Trying to find out the origin of these blueberries has always involved studying similar spherical structures on earth. The new study was inspired by these earth analogues, which provided a new idea for stimulating the chemical process of these Martian blueberries. In turn, this study helps to reveal what ancient Mars might have looked like.
Blueberries are not only attractive because of their strange names; They also constitute some of the earliest evidence that Mars was once very wet, said Bouriaud, a planetary scientist at Purdue University in Indiana. In an interview with Space magazine, Briony Horgan said: "No matter what the exact chemical composition of these spheres is, the fact that they exist tells us that a large amount of liquid water flows in these rocks over time." . Hogan said, "65,438+00 Mars Explorer Spirit and Opportunity made amazing discoveries on Mars."
If scientists can accurately analyze how blueberries are formed, it may help us understand what Mars looked like when it was formed, and what kind of life can theoretically thrive in this case. "The team supporting this new study went to two different land destinations to look for rock formations similar to Mars blueberries: Utah and Mongolia. These structures are different from those on Mars, which is about one tenth of similar structures on Earth. The structure of our planet is not as orderly as the Mars version. " They are all crowded together. When talking about the characteristics of the earth, Hogan said, "They are different in size.
"But going to Utah and Mongolia is much easier than going to Mars, so although it is not perfect, scientists are still using these functions. The researchers found that these strata seem to be built around a mineral core called calcite, and only the outer shell contains iron-rich substances. " The moment of discovery was very exciting, "geochemist Hidekazu Yoshida of Nagoya University and Hitoshi Hasegawa of Kochi University in Japan wrote in an email to space.
According to field observation and chemical simulation, scientists believe that iron-rich floods and weak acid water washed away the original calcite structure. Unlike blueberries on land, Martian blueberries seem to be hematite all the way and no longer grow calcite hearts. But researchers say this may mean that excessive ashing for a long time has swallowed all calcite.
The annoying details of chemical reactions that may or may not have occurred in the early days of Mars are even more significant. First of all, these details are related to scientists' natural interest in all the water that flows through rocks to form blueberries. "Hydrochemistry tells us the livability of the environment," Hogan said.
The second potential impact will be related to another long-standing debate about Mars, that is, what happened in the once thick atmosphere. Steve Ruff, a planetary geologist at Arizona State University, told Space magazine that the authors of this new study believe that this atmosphere may have entered the carbonate ion in the calcite precursor of blueberries.
But this does not solve the mystery of the atmosphere. "My feeling is that the hematite area we know can be drawn from orbit, but it is not a huge area," covering less than 1% of the surface of Mars, he said. There are not enough blueberries to take away too much air. [Latest photos of Mars probes Opportunity and Spirit]
He said that he was also worried that the structure of the earth was not similar to that on Mars, and scientists could not understand blueberries. But Ralph didn't reject the new newspaper. ""I'm interested in this idea, "he said. Of course, on Earth and Mars, the formation of these tiny substances has always been a mystery. There are many opinions about how these substances are formed, and scientists will need more advanced tools than those on the red planet at present. NASA's next probe, Mars 2020, will carry high-resolution instruments to solve these problems. However, the probe plans to go to a place called Jiezero Crater, far away from the plain where Opportunity found blueberries.
"Going back to Mars with NASA is not what people want to do. They want to go to new places, "Ralph said. However, he said that he would not give up hope that the new rover could solve the blueberry mystery. Hogan said: "Maybe we will be lucky to see this situation of the lunar rover in 2020. Kdspe "kdsps" No matter what the subtle differences in blueberry chemistry are, the new paper reminds us of the huge time scale and the potential complexity brought by time scale, which involves the geology of Mars. "Time can play a very important role in the minerals we see," Hogan said. We should be careful. Many things may have happened on these rocks.
This study was described in a paper published in the journal Science Progress on February 5, 65438.
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