The discovery of tridymite in the crater Gale is one of Curiosity’s most surprising discoveries during its decade-long exploration of Mars.
Kirsten Siebach, who is a researcher with NASA’s Mars team, tells this in a new rapport in Earth and Planerary Science Letters.
After the discovery in 2016, Siebach and her colleagues examined all the finds of tridymite on Earth. It is mainly found in rocky material in Germany, Italy and France and has limited use in sandblasting material.
After thorough research, the following theory emerged.
Magma may have been under a volcano on Mars that has undergone a partial cooling process, known as fractional crystallization, which includes concentrated silicon as a residual product. During an eruption, the volcano spewed siliceous ash into the Gale crater and the surrounding area. The ash was then broken down and finally the remaining minerals were separated from each other, including the clump of tridymite that came loose from the silicon.
Wetter and possibly warmer
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This event on Mars is also believed to have triggered other chemical phenomena, such as aluminum oxide, which was also found in 2016.
If the theory of a volcanic eruption is correct, and everything points to it, then that eruption happened three billion years ago, when Mars changed from a wetter and possibly warmer planet to the dry and cold planet it is today.
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The investigation into the tridymite find also proves that Mars has an even more complex and exciting volcanic history than was believed before the Mars vehicle Curiosity began its exploration.
NASA had Curiosity investigate the crater Gale because the space agency suspected that the crater was once a river, a billion years ago.
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