Since landing in 2012, NASA Scientists were amazed to the unexpected discovery found in Mars’ Gale Crater. Hence on July 30, 2015, on Sol 1060 (the number of Martian days), the rover collected powder drilled from rock at a location named ‘Bucksin’, after analyzing the data from an X-ray diffraction instrument on the rover, scientists detected high concentrations of mineral called ‘tridymite’.
Scientists in the Astromaterials Research and Exploration Science (ARES) Division at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston led the study. A paper on the team’s findings has been published in the PNAS (Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences).
Douglas Ming, a planetary scientist at NASA and co-author of the paper, said in a statement, “This discovery now begs the question of whether Mars experienced a much more violent and explosive volcanic history during the early evolution of the planet than previously thought.”
Richard Morris, the lead author of the paper, explained further, “On Earth, tridymite is formed at high temperatures in an explosive process called silicic volcanism… Mount St. Helens, the active volcano in Washington State, and the Satsuma-Iwojima volcano in Japan are examples of such volcanoes.”
Added that, “The combination of high silica content and extremely high temperatures in the volcanoes creates tridymite was incorporated into ‘Lake Gale’ mudstone at Buckskin as sediment from erosion of silicic volcanic rocks.”
The detection truly surprised NASA because tridymite is generally associated with silicic volcanism which is known on Earth.
Researchers have persuaded to rethink the volcanic history of Mars suggesting that the planet might have volatile volcanic eruptions that led to the presence of tridymite.