Some Sand on Mars is Green, Showing That it was Once wet

A new paper from researchers led by a team at Purdue shows that green sand can be seen on the Red Planet.

Some of the scientists working on the mission were surprised by the findings. While observing Perseverance's landing site from the air, it became clear that the rover was going to land in Jezero crater. The team didn't know they were looking at volcanic rock.

The discovery was a huge one for the geologists studying the crater. When Jezero crater and Mars were wet, scientists expected to find rocks that had been washed away by the water. They did find some rocks, but they were usually deposited near the floor of the crater, where the lake bottom would have been during that time.

The rocks on the side of the crater that were the most visible from space were made from lava. They were surprised that the rocks were older than they thought. The geology team realized that the rocks were more than four billion years old after observing them with Perseverance's SuperCAM.

Our climate affects the weathering of rocks on Earth. They are easy to study on Mars. The scientists found a green color when they did that.

Red tint to almost everything on the planet's surface is a result of oxidation. The rocks were made of olivine. There is a less spectacular version of peridot, called olivine.

It has the same effect on Mars as it has on the beaches in Hawai'i. It is a laboratory for understanding the workings of the early solar system on Mars.

It is a fascinating glimpse into what the earlier Earth might have been like when life first started. The environment from that time is lost to us because of the climate and earthquakes. The environment on Mars was mostly untouched untilPerseverance happened.

The first step is to find the rocks. More analysis is needed before we can say if the environment of Jezero crater could have been hospitable. That is one of the main goals of Perseverance. There is a step in the right direction.

You can learn more.

Perseverance discovered that the sands of Mars are green.

A sample of altered rocks was taken from the floor of Jezero crater.

There is an outcrop on the floor of Jezero crater.

The sand dunes on Mars are strange.

It is most likely sandstone layers on Mars. It is absolutely beautiful.