ESA Spacecraft Uncovers How And When Ancient Lakeshore On Mars Formed

Observations made by the European Space Agency’s (ESA) Mars Express allowed new studies to uncover how and when the ancient lakeshore on Mars’ Jezero crater was formed. Studying this region is important since it has been selected as the landing site of NASA’s Mars 2020 mission.

Mars Express is a mission launched by the ESA in 2003 to study Mars. It consists of an orbiter and a lander. Through the observations made by the mission, scientists are able to study various aspects of the Red Planet.

Recently, two different studies looked into the history of the Jezero crater. This location on Mars has been the focus of numerous investigations due to strong evidence indicating that it was once the site of a lake on the Red Planet. Mineral deposits in the area, such as olivine, revealed that liquid water once flowed through it. Due to its interesting history, it has been selected as the target landing site for the Perseverance rover, which will be launched through NASA’s Mars 2020 mission.

Through data collected by Mars Express and NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, which includes high-resolution images and information on the area’s topography, minerals and thermal reading, scientists were able to closely study the ancient lakeshore on Jezero crater. Some of the areas that they investigated include the Isidis basin and the Nili Fossae.

According to their findings, the region, which is rich in olivine minerals, may have formed about 3.8 billion years ago after a massive impact event on the area. The impact, which was most likely caused by an asteroid, produced the Isidis basin.

“One of the most popular formation theories suggests that the olivine-bearing material formed as a sheet of melted rock, created by the giant impact that produced the huge nearby Isidis basin,” Lucia Mandon, the lead author of one of the studies, said in a statement. “But our timeline reveals that the olivine-rich bedrock formed tens of millions of years or more after this impact.”

According to Mandon, the powerful impact might have weakened the crust in the area, making it more susceptible to the volcanic conditions of Mars. The scientists believe the massive formations led to the formation of the region.

“We think that this impact made the crust fragile and more prone to volcanism,” Mandon explained. “After reviewing all plausible scenarios, we found that the Nili Fossae region was most likely sculpted by massive eruptions of ash and other material thrown out from giant volcanoes. The erupted volume is colossal: more than 1000 times larger than that of the Vesuvian event that destroyed Pompeii in 79 AD.”

The two studies, entitled “The Mineral Diversity of Jezero Crater: Evidence for Possible Lacustrine Carbonates on Mars” and “Refining the Age, Emplacement and Alteration Scenarios of the Olivine-Rich Unit in the Nili Fossae Region, Mars,” were both published in Science Direct.