Possible carbonate deposit found on Mars?

[exoscientist]

<div id="MsgBody" class="MessageBody"><font color="#000000"><font size="2">Large deposits of carbonates had been expected to be wide spread on Mars because of the extensive water in the distant past and because of the CO2 atmosphere. Previously however deposits of carbonates had not been seen from orbit. What was seen from orbit was small amounts of carbonate in the form of dust sprinkled over the planet at perhaps the 2% amount. This was confirmed on the ground by the MER rovers which also saw carbonate only in the form of dust in small amounts. <br />However, the Phoenix lander has found carbonates in significant amounts at its landing site, perhaps in the 6%-8% range. The presence of the carbonate here might be due to the alkalinity of the soil at the Phoenix site compared to acidic soil, as indicated by the presence of sulfates, at the other lander sites. <br />A new report however to be presented at the upcoming "Workshop on Martian Phyllosilicates: Recorders of Aqueous Processes?" will argue that carbonate best fits the spectra in a deposit in the Nili Fossae region on Mars: </font><p>&nbsp;</p><p><font size="2">PHYLLOSILICATES, ZEOLITES, AND CARBONATE NEAR NILI FOSSAE, MARS: EVIDENCE FOR DISTINCT ENVIRONMENTS OF AQUEOUS ALTERATION. B.L. Ehlmann1, J.F. Mustard1, G.A. Swayze2, J.J. Wray3, O.S. Barnouin-Jha4, J.L. Bishop5, D.J. Des Marais6, F. Poulet7, L.H. Roach1, R.E. Milliken8, R.N. Clark2, S.L. Murchie4, and the MRO CRISM Team. 1Dept. of Geological Sciences, Brown University, 2U.S. Geological Survey, Denver, 3Cornell University, 4JHU-Applied Physics Laboratory 5SETI Institute 6NASA Ames 7IAS, Universit&eacute; Paris-Sud, 8JPL-Caltech (****@brown.edu) <br />http://www.lpi.usra.edu/meetings/aqueous2008/pdf/7019.pdf</font></p><p><font size="2">This is to be published in an upcoming article in Science.</font></p><p><font size="2">Other interesting reports from this conference:</font></p><p><font size="2">Program <br />Workshop on Martian Phyllosilicates: Recorders of Aqueous Processes? <br />October 21&ndash;23, 2008 <br />http://www.lpi.usra.edu/meetings/aqueous2008/pdf/program.pdf</font></p><p>&nbsp;</p><p><font size="2">&nbsp;&nbsp; Bob Clark</font><font size="2"> </font></p></font></div> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>

 

[3488]

<p><font size="2"><strong>Thank you very much Bob.</strong></font></p><p><font size="2"><strong>Very interesting as always from yourself.</strong></font></p><p><font size="2"><strong>This is why a mission the the crashed MPL site is of enormous scientific importance. Jon Clark unfortunately is probably correct in saying a while back, that probably will not happen given the current funding climate, but if we can data from the surface south of the Martian Antarctic Circle as Phoenix has successfully done (& is continuing to do so) from north of the Arctic one, we'll then see if the carbonate deposits really are confined to the high latitudes as is suggestive given MPF & MER data.</strong></font></p><p><font size="2"><strong>Andrew Brown.&nbsp;</strong></font></p> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><font color="#000080">"I suddenly noticed an anomaly to the left of Io, just off the rim of that world. It was extremely large with respect to the overall size of Io and crescent shaped. It seemed unbelievable that something that big had not been visible before".</font> <em><strong><font color="#000000">Linda Morabito </font></strong><font color="#800000">on discovering that the Jupiter moon Io was volcanically active. Friday 9th March 1979.</font></em></p><p><font size="1" color="#000080">http://www.launchphotography.com/</font><br /><br /><font size="1" color="#000080">http://anthmartian.googlepages.com/thisislandearth</font></p><p><font size="1" color="#000080">http://web.me.com/meridianijournal</font></p> </div>

 

[efron_24]

<p>I wonder this..</p><p>The Earth moon sysem might have come to excist the way they are because of a collission between the proto earth and a Mars like planet.</p><p>as this Mars like planet (strange they never gave it a name) was near the sun at the same distance as the proto Earth</p><p>it might have had an atmosphere and liquid water...</p><p>don't you ever wonder what it was like overthere ?</p><p>rivers, lakes.. perhaps even "young" life...</p><p>or .. was the solar system still in such a state that all planets and proto planets were pools of lava</p><p>&nbsp;</p> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>

 

[h2ouniverse]

<p><BR/>Replying to:<BR/><DIV CLASS='Discussion_PostQuote'>I...as this Mars like planet (strange they never gave it a name) ...Posted by efron_24</DIV><br /><br />This protoplanet is sometimes called Theia.</p><p>&nbsp;Regards.</p>

 

[MeteorWayne]

Replying to:<BR/><DIV CLASS='Discussion_PostQuote'>I wonder this..The Earth moon sysem might have come to excist the way they are because of a collission between the proto earth and a Mars like planet.as this Mars like planet (strange they never gave it a name) was near the sun at the same distance as the proto Earthit might have had an atmosphere and liquid water...don't you ever wonder what it was like overthere ?rivers, lakes.. perhaps even "young" life...or .. was the solar system still in such a state that all planets and proto planets were pools of lava&nbsp; <br />Posted by efron_24</DIV><br /><br />At that time, the planets were still forming, so they would have been very hot (molton) with only possible a very this crust. There certainly were no iceansof life on them at that time. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><font color="#000080"><em><font color="#000000">But the Krell forgot one thing John. Monsters. Monsters from the Id.</font></em> </font></p><p><font color="#000080">I really, really, really, really miss the "first unread post" function</font><font color="#000080"> </font></p> </div>