Martian Carbonate Minerals

Carbonates are mineral pages in Mars’ ancient history book; they form where water, CO₂, and rock interact, and they can lock away tiny chemical and physical traces for vast stretches of time. If life ever flickered on Mars, carbonates are one of the best places […]

On Mars, asking whether neutral pH water ever existed is like asking whether the planet had cozy kitchens where prebiotic chemistry or microbes could cook up complexity. This article walks through the full story: what neutral pH means, why it matters, what environmental settings on […]

To understand whether carbonate minerals (which record water, CO₂, and chemistry) are present in rover samples, scientists use an orchestra of instruments. Each instrument “hears” a different part of the mineral’s song: some read crystal structure, others track released gases when a sample is heated, […]

Siderite is more than a mineral name; it’s a chemical clue about past water, redox conditions, and where carbon dioxide might have gone. If Mars locked away meaningful amounts of CO₂ as siderite early in its history, our models for how the planet cooled, dried, […]

Have you ever rubbed a balloon on your hair and watched it cling to the wall? That tiny spark of static is a simple electrochemical trick — and on Mars, dust does this all the time. The Martian surface is coated with fine dust that […]

Carbonates are tiny chemical time capsules that can tell us about ancient water, climate, and even the possibility of preserved organics. Yet orbital instruments sometimes miss them — even where rovers later find them — and that discrepancy raises a big question: why do carbonate […]

Have you ever seen two old friends meet at a café and realized they tell a story together that neither could tell alone? On Mars, olivine and carbonates are those friends. Olivine is an iron-magnesium silicate that’s common in fresh volcanic rocks, and carbonates are […]

Detecting carbonate minerals on Mars is one of the clearest ways to learn about ancient water, past climate, and where the planet may have trapped CO₂ over time. Carbonates are like geological notebooks: they record the chemistry of the fluids that made them and sometimes […]

Imagine trying to read a book through a layer of fog. The letters blur, the ink mutes, and you might mistake one word for another. That’s exactly what planetary scientists face when remote instruments try to “read” minerals on Mars. The planet’s surface ranges from […]

If you’ve ever wondered where Mars might have kept records of its watery past, carbonates are a top answer. These minerals — made when carbon dioxide, water, and rock interact — act like tiny time capsules. They can trap chemical signatures, shield fragile organic molecules, […]