A place that is similar to the surface of Mars have been found in India. As reported of India West on Tuesday, April 5, 2016, a team of researchers have identified and documented the existence of jarosite, a rare mineral through the study of streptoskopi in the Matanumadh region, Kachch district, Gujarat India. The study is part of a Mars mission initiated by Space Applications Center (SAC) and the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO).
"Matanumadh landscape with assemblages unusual mineral, including jarosite in the land of basalt, resembling geological environment that has many jarosite as identified on Mars," said Saibal Gupta, a professor in the department of geology and geophysics at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Kharagpur to Indo-Asian News sevice.
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| An image of the Gusev crater on Mars where the Spirit rover examined volcanic basalts in 2007. (Picture from: http://adf.ly/1ZDZVb) |
The emergence of rare minerals were first reported from various parts of the Mars by Opportunity, the NASA rover in 2004. Since then, the other robot is also detected jarosite in some of the Red Planet's surface. Jarosite is a mineral found in certain environments. It means that the substance was formed in the extreme and unusual conditions. Previously, jarosite is also found in Australia. But the minerals found in India is more similar to jarosite on Mars.
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| An image of jarosite mineral. (Picture from: http://adf.ly/1ZDZpf) |
"The surface of Mars have experienced the similar conditions some time ago. Thus, the discovery of jarosite is supporting the argument that Matanumadh represent the surface of Mars," said Souvik Mitra of IIT-Khargapur.
Mitra added, "Two important conditions for the formation of jarosite is close to the surface of the water acidic and oxidizing conditions. By studying the process of formation of jarosite in Matanumadh, allows us to understand the final stage of water-based activities in some parts of the surface of Mars."
As we knew, NASA found no evidence of water on Mars last year.
"... In addition to sending robots and sophisticated probe to Mars to study it, the investigation can be carried out in Matanumadh and reduce costs to understand what is happening on Mars billions of years ago," said Gupta.
He also added, "It does not replace human exploration on the surface of Mars, but it was committed in a long time. While waiting for that moment, Matanumadh can be a start to imagine what it's there." *** [EKA | FROM VARIOUS SOURCES | INDIA WEST]
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