating salt-rich watery environment in recent history.
Data from China’s Zhurong rover has uncovered cracked layers on miniature Martian dunes, suggesting that the Red Planet was a salt-rich, watery world as recently as 400,000 years ago.
Martian Water’s Impact on Sand Dune Formation
Researchers analyzing data from the Zhurong rover found cracked layers on small Martian dunes in the Utopia Planitia region, indicating that Mars had a salt-rich, watery environment not long ago. These findings shed light on intriguing surface features formed by “modern water” between 1.4 million and 400,000 years ago.
The Zhurong probe is exploring Utopia Planitia
Since landing in May 2021, the Zhurong rover has studied the surface composition of four nearby her crescent dunes in Mars’ northern hemisphere. Analysis of the rover revealed thinly fractured crust and ridges on the dunes, presumably formed by melting pockets of water.
Water on Mars: Recent Discoveries
Scientists have long believed that early Mars had abundant liquid water about 3 billion years ago, but new research suggests that the planet’s frigid polar regions He settled in the sand dunes of the Utopian Plains, suggesting that the waters of the valley only existed millions of years ago in a frigid land.
Formation of hydrated minerals on Mars
As the Zhurong probe neared its target dunes, it used a laser-induced decay spectrometer to break the grains of sand into millimeter-sized particles. The analysis reveals hydrated minerals such as sulfates, silica, iron oxides and chlorides, which the researchers believe formed in the presence of water during the late Amazonian period on Mars.
Water Vapor Migration and Brine Formation
Researchers believe that millions of years ago, water vapor moved from the Martian poles to lower latitudes due to tilt differences that caused the Martian poles to point more directly. thinking about. To the place where Son Takuei is. The drifting steam condenses and falls as snow far from the poles, interacting with the salt of Martian dunes and eventually forming brine.
Implications for Future Mars Missions
Turon’s discovery of water activity on and in Mars’ saline dunes has led researchers to search for salt-tolerant microorganisms similar to those in Utah’s Great Salt Lake. I started proposing missions.
Turon Rover: Shutdown
After a long period of uncertainty over the silence of China’s Mars rover, Zuron, mission officials have revealed a possible cause of the anomaly: its solar panels It was covered in dust. NASA’s lander InSight was in a similar predicament a few months ago when Martian dust accumulated on its solar panels and lost power.
