Perseverance Confirms 6%-16% Carbonates in Jezero Crater as Mars Cooling Theory Gains Support
Updated
Updated · Eos · May 28
Perseverance Confirms 6%-16% Carbonates in Jezero Crater as Mars Cooling Theory Gains Support
1 articles · Updated · Eos · May 28
SuperCam data from multiple Jezero Crater sites gave researchers clear ground-level evidence of both carbonates and olivine-bearing rocks, confirming hints previously seen from orbit.
Carbonate levels varied sharply by location—from 1%-3% in the Séítah unit to 6%-16% in the Eastern Margin Unit—and tended to rise where hydrated silica was present while falling where olivine was abundant.
The mineral pattern suggests an ancient lake, possibly aided by hydrothermal activity, altered olivine into carbonate as water levels shifted billions of years ago.
Extrapolating across the region’s olivine-rich unit, the team estimated up to 1.1 × 10^14 kilograms of carbon could be locked in rock—about 0.4% of the current Martian atmosphere’s mass.
That supports a broader picture in which widespread carbon sequestration in Mars’s crust may have stripped atmospheric carbon dioxide and helped cool the planet over time.
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