Strange Mars Rock Type Points To Extremely Violent Volcanic Eruptions

An unusual rock type spotted by two Mars rovers may indicate that the Martian landscape was shaped by extremely violent volcanic eruptions."

The Nili Fossae Region Of Mars Which includes the Jezero Crater that NASA's Perseverance rover is currently exploring, is filled with bedrock laden with the volcanic mineral olivine.

That Same Olivine-Rich Bedrock Was also found at the Gusev Crater, where NASA's Spirit rover roamed until its demise in 2010.

But The Connection Between The regions wasn't made until now, by a team led by planetary geologist Steve Ruff of Arizona State University.

The Researchers Examined Data From multiple Mars rovers to confirm the geologic similarities, which indicates the local rocks might have formed by similar processes.

Then The Scientists Compared Spirit's images of the Gusev Crater rock with images of Earth rocks.

Ruff Said In A Statement 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.

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