Earth-like mineral loaded rocks found on Mars perplexes scientists; read details

In another significant finding, Arizona State University researchers have identified rocks on Mars that indicate toward the red planet's volcanic history, but there's something more to it. Published in the journal Icarus, the findings reveal that the bedrock at the Nili Fossae region is loaded with the volcanic mineral olivine. While it might not sound interesting, this mineral is the same which has been traced in some of the Earth's rocks. 

Scientists rejoice in a 'Eureka moment'

The findings were confirmed using data from two different NASA rovers- the Spirit rover, which 'died' in 2010 on the red planet and the active robotic geologist Perseverance rover. Both the rovers examined the Nili Fossae region, which includes the Jezero crater, Perseverance's current exploration site. Experts chose this location as they believe that the crater once had a huge lake and might still have clues of ancient microbial life there. 

As for the current breakthrough, the Arizona University scientists studied the Martian rocks in the Nili Fossae to confirm their origin from volcanic processes. Notably, the Spirit rover had helped discover bedrocks with the same olivine-rich rocks at a different Martian location- the Gusev crater. Thanks to the images captured by the NASA Spirit rover, scientists were able to compare them with the rocks on Earth and that is when the finding turned significant. 

"That was a eureka moment. I was seeing the same kind of textures in the rocks of Gusev crater as those in a very specific kind of volcanic rock found here on Earth", planetary geologist Steve Ruff of Arizona State University said as per Space.com. The rocks similar to the Martian ones which Ruff is talking about is ignimbrite. This type of rock is only created during powerful volcanic eruptions and the ash, pumice and pyroclastic flowing from them. "No one had previously suggested ignimbrites as an explanation for olivine-rich bedrock on Mars. And it's possible that this is the kind of rock that the Perseverance rover has been driving around on and sampling for the past year", Ruff added. 

Ignimbrites date back as old as over two million years and can be found on Earth at the Yellowstone National Park in the Western U.S. Meanwhile, scientists are planning to conduct another extensive study to confirm the presence of ignimbrites on Mars.