Curiosity Has Hit a Martian Mineral Jackpot

discovery.com ^ | Ian O'Neill

[BenLurkin]

Currently studying the “Pahrump Hills” region at the base of Mount Sharp in the center of Gale Crater, this new view snapped by Curiosity on March 18 shows a work site Curiosity’s mission scientists call “Garden City.” This area is interesting as it shows two-tone mineral veins protruding from the surrounding rock.

The tough mineral veins were formed in Mars’ ancient wet past and they are sticking out of the rock up to 6 centimeters (2.5 inches) high. This means that the veins formed within the rock and the softer surrounding bedrock has since eroded away.

When comparing the geology of this particular area with the rocks that Curiosity has analysed in lower sections of Mount Sharp, a story emerges Mars’ ancient geological history.

“Some of (the mineral veins) look like ice-cream sandwiches: dark on both edges and white in the middle,” said Linda Kah, Curiosity science-team member at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, in a NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory news release. “These materials tell us about secondary fluids that were transported through the region after the host rock formed.”

[Sequoyah101]

So they have absolutely no idea if it is worth much or anything and considering the cost to get there it is worth nothing.

“Jackpot” in what sense? Scientific discovery I can see but not really a jackpot... Significant scientific discovery, yes.

Misleading headline. I’m quibbling I know but I’m in a foul mood about being misled and deception and foolishness in general.

[Liberty Valance]

So that's where they come from ...

[TigersEye]

Gold!

[SunkenCiv]

The tough mineral veins were formed in Mars' ancient wet past...

...which ironically is entirely imaginary. The wet Martian past meme resembles the global warming drumbeat. Extra to APoD.

[SauronOfMordor]

Even if there were gold nodules all over the ground, the cost of the mars mission would exceed the value of what they could bring back. More important would be iron and other metallic ores - stuff that would be useful if we established a permanent colony.

[henkster]

I’ll believe the “wet past” when they find shale.

[SWAMPSNIPER]

Obviously Kryptonite.

[21twelve]

Earth First!
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(We’ll mine the other planets later.)

[SunkenCiv]

Or maybe fossilized remains of a scuba-diver.

[SunkenCiv]

New findings could dash hopes for past oceans on Mars
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/968094/posts

Report: Mars Cold, Bitter Planet for a Long, Long Time
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/1448047/posts?page=29#29

Scientists Found Life On Mars Back In The 70s
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/1885663/posts

[dr_lew]

Blake said, "Telegraph Peak has almost no evidence of clay minerals, the hematite is nearly gone and jarosite abundance is down. The big thing about this sample is the huge amount of cristobalite, at about 10 percent or more of the crystalline material." Cristobalite is a mineral form of silica. The sample also contains a small amount of quartz, another form of silica. Among the possibilities are that some process removed other ingredients, leaving an enrichment of silica behind; or that dissolved silica was delivered by fluid transport; or that the cristobalite formed elsewhere and was deposited with the original sediment.

NASA's Curiosity Eyes Prominent Mineral Veins on Mars

[onedoug]

Minerals!

The Story of Earth: How Life and Rocks Co-Evolved

[PIF]

Another fossilized Martian ...

[TheOldLady]

Thank you for the extra to the APoD.