A new Martian mineral was likely cooked by ancient underground volcanoes
NASA's Curiosity rover discovered tridymite in Gale Crater, a rare mineral typically formed through intense heat and high silica concentrations associated with explosive volcanic activity on Earth.
The discovery of tridymite in a Martian lakebed suggests that Mars had a far more complex volcanic history than previously imagined. This mineral usually forms at high temperatures in evolved volcanic systems, implying that ancient underground volcanoes were actively cooking the Martian crust roughly 3.5 billion years ago.
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